"Development" reported in 1998 Jerusalem teen murder case

Noa Eyal was last seen on a late February night in 1998 and later found raped and murdered in a forest.

By BEN HARTMAN
Crime scene [illustrative] (photo credit: INGIMAGE)
Crime scene [illustrative]
(photo credit: INGIMAGE)
A cold case that has bedeviled Jerusalem homicide detectives may be closer to being solved, according to a development in the investigation that was cleared for publication on Wednesday.
While the specifics of the development are under a gag order, the Jerusalem Magistrate’s Court allowed for the publication of the phrase “Jerusalem police have announced that there is a development in the 1998 murder of Noa Eyal in Jerusalem.”
Eyal, 17, was last seen on a late February night in 1998, after she and her friend Eldad Bribrom had left a movie theater in downtown Jerusalem.
Bribrom walked her to a bus stop at Davidka Square, and later told detectives that from the window of the bus he saw Eyal run to a different bus than the one she was waiting for. A cabdriver downtown at the time later told police that he saw a girl getting into a white car, believed to be a Ford Escort, with tinted windows and several bumper stickers on the back, including one for the Golani Brigade.
In the more than 15 years since the girl was found raped and murdered in a forest in the Ramot neighborhood, police have interviewed hundreds of witnesses, used satellite technology to canvass the murder scene, and spent countless man hours tracking down leads. Other than a DNA sample taken from the murder scene, there is little known evidence that has been published.
On Wednesday, a representative of Eyal’s family sent out a statement saying they are very excited and nervous about the reports and that “we call for supporting the police and allowing them to do their work thoroughly so that the truth will see the light of day.”