Investigators believe Tolstikov died of natural causes, though forensic results are pending.
Israeli police have uncovered a disturbing case involving a 93-year-old Holocaust survivor whose daughter allegedly buried her in the garden of their northern Israel home to continue receiving her monthly reparations and state benefits.
According to investigators, Maina Tolstikov, a Holocaust survivor from Karmiel, was receiving roughly 18,000 shekels ($5,000) a month from German restitution and Israeli social security programs.
Her daughter, Sharon Kantor, 64, is accused of concealing her death in April 2024 and continuing to withdraw the funds for more than a year and a half.
Police say the case began in early September when another daughter, living in central Israel, filed a missing-person report after growing suspicious of conflicting accounts about their mother’s health.
Both Kantor and her partner were arrested and interrogated separately. Kantor claimed her mother had been buried in Haifa, while the partner insisted he had buried her “in a kibbutz in the north.”
Weeks later, he died by suicide while in police custody, leaving investigators without a clear location for the body.
Officers arriving at Tolstikov’s home found the apartment sealed with tape, its windows shuttered, and its rooms coated in cobwebs.
A tip from a local contractor who had worked on the property led police to a section of the garden.
Excavators digging nearly three meters down uncovered clothing and, soon after, human remains. Tolstikov’s body had reportedly been stored in an old ice-cream freezer for two days before being buried.
“The atmosphere was strange and unsettling,” said Chief Inspector Alon Reuveni, head of the Galilee District’s Special Crime Unit.
“In 26 years of service, I’ve seen terrible cases, but this is one of the hardest — a 93-year-old Holocaust survivor buried in her own yard by her family.”
Before transferring the body to the Abu Kabir Forensic Institute, officers paused to recite Kaddish.
Investigators believe Tolstikov died of natural causes, though forensic results are pending.
Kantor remains under investigation for aggravated fraud, obstruction of justice, failure to report a death, and breach of legal duty.
“They simply never reported her death and kept withdrawing the funds,” Reuveni said. “The motive was purely financial.”
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