How ZAKA’s Elite Units Unwittingly Trapped a Murderer
ZAKA Special Units Commander Chaim Outmezgine reveals the incredible "closing of a circle" in the Evyatar Azarzar murder. Discover how ZAKA’s Jeep unit found the body in 2019, and how their elite divers unknowingly recovered the key evidence years later that would finally bring the killer to justice.
For the public, the news of the indictment in the Evyatar Azarzar murder is just another headline. For Chaim Outmezgine, Commander of ZAKA’s Special Units, it is the conclusion of a chilling personal saga that spans seven years, two crime scenes, and a hidden connection he only just discovered.
Finding the Body: The Jeep Unit's Discovery
Writing in a moving column for Kikar HaShabbat, Outmezgine recalls the agonizing winter of 2019 when 18-year-old Evyatar went missing. He led ZAKA’s Jeep Unit through dozens of kilometers of rough terrain, enduring evasive interviews with "friends" who refused to talk and heart-wrenching conversations with Evyatar's mother.
The breakthrough came on a Friday when a volunteer, Ronen, shouted the words every investigator dreads: "I found it." Outmezgine rushed to a remote pit near Morasha, photographed a scooter’s license plate, and confirmed with the family it was Evyatar’s. He couldn't tell the mother the full truth yet, only that the bike had been found.
"It was clear," Otmazgin writes. "The murderers told him to drive near the pit, and as he approached, they executed him."
The Secret Mission: Divers in the Yarkon
Fast forward to April 2020, at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. He received a classified call from a Central District Police officer. They had a video of a motorcyclist tossing objects off a bridge into the Yarkon River. The suspect was linked to a separate, brutal murder of Michael Miller at a Tel Aviv hotel.
The mission was nearly impossible: zero visibility, sinking mud, and heaps of underwater trash. Outmezgine summoned his elite divers one by one, bypassing the usual dispatch groups to maintain secrecy. "Don’t ask questions," he told them. "Just bring your gear to the Yarkon."
To find the "drop zone," he threw an object of similar weight off the bridge, mimicking the suspect's movement in the video. Within 40 minutes, the ZAKA divers emerged with five cellphones. Forensic experts on the bank immediately declared: "The case is solved. The case is closed."
The Final Revelation: One Killer, Two Crimes
The bombshell dropped this week with the filing of the indictment in the Azarzar case. Outmezgine realized that the evidence his divers pulled from the river four years ago, for a different murder, belonged to the same man now indicted for killing the boy in the pit.
A Double Victory for ZAKA:
"I think to myself," Otmazgin concludes, "ZAKA's special units were the ones who found the boy, and without even knowing it, found the evidence that put his killer behind or the bars. I am proud of you, ZAKA volunteers!"