Nicolai BONNER
AKA "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 terms in 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.
