More than 100 testimonies and investigative actions worldwide: an unusual step in the Jerusalem murder case
First publication: To assist in solving the case, an additional police investigation team will examine the murder case of Anastasia Orlov. In January 2025, she was found in her apartment without signs of life. Since then, 16 gag orders have been issued in the case, and attempts have been made to trace every lead. Police: The scene was very complex, partly due to findings that cannot be detailed.
More than a year and a half after the murder of Anastasia Orlov in Jerusalem, and following a large-scale investigation that included collecting more than 100 testimonies and investigative actions carried out in several countries around the world, the Jerusalem Central Unit is trying an additional direction in an attempt to achieve a breakthrough in the case. At the request of the investigating unit, the full investigation file has been transferred in recent weeks for examination by an additional police investigation team, with the aim of gaining a fresh approach and a different angle on the materials collected.
The additional team was asked to review the file again and examine whether, among the testimonies, findings, and dozens of investigative directions already checked, it is possible to identify a detail that did not receive sufficient weight, a gap that has not yet been examined, or a new direction that might advance the investigation. Responsibility for the file remains with the special and compartmentalized team in the Jerusalem Central Unit, and the move is intended to bring "fresh eyes" to the investigation — following more than a year and a half in which no significant breakthrough was recorded.
The case began on January 17, 2025, and since then 16 gag orders have been issued in the case, which allowed some of the actions to be carried out away from the public eye. On that day, Orlov, 38 and a mother of one, was found without signs of life in her apartment in the Kiryat HaYovel neighborhood of Jerusalem. She worked in the cardiology unit at Hadassah Hospital and studied at a university in Jerusalem, where she completed two degrees in the field of health systems. Her acquaintances spoke after the murder about her love for animals and her volunteer work in the field.
At the beginning of the investigation, several possibilities regarding the circumstances of her death were checked, but later questions arose following the findings collected. The file was transferred from the Moriah station to the Central Unit of the Jerusalem District, and since then it has been investigated as a murder case by a special and compartmentalized team. Since then, investigators have tried to trace every possible lead: dozens of directions were checked, a lot of information was collected, and a long line of people gave testimony. The police explain that the scene was very complex, partly due to findings that cannot be detailed.
During the investigation, various scenarios regarding the circumstances of the death were examined, including by an independent team, but the file continues to be investigated as a murder with the goal of reaching the truth. Every few weeks, the Jerusalem District Commander, Nitzav Avshalom Peled, holds a situation assessment and status update on unsolved murder cases. Within this framework, the Orlov file is also examined, including the findings collected, the actions already taken, and possible directions for continuation.
