A.K. Responds to Reopening of Tair Rada Murder Case
Olya Kravchenko, previously identified as a potential suspect and later cleared, commented on the case's reopening in a TikTok video. The investigation has been transferred from the Northern District's Major Crimes Unit to the Tel Aviv District's equivalent.
Olya Kravchenko ("A.K."), who was previously presented as a possible suspect in the murder of Tair Rada and was cleared of all suspicion, has responded to the reopening of the case and the transfer of the investigation to a new team, welcoming the move.
"New information has arrived, and it has been passed to a new investigation team that now needs to check it," she said in a video posted to her TikTok account. "I wish them the best of luck. I hope, as does Tair's family, that the new information will indeed lead to the girl's murderer. They deserve peace after so many years of uncertainty and suffering."
Kravchenko emphasized that she has no fear of the renewed investigation. "I don't think it's related to me, but even if they summon me for questioning, everything is fine. I will arrive as I have every time they summoned me," she said. "In the end, the investigation file against me was closed for lack of guilt. But if new information has arrived, let them investigate to the end. I will be happy if I am needed."
Alongside this, she returned to point an accusing finger at her former partner, Adir Habani ("A.H."), whom she described as the source of the accusations against her. "I just want to hold up a mirror to the fact that that partner is the source of the whole plot," she said. According to her, he is defendant number five in a libel suit she filed, and he has avoided appearing for cross-examination five times in a row with various excuses. "He slandered me publicly, I was subjected to a media trial and accused of murdering Tair Rada. Today I am suing in the District Court," she added.
The Murder of Tair Rada: A 20-Year Mystery
It was reported on Channel 13 over the weekend that the 2006 murder case has been reopened and the investigation transferred from the Northern District's Major Crimes Unit to the Tel Aviv District's Major Crimes Unit, where a new team of investigators has begun to examine the evidence and lines of inquiry.
Tair's mother, Ilana Rada, stated that she was not updated on the move by any official body. "No official body updated us; I received this news by surprise, from the media," she said, adding that she did not contact the police after the report: "I hope that there is real substance behind this announcement, and I hope that justice will be done."
Roman Zadorov was first convicted in October 2010 at the Nazareth District Court for the murder of 13-year-old Tair Rada, and about two and a half years later was convicted a second time before the same panel. His appeal to the Supreme Court was rejected, but in 2021 the Supreme Court ruled that a retrial would be held, at the end of which he was acquitted of all charges in 2023. The head of the panel, Judge Asher Kula, determined that there is a "substantial concern that Zadorov's confession was a false confession."
One of the central directions in the reopened case is the use of technologies and advanced tools that were not available to the police during the original investigation. Three points will be re-examined: blood marks in the toilet stall, shoe prints, and DNA.
