Woman’s body found near Kibbutz Tzova in apparent suicide

Jerusalem woman, Rachel Lebetkin, 29, reported missing on October 17; body taken to L. Greenberg Institute of Forensic Medicine at Abu Kabir.

By MELANIE LIDMAN
Kibbutz tzova woman 311 (photo credit: Courtesy)
Kibbutz tzova woman 311
(photo credit: Courtesy)
Police found the body of a woman near Kibbutz Tzova on Saturday, in what they believe was an apparent suicide.
The Jerusalem woman, Rachel Lebetkin, 29, was reported missing on October 17.Her body was being taken to the L. Greenberg Institute of Forensic Medicine at Abu Kabir.
Lebetkin was studying for a master’s degree at the Hebrew University, and worked at Hadassah University Medical Center in Jerusalem’s Ein Kerem. She also had a bachelor’s degree in X-ray technology from Bar-Ilan University.
On October 17, Lebetkin had breakfast with her sister Malka in their apartment in the Kiryat Yovel neighborhood, and then left for a test at Bar-Ilan University around 11 a.m. Malka reported her missing later that day, after Rachel failed to arrive for her test.
Dozens of Lebetkin’s friends from school and work joined police and special forces in a series of searches for Lebetkin. She had not taken her passport, so the family believed she was still in the country but may have wanted to “disappear for a short period of time,” Malka told The Jerusalem Post in October.
The family also hired a private investigator.
Lebetkin’s friends organized searches via Facebook, though in recent weeks the searches had stopped because the family simply had no idea where to look.
The group reached nearly 1,000 people, many of whom didn’t even know Lebetkin.
The two sisters were “very close,” said Malka, who is just 14 months younger than her sister. They grew up in Jerusalem after their parents made aliya from the United States.
Family members declined to talk to the Post on Saturday.