Police: Caretaker strangles elderly woman, sets apt. fire

Police suspect a woman from Moldova yesterday killed an elderly woman whom she was hired to nurse and then set fire to the woman's Holon apartment to hide the evidence.

The 47-year-old suspect strangled Holocaust survivor Shoshana Bierenbach, 76, with a belt and then torched the elderly lady's bedroom, police said. The nurse then jumped out of the second floor window of the burning apartment, according to police.

The nurse was rushed to Sheba Hospital at Tel Hashomer, where she is recovering from surgery. Medical personnel said her condition was stable and that despite contusions to her body and face, they expected her to recover from her injuries.

When rescue forces entered the apartment after the neighbors called them to the scene, they saw Bierenbach's charred body on a mattress in the middle of the room. Bierenbach had a belt fastened tightly around her neck, police said.

The investigation team concluded that the fire was set deliberately, and that it was started on the mattress on which Bierenbach's body lay.

Additionally, the house showed signs of a violent struggle before the fire began. Neighbors told police that in the 6 weeks the nurse had attended to the old lady, they frequently heard the women shout, but that the vocal fighting that ensued that morning turned into deafening shrills.

Among other evidence, police are basing their suspicions on testimonies by neighbors who said they heard a woman scream at around 7 A.M. that day. After several minutes, the neighbors noticed smoke coming out of the apartment and saw the nurse climbing out the window.

According to investigators, the nurse had no intention of ending her life. "She just tried to get out of the apartment when she heard that rescue forces were trying to break in," one officer said.