A disappearance that lasted almost six years
Dana Bennett was a teenager when she disappeared on August 1, 2003 after finishing work and travelling toward Tiberias. Her disappearance generated a long-running search, but for years investigators had no body and no publicly established account of what had happened to her.
The breakthrough came in 2009. A young woman who had been a minor in 2003 gave information connecting Farhan to Dana's disappearance and led investigators toward the location of her remains. Police announced in May 2009 that the remains had been found and identified.
The investigation and charges
Farhan was already known to law enforcement for other violent offences. After the 2009 breakthrough, police investigated him not only for Dana's murder but also for other separate killings and violent crimes. Contemporary reporting recorded that he confessed during questioning and reenacted Dana's killing, although he later contested the case against him.
The prosecution charged Farhan in Nazareth District Court with Dana's kidnapping and murder and with additional unrelated offences. The woman whose information reopened the case was prosecuted separately. Because she had been a minor at the time of Dana's murder, this page follows Israeli reporting practice and does not identify her by name.
Convictions and sentencing
In March 2010, the former juvenile partner was sentenced to 14 years after a plea agreement in which she was convicted of aiding the murders of Dana Bennett and Sylvia Molrova. The court found that she knew of Farhan's plan and assisted him.
In July 2010, the Nazareth District Court convicted Farhan of Dana's murder, Molrova's murder and a third homicide involving detainee Aharon Simahov, as well as other serious offences. The trial court imposed three consecutive life sentences plus an additional 12 years.
The Supreme Court changed part of the verdict
Farhan appealed. On October 2, 2013, Israel's Supreme Court partly accepted the appeal and acquitted him of Simahov's murder because the evidence supporting that specific confession was insufficient. The same judgment left intact his convictions for the kidnapping and murders of Dana Bennett and Sylvia Molrova.
That distinction matters editorially. Farhan remains convicted of Dana Bennett's murder, but the final appellate record is not identical to the original trial judgment. The separate Simahov acquittal should not be erased merely because Dana's murder conviction survived.
Why the case remains significant
Dana's case moved from a six-year unresolved disappearance to a murder prosecution only after new witness information. It illustrates why a missing-person case can remain open for years without reliable resolution and why later evidence must be evaluated case by case rather than filling the gap with speculation.
It also shows the importance of reporting appellate outcomes accurately. A defendant can remain legally responsible for one murder even when a higher court overturns a conviction for another event tried in the same prosecution.
Timeline
August 1, 2003: Dana Bennett disappears after leaving work in the Tiberias area.
2003–2009: police and Dana's family continue searching while the case remains unresolved.
May 2009: investigators locate remains later identified as Dana's after receiving information from a woman who had been a minor at the time of the crime.
June 2009: Farhan is indicted for Dana's murder and additional offences.
March 2010: the former juvenile partner receives a 14-year sentence after a plea agreement for aiding two murders, including Dana's.
July 2010: Farhan is convicted at trial and receives three consecutive life sentences plus 12 years for the full set of offences then sustained by the district court.
October 2, 2013: the Supreme Court acquits Farhan of the separate Simahov murder but upholds his convictions for Dana Bennett and Sylvia Molrova.
Current classification
The murder of Dana Bennett is classified Solved / Adjudicated. Yahya Adwan Farhan's conviction for Dana's kidnapping and murder survived his Supreme Court appeal. The acquittal in the separate Simahov case is recorded because it changes the accurate description of Farhan's final conviction history, but it does not reopen the criminal responsibility established for Dana's death.
Sources
- Jewish Telegraphic Agency — police announcement after Dana Bennett's remains were found, May 26, 2009
- Jewish Telegraphic Agency — Nazareth District Court indictment, June 25, 2009
- Ynet / Reuters — former juvenile partner sentenced to 14 years for aiding two murders, March 15, 2010
- Ynet / Reuters — Farhan convicted and sentenced at trial, July 21, 2010
- Israel Hayom — Supreme Court upholds Bennett and Molrova convictions while acquitting Farhan of the separate Simahov murder, October 2, 2013