The complex investigation into the death of Eldar Dayan has reached a significant crossroads, as police announced their intention to request that the Petah Tikva Magistrate’s Court release all seven suspects in the case to house arrest. The decision follows a report submitted by the Abu Kabir Institute of Forensic Medicine, which examined Dayan's remains for 18 days. According to the report, the partial skeletal state of the remains prevented experts from determining the cause of death, leading investigators from the Sharon District Central Unit to conclude that this was likely not a murder.
A source familiar with the investigation noted that conditions at the scene were problematic, suggesting that animals may have affected the remains, which obscured potential signs of violence such as head trauma or stab wounds. It is important to emphasize that despite the change in the line of inquiry and the police assessment that there is no evidentiary basis for a murder charge, the file is not being closed. The investigation team, accompanied by prosecutor Adv. David Inbar, is now evaluating which offenses may be attributed to the suspects individually, including drug offenses, destruction of evidence, involvement in a brawl, causing injury, and potential suspicion of abandonment.
The shift to house arrest comes as the statutory maximum detention periods for the primary suspects in the case are nearing their end. The investigation has so far focused on the suspects' versions of events and documentation of incidents prior to the discovery of the body, including a fight involving Dayan and some of the suspects at a park in Hod Hasharon. Now, lacking a medical opinion establishing a definitive cause of death, police must reassess the criminal liability of each individual involved based on their specific actions, as investigators estimate that without a confession, it will be impossible to establish the exact circumstances of death.
The primary suspects, Omri Peretz and Maxim Braverman, have continued to stick to their stories after initially invoking their right to remain silent, while simultaneous confrontations were held between them and other suspects in an attempt to shed light on what occurred after they parted ways near the gas station. The legal significance of this move is a dramatic reduction in the intensity of the suspicions directed at the detainees, as the charge of murder has become implausible according to forensic findings, leading authorities to seek a factual basis for lesser offenses.