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Nicolai BONNER
A.K.A.:
"Haifa serial killer"
Classification:
Serial killer
Characteristics: Alcohol
Number of victims: 4
Date of murders:
February-May 2005
Date
of arrest:May 29,
2005
Date of birth: 1972
Victims profile: Rita Wolman,
54 / Alexander Levant, 34 / Alexander Kars, 39 / Valeri Soznov, 32(immigrants from the former Soviet Union)
Method of murder: Beaten, their faces bruised, and then their bodies were set
on fire
Location: Haifa,
Israel
Status:
Sentenced to four consecutive life
termsin prison on May 6, 2007
Nicolai Bonner (Hebrew:
ניקולאי בונר) is an
Israeli serial killer, who in the year 2005, under heavy influence
of alcohol (vodka), murdered 4 immigrants from the former Soviet
Union, 3 of them homeless, in industrial area of Haifa. The victims
were all beaten, their faces bruised, and then their bodies were set
on fire. The victims were found in an industrial area of Haifa,
Israel's third largest city, major port, and center of heavy
industry, the bodies badly burned and charred black beyond
recognition. Bonner had done this so as to hide all evidence.
Bonner was born in Moldavia, and immigrated to Israel
in 2000 with his Jewish wife, who later died of tuberculosis. After his
capture, Bonner claimed he degraded the homeless partly because he could
not get over his wife's death. Two months after his first murder, the
Israel national police began to link Bonner to the murders, after the
body of Valeri Soznov was discovered. Evidence gathered linked the
murders to Bonner, who was subsequently arrested and brought to trial.
On May 6th, 2007 Bonner was sentenced to life
imprisonment, 4 consecutive life terms and additional 17 years
imprisionement for other crimes: 5 years for attempted murder, 9 years
for aggravated rape, and 3 years for other charges including aggravated
assault and interfering with judicial proceedings.
Wikipedia.org
Serial murderer sentenced to four consecutive life
terms
By Fadi Eyadat - Haaretz.com
May 6, 2007
The Haifa District Court Sunday
sentenced Nicolai Bonner, 33, to four consecutive life sentences for the
grisly serial killings of four immigrants from the former Soviet Union,
three of them homeless.
The victims were all beaten, their
faces bruised, and then attempts were made to set their bodies on fire.
He was also sentenced to five years'
imprisionement for attempted murder, nine years' impriosonement for
aggravated rape, and three years for other charges including aggravated
assault and interfering with judicial proceedings.
Bonnet had maintained his innocence,
saying that he had confessed to the crimes under pressure, that he had
been drunk at the time and that he had made the statement for fear that
his family might be hurt if he did not.
His statements failed to persuade
the judges. They noted that, apart from his confession, he had also led
interrogators to the scenes of the murders.
Bonner moved to Israel from Moldova
in 2000. His wife contracted tuberculosis, and passed away in January of
2003. One month after the death of his wife, with a rapidly
deteriorating emotional state, Bonner requested a leave of absence from
his job at a Jaffa pipe factory.
Bonner's defense attorney Ofer
Cohen had requested that the court take his circumstances into account
when considering his sentence, citing the defendant's unstable mental
state.
Although the first murder occurred
in 2005, police did not suspect a serial murderer until the third body
of Valeri Soznov was uncovered two months later, and similarities were
noted between the crime scenes.
Homeless man found guilty of Haifa serial murders
By Itim - Haaretz.com
November 7, 2006
The Haifa District Court Tuesday
convicted Nicolai Bonner, 33, of premeditated murders and rape in the
serial killings of four immigrants from the former Soviet Union.
Three of the murder victims,
Alexander Levant, 34; Alexander Kars, 39; and Valeri Soznov, 32, moved
to Israel from the former Soviet Union, and Bonner used to drink with
these men in the abandoned buildings by the Haifa market. The fourth
victim, Rita Wolman, 54, also recently moved to Israel and lived in
Haifa's Halisa neighborhood.
Bonner was also charged with
burning the victims, destruction of evidence, and interfering with
judicial proceedings.
Bonner moved to Israel from Moldova
in 2000. His wife contracted tuberculosis, and passed away in January of
2003. One month after the death of his wife, with a rapidly
deteriorating emotional state, Bonner requested a leave of absence from
his job at a Jaffa pipe factory.
Bonner's defense attorney Ofer
Cohen had requested that the court take his circumstances into account
when considering his sentence, citing the defendant's unstable mental
state.
Although the first murder occurred
in 2005, police did not suspect a serial murderer until the third body
of Valeri Soznov was uncovered two months later, and similarities were
noted between the crime scenes. The victims were all beaten, their faces
bruised, and then attempts were made to set them on fire.
Haifa serial killer found guilty
November 7, 2006
The Haifa
District Court on Tuesday convicted Nicolai Boner of four counts of
murder and several other offenses. The court called for further hearings
on the case at which a psychiatrist is set to be present, after Boner's
defense lawyers appealed for a lenient sentence. Boner told Army Radio
that he had confessed to the crimes because he felt threatened during
the interrogation and out of fear that his daughter would be harmed.
Serial killer caught in Haifa
May 30, 2005
Haifa
Police arrested a serial killer on Sunday who has confessed to murdering
four homeless people because "they insulted him," police released for
publication on Monday.
Nicolai Boner, a 32-year-old immigrant from Moldova, was arrested on
Sunday by Haifa police investigators for the alleged murder of four city
residents since the beginning of the year.
Police are also investigating the possibility that Boner was responsible
for additional Haifa-area murders in 2004. Police said he generally
targeted homeless people who regularly wandered throughout the city.
Boner, who police said was an alcoholic and had a criminal record, beat
and murdered his victims and then burned their bodies, mostly in
abandoned buildings.
Haifa
Police Chief Asst.-Cmdr. Nir Meriesh said Boner confessed to all of the
murders shortly after his arrest on Sunday.
"His
motive was psychological and he told us that he murdered the homeless
people because they insulted him and because he was drunk," Meriesh
said. "He would beat his victims and then murder them while he was
intoxicated."
On
Monday, the Haifa District Court extended Boner's remand by an
additional 15 days. At the hearing, Boner said: "I was drunk and I am
sorry for what I did." Boner will be sent for a psychological
evaluation.
The
murder spree which Boner has already confessed to allegedly began on
February 9, with the murder of Arkia Wohlman, 52, who was found dead in
her Haifa apartment. Boner allegedly followed her to her apartment, and
when she spurned his amourous advances, he beat her to death. At his
arraignment, Boner said that he "didn't mean to kill her" and just meant
to beat her, Army Radio reported.
During the following month, Boner killed Alexander Levnat on Haifa's
Rehov Barzilai during a fight over a bottle of vodka. At the time,
police failed to recognize this murder as homicide, because the body was
so badly burned that police were unable to determine the cause of death.
"We
thought it was possible Levnat was also murdered but we couldn't say for
sure until Sunday when Boner confessed to that murder as well," the
police chief said. "The last two cases however strengthened the feeling
that we were in fact dealing with a serial killer."
At
the end of March, police found the body of Valery Suchnov in an
abandoned building on Rehov Gush Halav in Haifa. The final known victim
was Alexander Keres, whose body was discovered at the beginning of May,
also in an abandoned city building.
Meriesh said police conducted an intensive investigation to find the
murderer.
"We
finally got a lead after homeless people complained to police that there
was a man with the first name Nicolai who would roam the streets beating
them up," he said. "We were able to track him down and when we finally
arrested him he confessed to all of the murders."
Meriesh said this was the first time Haifa police had investigated a
serial killer. He said that, early on in the investigation, he made a
decision not to go public with police suspicions that a serial killer
was on the loose, so as to prevent creating hysteria.
"This
is the first time we have ever had to track down a serial killer," he
said. "We did not feel the need to create concern among the public since
we had the investigation under control and knew that he was striking a
specific sector – homeless people."
Since
the beginning of 2005, there have been at least seven murders in Haifa,
counting Boner's one-man crime wave. In all of 2004, there were eight.
