Twin sister murder case takes turn as police find second murder weapon

Afterwards she took pictures of her sister’s body and the police cruisers arriving at the scene, and sent them to at least one friend by text message.

By BEN HARTMAN
Updated: FEBRUARY 29, 2016 05:12
Crime scene [illustrative] (photo credit: INGIMAGE)
Crime scene [illustrative]
(photo credit: INGIMAGE)
The brutal, bizarre murder of an 18-year-old Tel Avivian believed to have been killed by her twin sister developed a new twist on Sunday, when police confirmed at the Tel Aviv Magistrate’s Court that they believe two separate knives were used in the killing.
That revelation may shed doubt on the police assumption that Shiri Sobol’s boyfriend, 18-year-old David Eran, was the only one who stabbed Sobol’s twin sister Hili to death in the stairwell of an apartment building in the Nahalat Yitzhak neighborhood.
The presence of a second weapon may indicate that Sobol also stabbed her sister, or that there was a third assailant, though police said in court Sunday they have no indication a third person was involved.
Currently Sobol and Eran are facing the same charges, including first degree murder and conspiracy, and police continue to say they are not differentiating between the two suspects in terms of the severity of their alleged crimes.
David Eran’s attorney Sasi Gez – one of the more prominent criminal defense attorneys in Israel – took issue with this in court on Sunday, questioning how Eran can be charged with accessory to a stabbing police allege he carried out. He also questioned how Sobol can be charged with possession of a knife if she didn’t stab anyone, and whether the second knife indicates that she also stabbed her sister.
“It doesn’t make any sense.
If he’s the one you suspect of stabbing her, was he holding two knives?” Gez asked.
Police confirmed they are investigating the possibility that Sobol also took an active part in Hili’s murder, and that Eran was covering for his girlfriend by attempting to take the blame.
At the end of the remand hearing Sunday, Judge Ronit Poznanski-Katz ordered both suspects kept in custody for an additional eight days, so that police may continue to work the case.
The murder took place outside the front door of the Sobol family apartment on February 18. Shiri called police to report that her sister was being stabbed, and during the nine minute conversation with dispatchers, could be heard repeatedly screaming, “They’re stabbing my sister.”
Afterwards, she took pictures of her sister’s body and of the police cruisers arriving at the scene, and sent them to at least one friend by text message.
Both Sobol and Eran deny murdering Hili, and assert that she received a phone call and stepped outside the front door, at which point an unknown assailant arrived, stabbed her to death and fled.
Sobol’s attorney Gil Friedman said in court Sunday Shiri has yet to undergo a psychiatric exam to test her mental state and ability to stand trial.
He also presented the court with a letter Sobol wrote to her mother, and asked that police pass it along to her.
He said that in the letter she repeatedly says how much she misses her sister, and is sorry for how much they fought.