'The Motive': 35 years later, Jerusalem family massacre yet to be solved

At just 14 years of age, a young boy shoots his entire family without batting an eyelid. What drove him to this madness?
A still from the trailer of 'The Motive' (YouTube)
A still from the trailer of 'The Motive' (YouTube)

Trigger Warning: Graphic content 

In 1968, on an unfortunate Friday night in Jerusalem, a 14-year-old Israeli boy murdered his parents and sisters in their sleep, with his father's rifle, point-blank, and no questions asked. He then quickly changed his clothes and ran over to the neighbor's house. 

Since the boy was a minor at the time he committed the crime, he was sent to a children's home to be detained for six years. When lawyers and the police dived in to investigate, the boy admitted that a green monster of some sort had entered his mind and ordered him to massacre his entire family. To this day, 35 years later, we're yet to know what his motive really was.

RELATED ARTICLES

Who is Brandon Curtis? Texas father-of-five shot dead after confronting teen boy for cyberbullying daughter

Maine woman shot and killed by longtime partner in murder-suicide 3 years after her parents died the same way

Now a grown man with a family of his own, the murderer walks a free man, although his name and identity are still unknown to the media and the public, for obvious reasons.

The creators of the documentary, Tali Shemesh and Asaf Sudri, interviewed the murderer's lawyer, Yossi Arnon, who eventually spoke about his perspective about the uneventful happenings. According to Arnon, he admitted that the boy lied and made up a fake story about the green monster, adding a lot more mystery into the case that's yet to be solved.

'The Motive' is a four-part documentary created in the hopes of digging into and finding out a little more about what was going through the boy's mind when he killed his family, in the blink of an eye. And to think, he was known for his kind, composed, and brilliant nature. What went wrong?

A similar case took place in the 2000s, in the state of Bihar in India. Amarjeet Sada, an eight-year-old boy, became the world's youngest serial killer after murdering his cousin of six years (in 2006), his baby sister who was eight months old at the time, and his neighbor's infant. 

In accordance with the Indan law, a child cannot be sent to prison, no matter what crime they commit. And so, Sada was sent to a children's home to be detained till he turned 18, in the town of Munger. Today, he no longer goes by the same name and lives somewhere unknown with a different identity. 

'The Motive' is set to drop on October 28, on Netflix.

GET THE BIGGEST ENTERTAINMENT STORIES
STRAIGHT TO YOUR INBOX.

MORE STORIES

‘Schmigadoon!’ is an Apple TV series about a modern couple who are transported back to a rustic town in the 1940s.
58 minutes ago
'FROM' is created by John Griffin and focuses on a small town that traps everyone inside
1 hour ago
Pauley Perrette played forensic scientist Dr. Abby Sciuto and often shared the screen with Brian Dietzen's Dr. Jimmy Palmer
1 hour ago
Lestat takes over the world as a rockstar as new relationships and more twists surface in the 'Immortal Universe.'
6 hours ago
Considering there are three iterations of 'Cape Fear', the end for Max Cady is different in each version.
1 day ago
Paramount+ drops all episodes of the ‘Among Us’ adaptation just after an announcement at the Summer Game Fest.
2 days ago
Peter McFerrin faces off against Seth McElroy and Jackie Goncalves in Saturday's episode of ‘Jeopardy!’.
2 days ago
After a lengthy break following Season 2, Paramount+ has shared a major ‘Lioness’ Season 3 update as Joe faces dangers that hit closer to home.
2 days ago
The three-part docuseries explores the fascinating story of doomsday cult Eternal Values and its leader, Frederick von Mierers
2 days ago
Throughout the previous episodes, Carter skipped school and looked upon Dwight as some sort of a mentor
2 days ago