Israeli artist Orit Oged admits involvement in drug-related double murder

Israeli artist Orit Oged signed a plea deal for a double murder trial in California, on July 30, according to Israeli media.

She incriminated her husband while admitting that she helped him carry out the double murder of Mr. William and Mrs. Yesenia Larsen in 2021.

Orit Oged, formerly of Moshav Ramot in the Golan Heights, is an award-winning graduate of Bezalel art school, and US-based dance teacher. She allegedly became involved with a large coast-to-coast drug business, operating from a logistics center in the Wild West, in a remote area on ​​the California-Arizona-Nevada border .

After they were identified, it turned out that they were the Larsen couple who were arrested in 2018 with about 40 kg of drugs and were tried for it. Later, it was suspected that this murder was somehow related to the disappearance of Jered Stefansky, a 26-year-old man from California, on June 19, 2020, after leaving his home in the Mound House area to collect $400,000 for a drug deal. He was not seen until his body was found on March 16, 2021, in a makeshift grave in the desert in the state of Nevada. A few days later, Oged, her husband, Cory Spurlock, and their accomplice were arrested on suspicion of involvement in Larsen's murder.

Now it appears that Larsen's murder was pre-meditated, spurred by drug deals. 35-year-old Orit Oged and her 36-year-old husband Cory Spurlock are also accused of distributing about 1,000 kilograms of marijuana, hundreds of pounds at a time, several times a month, under the cover of an alleged restored and refurbished furniture business, which they supposedly delivered to customers.

The marijuana came from California and Oregon. The money came from the East Coast, the marijuana came out of a warehouse in the same town, Mound House, Nevada, and authorities say that Oged and Spurlock had already made such transports to New York after Larsen, who had recruited Spurlock on the promise of millions, brought the drugs to them in Montana.

Plea bargain

According to the indictment, Orit Oged admitted that she knew that her husband and his accomplice Bradley Kohorst intended to harm William Larsen, and she knew that her husband was carrying a knife and a gun on him. She also said that in the days leading up to the murder, they began tracking Larsen, and through the social network, they also learned that William Larsen's wife was with him.

Oged admitted that she bought a mobile phone as a means of tracking Larsen's movements. Oged and Spurlock came to California from their home in Montana, via Arizona. She drove a rental car. They located the Larsens, and on November 8, 2020, they followed them from Reno, Arizona, through Carson City.

Around the town of Bridgeport, Ogad flashed the car's lights to Larsen, who had stopped on the side of the road. The prosecution claims that Oged watched her husband get out of the car with his gun, and approached Larsen's car to confront him. In a short time, she heard the sounds of gunfire, and according to the indictment, she was the one who later drove the Larsen couple's car away from the scene. The couple's bodies were later found by a snow removal vehicle.

Oged, as well as her husband, has both since completely denied the crime. Oged expressed fear that she would be convicted and sentenced to death. Now, following her confession and the deal she signed at the beginning of the month, she is expected to "only" have one life sentence and a fine of 10.5 million dollars. The trial in federal court is being held in Las Vegas.