Teen to be charged with murdering Israeli couple after dispute over ancient coin
A 17-year-old from central Israel will be indicted Monday in Lod District Court for the premeditated double murder of Olga and Ruslan Prikhodko, the Rishon Lezion couple found shot dead in their car on May 22 near moshav Mishmar Ayalon.The indictment accuses the teen of shooting the couple after a dispute over an ancient coin found in an open area near Karmei Yosef, where both the couple and the teen had gone to search for coins with metal detectors. Two Palestinians from the West Bank will also be charged in the case with assisting after the fact. Olga and Ruslan are survived by their 14-year-old son.The new charges mark a major turn in a case that was initially suspected to be a murder-suicide, then investigated as a possible criminal or nationalist attack. Police now say the evidence rules out a nationalist motive, citing a prior acquaintance between the teen and the victims and the dispute that preceded the shooting.According to the investigation, Olga and Ruslan regularly visited the open area near Karmei Yosef to search for ancient coins. The teen, whose family has a nearby sheep pen, also searched for coins in the area. At some point, police said, an argument broke out between the teen and Ruslan over an ancient coin that had been found.Investigators say the teen then ran to his family’s sheep pen, took a handgun that had been hidden there, returned to Olga and Ruslan and shot them to death. Central District Police Commander Maj. Gen. Amir Cohen said investigators had not established a nationalist motive, but added that he was troubled by what the case showed about access to weapons in criminal settings.“Although we did not establish nationalist suspicion, I am deeply concerned by such infiltration into criminal incidents,” Cohen said.Police said that after the shooting, the teen tried to conceal his involvement. Investigators said he allegedly attempted to use the victims’ credit cards, hid the weapon believed to have been used in the killings and took other steps to obstruct the investigation.Investigators later located the murder weapon. During a nighttime reconstruction, the suspect pointed out his route and the sequence of actions, police said.The teen’s defense attorneys, Ester Bar Zion and Victor Ozen, said their client claims investigators extracted the confession and reconstruction from him through deception.The investigation also found that the two West Bank Palestinians who are expected to be charged with assisting after the fact had access to the weapon used in the murders. They are represented by attorney Shafiq Darabshi.Another Palestinian from the West Bank who had been detained in connection with the case is expected to be released. His attorney, Yaron Forer, said the man worked with his father in a furniture store and had no criminal record.“He admitted that he received a call from the teen suspect, in which he asked him to help with a tow truck that would come to collect the car with the bodies,” Forer said. “But he did nothing beyond that and was not even sure how real the call he received was.”The teen’s father and three brothers were also arrested during the investigation but were released after a week. Cohen called the case “a shocking murder” and said the suspect believed he could evade investigators.“The killer thought he would be able to hide behind lies, concealment of evidence, manipulation and obstruction of the investigation,” Cohen said. “Central District YAMAR investigators and Shin Bet investigators acted with determination and professionalism, and expertly uncovered the truth step by step.”He added that the case’s resolution sends “a clear message to every criminal: There is no place to hide from the Israel Police.”“I salute the Central District officers and the YAMAR and Shin Bet investigators, who worked day and night with commitment, a sense of mission and creativity until the motives, the method of the murder and its resolution were uncovered, and who are working to bring security to society and closure for the victims’ family,” Cohen said.
