Indictment filed against minor accused of killing Olga and Ruslan Frihudko

The Central District Prosecutor’s Office has filed an indictment in the Central District Court, sitting as a juvenile court, against an Arab minor from Lod, accusing him of murdering Ruslan and Olga Frihudko near Ein Vered. Prosecutors say the killings followed a dispute over searching for antiquities with metal detectors, after which the suspect left, armed himself with a pistol, and came back to shoot the couple.

According to the indictment, the teenager lived on his family’s sheep farm and tended the flock in the area. About six months before the attack, he allegedly bought a Glock 19 pistol, magazine and ammunition for about 25,000 shekels, brought it to the farm, and hid it there. The day before the murder, Ruslan reportedly met him in the forest and they spoke about antiquities hunting. On May 22, Ruslan returned with his wife Olga in their car, and the suspect arrived on an all-terrain vehicle.

After a quarrel over the antiquities and the suspect’s demand to take the metal detectors, prosecutors say he decided to kill both. He went back to the farm, took the loaded gun, and returned around noon. As the couple were about to leave, he approached the open window and fired one shot into Ruslan’s head, then another into Olga’s head. Rescue forces later pronounced them dead from severe brain damage caused by the gunfire.

The indictment also says the suspect took the detectors, a bag containing three bank cards, and a mobile phone from the car, then dumped the phone and bag near the vehicle and fled on the ATV. He allegedly hid the gun and ten extra bullets near the caravan where he lived, later told a friend about the killings, and asked for help moving the car to the West Bank. He also tried, unsuccessfully, to use the stolen credit cards online and asked a farm worker to help remove people from the car. He is charged with two counts of murder under aggravated circumstances, weapons offenses, robbery, obstruction of justice, and attempted use of a means of payment. A second count alleges that between early April and May 18, 2026, he carried the gun on the farm and fired it into the air in front of workers and others. During the investigation, police examined all possible motives, including nationalist ones, and several suspects were arrested in the West Bank with Shin Bet and police special forces direction.