Frum Meshiginer Claiming to be Moshiach Walks Around With His Wife's Decapitated Head in Teveria Gives New Meaning to "Burning the Chumetz"

Murder Scene

A man was arrested on suspicion of decapitating his ex-wife and burning the body on Wednesday in the northern town of Tiberias. According to eyewitnesses who spoke with Hebrew media, the man was seen walking in the street holding the victim's head. 

Police said they found the victim in her 30s burnt and headless in an apartment that was engulfed in flames on Nachmani Street in Tiberias.

The incident occurred at approximately 12 p.m. when police were alerted to a man walking in the streets with his clothes stained in blood and an apartment fire. The suspect was arrested shortly after police arrived to the scene.

An eyewitness told The Jerusalem Post's sister publication Maariv, that the man was seen in the street covered in blood and only later did they understand that he was apparently holding the woman’s head. “A young ultra-Orthodox man was walking around the street with his wife's head in his hands, covered in blood. No one understood what was going on and why he had so much blood on him. Only later did they realize he was holding the woman’s head.”

Maariv also reported that the man previously claimed he was the Messiah and visited a psychiatrist, who said he was not a public danger. 

Large police forces responded to the scene, located the suspect and then found the woman’s body in the apartment after firefighters were able to subdue the apartment fire. According to police the couple has no children.

“At 12:13 p.m. the MDA was informed about a dead woman with severe signs of violence. Paramedics determined the death of a woman in her 30s,” the Magen David Adom said in a statement.

Police are still investigating the incident and a gag order was placed on all details of the investigation and details of the suspect and the victim.