Grandfather, mother arrested

JERUSALEM — In a case that has absorbed Israeli media, police said Tuesday they have arrested the grandfather and mother in the disappearance of a 4-year-old French girl, saying they fear the girl is dead.

Police said the grandfather, who they also identified as the mother's lover, admitted killing the child, Rose Ron, and dumping her body in a river. However, he also gave several other accounts, including that he trafficked the girl to Palestinians, police said.

Ilan Ben-Shalom, head of the police team investigating Rose's disappearance from the Mediterranean coastal resort of Netanya, said the mother was arrested two weeks ago with her lover, who is the father of her former husband.

The arrests followed a tip from the woman's mother, who said she had not seen the child for several months and feared for her well-being, he said.

The partial lifting of a court-imposed gag order revealed a bizarre love triangle in which Rose's grandfather became her stepfather, falling in love with his son's young bride and fathering two more daughters with her.

"According to the suspects' statements so far, there is a strong suspicion that Roni and Marie are involved in violent abuse and the murder of Rose," Ben-Shalom said. Local media identified the grandfather as Roni Ron, a 45-year-old Israeli, and the mother as a Frenchwoman, Marie Pisam, 23.

Ron's lawyer, Revital Swid, said her client admitted hitting Rose in a burst of anger as she cried in the back seat of the car and that later, stricken by fear and remorse, he concealed her corpse. Ron said Marie was unaware of the killing.

No body has been found and there is no forensic evidence proving she is dead.

The case has absorbed the Israeli media since police launched a public appeal Sunday for information on Rose's whereabouts. The blue-eyed, brown-haired girl's picture filled the front pages of newspapers and was featured on TV and radio newscasts, eclipsing a visit by the U.S. secretary of state and the conflict with the Palestinians.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, police investigators gave this account:

Rose's father, Benjamin, was the illegitimate offspring of a brief relationship between Roni Ron and a French tourist and the boy grew up in France without knowing his own father, police said. Benjamin met Marie in France, and after Rose's birth the teenagers got married and visited Israel to explore Benjamin's roots. After meeting Ron, however, Marie fell in love with him and stayed on in Israel.

Marie won custody; Benjamin returned to France. Marie set up a home with Ron and gave birth to two more daughters, now 1 and 2 years old.