Teen Indicted in Double Murder of Couple Near Modi'in Area

An indictment is due Monday morning in Lod District Court against a 17-year-old from central Israel over the shooting deaths of Olga and Ruslan Prujodko, whose bodies were found on May 22 in their car near Mesilat Zion. He is expected to be charged with two counts of premeditated murder. In the same case, indictments will also be filed against two Palestinians from the West Bank for aiding after the fact. The couple left behind a 14-year-old son.

Investigators say the teenager knew the couple beforehand. Olga and Ruslan Prujodko used to come to open land near Karmi Yosef to search for ancient coins with a metal detector, and the teen also searched for coins there. According to the investigation, a dispute broke out between him and Ruslan over an ancient coin. The teen then ran to a nearby sheep pen belonging to his family, took a gun hidden there, returned to the couple and shot them dead.

Police say the prior acquaintance helped rule out a nationalistic motive and strengthened the assessment that the killing was criminal. Central District Commander Amir Cohen said, “Although we did not establish a nationalistic suspicion, I am very concerned about such infiltration into criminal events.” Investigators say the suspect later tried to hide his involvement, including by attempting to use the victims’ credit cards, concealing the weapon and taking other steps to obstruct the investigation.

Police found the murder weapon, and in a nighttime reenactment the suspect pointed out his route and the stages of the crime. His lawyers, Esther Bar-Tzion and Viktor Ozan, said he claims investigators obtained his confession and reenactment through trickery. The two Palestinians accused of post-crime assistance are represented by Shafik Darbashi, and one more West Bank resident detained in the case is expected to be released. His lawyer, Yaron Forer, said he is a young furniture-store worker with no criminal record who admitted only that he received a call asking him to send a tow truck to collect the car with the bodies, but said he did nothing else and was not sure the call was real. The suspect’s father and three brothers were also arrested and later released after a week.