'Writing was on the wall' for murder of Israeli woman by Lod neighbor

Yaakov Chaimovitz, 41, a resident of Lod, was confirmed as the killer of his 33-year-old neighbor, Lidar Swissa, on Wednesday morning, Israel Police said.

His arrest has been extended at the Rishon Lezion Magistrate’s Court for a week. The court also decreed that Chaimovitz be brought in for a psychiatric evaluation within 24 hours of his arrest.

Swissa was murdered outside of her apartment. Her mother was waiting outside to take her to the hospital for fertility treatments, Ynet reported, when she realized something was wrong and went to look for her daughter. She found her lifeless in the stairwell.

Chaimovitz, who lived in his deceased mother’s Amidar housing project apartment, was asked to move out of the flat several months ago, according to Walla. He had reportedly lived in the apartment since his mother’s passing some three years ago.

'Writing was on the wall,' victim's neighbors and family say

The writing was on the wall, Swissa’s neighbors told the media after news of her murder broke.

“I don’t have any words. This is very tough. She was a good kid, an angel... he murdered her in cold blood,” one of them said.

According to the victim’s sister, Swissa was previously afraid of Chaimovitz, who was knocking on her door repeatedly up until last week.

“She took the stairs because she was afraid of taking the elevator. We never thought anything like this would happen.

“They should have taken him away a long time ago. The police waited for this event to happen,” her sister said.