Suspect in Leah Malka Murder Issued Threatening Texts Before Blast
New threatening text messages reveal the prime suspect in the murder of 35-year-old Leah Malka pressured her months before she was killed in an Ayalon Highway car bombing.
Two months before 35-year-old Leah Malka from Rishon LeZion was killed in a car bombing, her ex-husband and primary murder suspect, Chen Cohen, sent her a series of threatening messages forcing her to choose between calling the police or facing criminals amid a financial dispute. The newly uncovered text messages, broadcasted during a prime-time news edition, reveal that investigators had not previously obtained these specific communications. Police have yet to establish a concrete evidentiary foundation linking the ex-husband directly to the homicide.
Threats Preceding the Explosion
Leah Malka, a mother of a two-year-old toddler, was killed last June when an explosive device weighing approximately half a kilogram, attached to the vehicle driven by her brother, detonated on the Ayalon Highway. Her ex-husband, Chen Cohen, was subsequently arrested on suspicion of involvement in the murder, against the backdrop of contentious divorce proceedings and ongoing disputes between the two. Malka's family members stated that even before the murder, Cohen had issued severe threats against her and her relatives regarding the custody battle over their daughter. Tom Nisani, Malka's cousin, stated in an interview that Cohen explicitly threatened to murder the entire family, as well as his own two-year-old daughter. According to the family, they had previously approached the police in an attempt to warn them of the clear danger he posed.
Previous Threats and Defense Response
Earlier investigative reports revealed messages sent by Chen to Malka's family members approximately two months prior to the incident. To her father, he wrote that he would spend 200 years in prison to avenge anyone who hurt him, and to her mother, he warned them to sleep with open eyes. Malka herself also received direct threats, including an audio recording in which he threatened that their daughter would die if she did not return his identity card. Attorneys Amir Kimhi and Rais Abu Saif, representing the suspect, stated: "The legal proceedings regarding our client are taking place in court, and we must all leave the process in the courtroom rather than in the media."
