Almost a decade later, DNA sample cracks murder case

The murder and rape of 19-year-old Rinat Raus in Ashdod in 2005 had remained a mystery until suspect arrested last week.

By BEN HARTMAN
Rinat Raus (photo credit: ADI ISRAEL - REPRODUCTION)
Rinat Raus
(photo credit: ADI ISRAEL - REPRODUCTION)
Nearly a decade after the brutal murder and rape of a young Ashdod woman shocked the country, a DNA sample was able to lead police to the man they believe carried out the crime.
Following a recent arrest for assault in Kiryat Malachi, police took a DNA sample from 30-year-old Bilal Shaker, a native of the village of Bu’eine-Nujeidat in the north.
The DNA came back as a match for a sample taken from the body of 19-yearold Rinat Raus that was left inside the construction site next to her family’s home, where she was raped and murdered on her way back from work in June 2005.
On June 22 police arrested Shaker, but the case had remained under a gag order until Monday, when police said they expect a murder and rape indictment in the coming days.
Southern District Police Commander Yoram Halevy said that for the past decade police “have believed that we would uncover the truth and close the issue with the depraved murderer.”
For nine years there was no advancement in the case, the situation became so desperate for detectives that in 2007 police turned to the public and asked them for help solving the case after they had reached a dead end.
Over the years police tracked all known sex criminals in the Ashdod area but continued to run into dead ends until earlier this month when the DNA results came back.