Kin of slain lawyer Pliner seeks closure

Reports late last week of a break in the investigation of the 2006 murder of lawyer Anat Pliner has given her loved ones hope of some consolation at last.

"All the feelings there are rising to the surface. People keep calling us, everyone heard there has been some kind of development. Since the murder we have been pretty despairing, and suddenly there's a development in the case," Pliner's boyfriend told Haaretz over the weekend.

A gag order on the investigation remains in place, but the police will provide details of the development in the next few days.

On April 10, 2006, attorney Anat Pliner, 42, answered a nighttime knock at the door of her Ramat Hasharon home. When Pliner opened the door, the murderer stabbed her in the stomach. She collapsed and her two children called an ambulance.

En route to Beilinson Hospital in Petah Tikva, Pliner reportedly told paramedics that she did not know the person who stabbed her, but described him as "a young guy." She died of her injuries shortly after being hospitalized.

Four months later the police scaled back the news blackout on the case, and the public was asked to help identify a knife sheath found at the murder scene or report anyone who possessed a sheath of that sort.