Police arrested the suspect in the murder of 12-year-old Sylvana Tsegai in a park in the area of the Carmel market in Tel Aviv on Wednesday night. This comes following a manhunt for Tesfabran Tesfatsion after Tsegai's mother found her daughter dead in her home in Tel Aviv’s Hatikva neighborhood on Monday.
Tsegai was taken to the police station for questioning and is set to be brought to court on Thursday for a remand extension hearing on suspicion of murder and sexual assault.
Tsegai, an Eritrean asylum seeker, was found dead the same say as Yara Ayub, 16, from the Maronite village of Jish in the Upper Galilee, was discovered in a dumpster three days after she had gone missing. Police have arrested four suspects in connection with the latter case.
While police originally claimed that Tsegai had not filed any complaints prior to her murder, a police spokesperson subsequently confirmed that several days prior to her death she called to complain about Tesfatsion, who had come to the apartment to collect his belongings.
“Both in that complaint and after being questioned by officers about him, the girl stated that he never used violence against her in any way,” the statement said.
Jerusalem Post staff contributed to this report