Palestinian confesses to strangling Polish tourist visiting Nazareth

Jericho man confesses to strangling woman and hiding body under rocks after she rebuffed his sexual advances.

MAY 28, 2015 14:08

Nazareth (photo credit: Wikimedia Commons) — Nazareth

(photo credit: Wikimedia Commons)

A 21-year-old Jericho man was arrested on murder charges and arraigned at Nazareth District Court on Thursday morning after confessing to killing a female Polish tourist and hiding her corpse last April.

According to Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld, 24-year-old Daria Magdalena Rozmiark’s body was found on April 19 under rocks in a wooded area by a school and construction site, near Mount Precipice in Nazareth.

Rozmiark was in the country with her father and 40 other tourists to visit Christian historic sites, he said. Police were alerted of her disappearance after she did not return to her hotel.

“Today, following a long and intensive investigation, an indictment was issued by the Nazareth District Court’s attorney’s office against Cotibh Atian in the murder,” said Rosenfeld.

“The investigation’s evidence shows that at around 5 p.m., when the woman passed by a school building in the neighborhood near her hotel and reached a path leading to a construction site, Atian noticed her and tried to talk to her.”

When Atian attempted to kiss her, Rosenfeld said the woman resisted and began to flee.

Concerned that she would report him to the police, he said Atian confessed to chasing her, throwing her to the ground, and using her scarf to strangle her to death. He then attempted to hide her body under a nearby pile of rocks.

Atian was arrested Thursday morning at his home and subsequently confessed to the murder, Rosenfeld said.

Rozmiark’s corpse has since been transferred to Poland for burial, he said.