After ten days of intensive searches, the body of missing Chabad bochur Kasriel Nachman Keinan, 24, of Beit Shemesh, was found Thursday in the Swiss Forest near Tiberias.
Keinan had been missing for ten days after traveling north with plans to reach Tzfas. He was last known to have been in the area of the Kinneret, carrying a black backpack and a brown tefillin bag.
His disappearance prompted an extensive search involving his family, Israel Police, ZAKA volunteers and numerous search teams from across Israel.
According to his brother Daniel, investigators made progress in the case over the past day after reviewing security camera footage that showed Nachman entering and later leaving the kever of Rabbi Meir Baal Haness in Tiberias.
Police and family members had been working to determine where he went after leaving the site, while simultaneously pursuing other leads.
Daniel said Nachman had spoken with him on Sunday evening and told him that he was heading to Tzfas, but he never arrived at his destination. Cellphone location data later indicated that he had reached Tiberias.
On Monday, Nachman sent a message to his mother saying that his phone battery was running out and asking her not to worry. Contact with him was subsequently lost.
Over the following days, police, family members and volunteers conducted extensive searches in Tiberias and Beit Shemesh, reviewing surveillance footage and searching open areas and abandoned buildings. Drones, search dogs, missing-person units and volunteers from around the country joined the effort.
ZAKA said that at approximately 1:40 p.m. Thursday, its emergency hotline received a report of a body found in an open area of the Swiss Forest in Tiberias.
ZAKA Northern District volunteers responded to the scene.
“Following identification procedures, it was determined that this was the 24-year-old missing person who was last seen in the Tiberias area and for whom searches had been conducted for more than a week,” ZAKA said.
The discovery brought a tragic end to the widespread search effort that had mobilized family members, authorities and volunteers across Israel.
Baruch Dayan Ha’emes.
