Israeli divers find girl’s remains in suitcase

ISRAELI divers yesterday found a red suitcase containing a small skull, bones and clothes, which police said may belong to a 4-year-old French girl whose grandfather has been jailed over the slaying.

An autopsy was under way, but police said they were convinced the body found in the river in Tel Aviv was Rose Pizem, who has been missing since May.

The discovery marked a breakthrough in a sordid case that has captured the nation’s attention.

“We found the girl’s body but it needs to undergo tests so we can be completely sure it’s her,” Police commissioner David Cohen told reporters.

The disappearance has been front-page news in Israel for weeks, with Israelis transfixed by images of the innocent auburn-haired child and the romance between her young mother and a man who was her estranged husband’s father.

Rose’s grandfather, Roni Ron, initially told police he had killed the girl in a fit of rage and threw a suitcase containing her body into the Yarkon River.

But recently, he said he confessed under duress. He and the girl’s mother, Marie-Charlotte Renault, have been arrested.

Rose’s father, Benjamin Pizem, said “I was shocked when I saw the images on television of the suitcase.”

The girl’s parents lived together in France, where Rose was born. But when they went to meet Pizem’s father in Israel, Renault fell in love with the grandfather.

Pizem returned to France and took the girl with him, but Renault suspected he abused her and brought her back to Israel. Renault had two daughters with Ron.

Although Rose has been missing since May, authorities weren’t aware she had disappeared until late July, when Ron’s mother wrote a letter to social services.

The case has prompted soul-searching in Israel, with people questioning how a little girl could disappear without anyone noticing.