Mystery deepens: Where did Aharon Sofer disappear?

The mystery deepens: for three days Israeli police and haredi rescue organizations, have been searching for the missing boy Aharon Sofer and there is still no lead on the case.

Israeli police dismantled the war room which was set up, but ZAKA and police continue searching with jeep units, ATVs and canine unit.

The yeshiva student, 23, from Jerusalem, was seen with certainty last Friday in the Jerusalem Forest, where he was walking with a friend before he disappeared. According to one evidence the boy slept at the Derech Hashem yeshiva in Har Nof on Friday night, and in the morning was gone.

Later on Shabbos police and volunteers arrived at the yeshiva and presented a picture of the missing boy, and boys said that Sofer slept at the yeshiva room the previous night. It should be noted that the police checked this testimony and found it credible.

Since Friday night, extensive searches were conducted by the police, and dozens of ZAKA volunteers and others are searching the area where he walked, when simultaneously a loudspeaker was activated in haredi neighborhoods.

Two young men in their 20's went out on Friday afternoon for a walk in the Jerusalem Forest. They came across a steep slope, and one of them was afraid to go down. His friend began to move forward while Aharon Sofer, a talmid of Rabbi Tzvi Kaplan's yeshiva, advanced behind him slowly.

"During the descent, Aharon's friend called to him twice or three times, to make sure he was behind him, and he answered in the affirmative," says Benzi Auiring commander of Zaka Jerusalem: "At one point he did not respond to him, but he could not go back and he continued to the end of the slope."

Only at 18:00 or so, the friend contacted the Jerusalem police, and filed a complaint about the absence, where they began looking for him. On Friday night at 1:45 police representatives called Zaka Jerusalem commander Rabbi Ben Zion Auiring, who received the approval of rabbis to begin conducting extensive searches.

Sofer was born in the United States, he is of sound mind, studying at Yeshivat Rabbi Zvi Kaplan.

In searches conducted by the police in Jerusalem, dozens of volunteers from ZAKA and Ichud Hatzala, Megillot and Gush Etzion rescue units, with the assistance of a police helicopter, knights, and various police units.

Meir Acker, Zaka Jerusalem District Operations Officer, said about the searches: "Searches are underway. During the night dozens of yeshiva students and friends joined. The searches resumed this morning with greater intensity. There are ens of people who are looking for him."

This morning, Israeli police decided to close the war room, and to assess the affair. According to police: At this point the search continues in the Jerusalem Forest en masse including volunteers of the rescue units Megilot and Gush Etzion.

Currently, the police does not rule out any lead in the case, when in recent days family and friends were questioned, in order to build a picture of the nature of the missing boy, and check if no malicious act was performed against him.

The family of the missing person does not issue any messages in an organized manner, and is in touch with officials.

The boy's parents boarded a flight to Israel last Saturday night, to be closer to the center of events. The family vehemently denies the rumor that it offered any kind of money for new information, and makes it clear that any proposal, if any, is on behalf of private parties.

"We are optimistic," said a family member, "We want to believe that the affair will end well. Correct, we realistic and are in constant touch with the officials who tell us that there is a fear for his life - but we pray that it will not be correct and Aharon will be found safe and sound."

Police seeks the public's help in locating the missing named Aharon Sofer, 23 years old resident of Jerusalem, last seen on Friday at 12:00pm in the Jerusalem Forest and then disappeared.

Description: slender physique, height 1.75 m, a short red beard, wearing glasses. He was wearing black pants, a white shirt and a black yarmulke.

Anyone who has information on the whereabouts or can assist in locating him is asked to call police in Jerusalem over the phone 02-5391520 or 100 police centers across the country.

'בחדרי' גם ברשתות החברתיות - הצטרפו!