'Killer not linked to local crimes'

No complaints filed against suspected serial killer in Israel.

By BEN HARTMAN
serial killer 311 (photo credit: AP)
serial killer 311
(photo credit: AP)
No criminal investigation has been launched or complaint filed in Israel against an Israeli- Arab suspected in a series of stabbings that left five people dead and 13 wounded over recent months in the United States.
Since Thursday, it had been widely reported in Israeli and foreign news outlets that Ramle native Elias Abuelazam, 33, was the suspect in a brutal attack in central Israel six months ago in which he reportedly stabbed an acquaintance in the face with a screwdriver during an argument.
On Saturday, Central Police District Spokesman Shlomi Saguy said that no such complaint had been issued against Abuelazam, and that he was not the subject of an investigation into such an incident. He did, however, confirm that there were widespread rumors of Abuelazam carrying out such an attack. Saguy added that Abuelazam had no criminal record in Israel and that “we have nothing to do with him,” saying the case was an American matter.
Abuelazam is the suspect in 18 recent stabbings in Michigan, Ohio and Virginia. All but two of the victims were African- American, and they ranged in age from 15 to 67. The attacks took place in a seemingly random fashion, with Abuelazam suspected of driving up to his victims and asking for assistance before repeatedly stabbing them and fleeing the scene. In one of the attacks, the victim was bludgeoned with a hammer.
Abuelazam was captured at the Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International airport last Wednesday night as he was about to board a plane to Tel Aviv, traveling on an expired Israeli passport. He was arrested without incident after he was paged on the airport intercom.
During a hearing at a courtroom in Atlanta on Friday, Abuelazam agreed to waive an extradition fight and return to Michigan to face charges in the July 27 attempted murder of a man in Flint, Michigan. Fourteen of the 18 attacks Abuelazam is suspected of carrying out took place in Michigan in the Flint area, some 50 miles northwest of Detroit.
Though police say he has no criminal record in Israel, in December 2007, Abuelazam was arrested in Virginia and charged with a felony of gun possession, but the charges were dropped. He had a court date scheduled for next week in relation to a misdemeanor assault charge in 2008.
During a traffic stop earlier this year, a knife and a hammer were found in Abuelazam’s 1996 Chevrolet Blazer, which matched witness descriptions of a vehicle seen fleeing one of the attacks.
Abuelazam was born in Israel and grew up in Ramle, but left for the US at a young age. In 2004, he married Jessica Abuelazam of Arlington, Texas. The couple divorced in 2007.