The story of the death of British Hasid Yitzhak Elmakayes in Uman turned into an almost ready-made detective story within a day. The man went into the forest to pray, was found dead, reports of signs of violence came from Israel, and the Ukrainian police opened a case under the article of premeditated murder. If you only gather these four facts and put them together, the conclusion seems to suggest itself.
But it will be incorrect for now.
The Ukrainian police, after examining the body, reported something completely different: no external signs of violent death were preliminarily found. The cause of death is still being established, and examinations have been appointed. This contradiction between the initial Israeli reports and the official investigation data is perhaps more important than all the emotional versions surrounding the incident.
Material prepared by Editorial Staff of NANews. We compared the reports of the Ukrainian police with what was published by Israeli and Jewish media because several details in this story have already managed to change meaning on the way from one source to another.
What exactly happened on September 12
The report of the discovery of the body was received by the Uman District Police Department on September 12, 2026, around noon. The man was found not in an abstract “forest near Uman,” as some publications initially wrote, but on Kotsyubinsky Street — in a forest strip opposite one of the houses.
The police identified the deceased: he was a 44-year-old British citizen living in London. He entered Ukraine on August 10, 2026, more than a month before he was found dead. The United Jewish Community of Ukraine reported that the deceased was Jewish and the father of seven children.
Israeli media call him Yitzhak Elmakayes. In the first publications, the age varied — more often they wrote about 45 years, sometimes just “about 45.” This is a common thing for the first hours after a tragedy, but now we have police data: 44 years.
According to preliminary reports from United Hatzalah, the man was discovered by Hasidim who were in the forest for prayer and solitude. When the medics arrived, there were no signs of life, and death was pronounced on the spot. The head of the United Hatzalah delegation in Uman, Aaron Ben-Harush, later confirmed the incident and reported that the organization is cooperating with Ukrainian authorities on the issue of transferring the body for burial.
“He went alone into the forest” sounds scarier than it looks for a Breslov Hasid
One of the details that works especially well in scary retellings is that Elmakayes allegedly went alone into the forest and then disappeared. Only later did the police report something that significantly changes this fragment of the story.
Investigators found people he had contact with in Uman. According to acquaintances, the man tried to communicate less with others, spent a significant amount of time alone, and repeatedly came to this forest strip to pray. So the place where the body was found was not an unexpected point or a place of an unknown meeting.
For Breslov Hasidim, there is nothing exotic here. The practice of solitary prayer — hitbodedut, התבודדות — involves a person being alone and addressing God in their own words. A forest, field, or quiet place away from people is perfectly natural for this.
This does not explain Elmakayes’s death. But it removes one artificially created mystery: the mere fact that he was alone in the forest strip does not yet speak of any crime.
Where did the “signs of violence” come from then
And here the story really doesn’t add up — and pretending there’s no contradiction would be wrong.
Several Israeli publications reported that Elmakayes’s body was allegedly found with signs of violence. Times of Israel conveyed exactly this version, citing reports in Hebrew. Walla wrote even more definitively: the body was found with signs of violence, and within the Jewish community, there is suspicion of murder, although the local police did not officially confirm it at that time.
The Ukrainian police on September 14 provided a different picture.
Their report stated: “preliminarily, no external signs of violent death were found by law enforcement”. The cause of death has not yet been named by the police, an investigation is underway, and necessary examinations have been appointed.
Who made a mistake — the first witnesses, journalists, people within the community, or the preliminary external examination simply does not yet provide an answer — is currently unknown. And guessing here is unnecessary. Damage from a fall, postmortem changes, an injury that turned out to be unrelated to the cause of death, or indeed violence — this is already the work of a forensic doctor, not Telegram or editorial offices.
It is precisely the result of the examination here that will be the document after which further discussion can take place.
But didn’t the police open a case of premeditated murder?
Yes. And this is the most convenient detail for a loud headline.
Information about the death has been entered into the Unified Register of Pre-trial Investigations under Part 1 of Article 115 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine — premeditated murder. If an Israeli reader sees only the title of the article in the Ukrainian code, the conclusion seems obvious: the police suspect that the Hasid was killed.
Not necessarily.
The Ukrainian police have a long-standing practice of registering under Part 1 of Article 115 the discovery of a body even when there are no signs of violence during the examination, and a completely different cause of death seems most likely. For example, the police in the Lviv region opened a case under this article after discovering a man in a river: no signs of violence were found, the cause was to be established by forensic examination. In Odessa, the police explicitly wrote about possible registration under Article 115 with the note “accident” when there were also no visible signs of violence on the body.
There were even more illustrative cases: drownings, discovery of a body in a park, presumed accident — and the procedural article at the first stage is still the same.
Therefore, “a case has been opened under Article 115” and “the police have established that a murder occurred” are two completely different phrases.
And for NANews — News of Israel | Nikk.Agency it is more important not to spread the scary version before the investigation, but to show the reader why the Ukrainian legal wording looks harsher than the actual position of the police.
Why the community is seeking the speedy transfer of the body
There is no mystery here. After Elmakayes was found dead, Jewish organizations began working with Ukrainian authorities to transfer the body for burial as soon as possible.
Aaron Ben-Harush from United Hatzalah confirmed that representatives of the organization are dealing with this issue. Israeli Walla also reported that the international division of ZAKA is involved in the procedure of releasing the body and its further burial.
From here, probably, the more colorful version about “the community raised all connections and is trying to wrest the body from Ukrainian experts” grew. There are indeed connections and negotiations, and the participation of several organizations too. But we found no confirmation of the story about some “local authorities,” pressure on investigators, or attempts to interfere with the investigation.
The situation itself is quite conflictual, without embellishments. For a religious Jewish family, a delay in burial is a heavy thing, and they try to lay the body to rest as quickly as possible. For a Ukrainian investigator, the sudden death of a foreign citizen during a massive international pilgrimage is a case where handing over the body before necessary procedures and then discovering that an important examination was not conducted would be a completely different problem.
Both sides are in a hurry here. Just each for their own reason.
And another Ukrainian-Israeli layer
Elmakayes’s death did not occur on an ordinary September day. Tens of thousands of pilgrims were in Uman, the city was living in a special mode, and Ukrainian and Israeli police were working together.
NANews had already detailed before the holiday how Israeli police arrived in Uman and began joint patrols with Ukrainian colleagues. The Ukrainian police, National Guard, rescuers, and representatives from Israel participated in maintaining order. Later, the number of arriving pilgrims exceeded initial forecasts.
Therefore, the death of a British citizen almost automatically became a case where several systems intersected: Ukrainian police, Israeli representatives, United Hatzalah, ZAKA, the religious community, and the family of the deceased.
Hence the huge number of versions. Someone saw the body and decided the person was beaten. Someone heard the article number of the Ukrainian Criminal Code and read it as official confirmation of murder. Someone saw the struggle for the speedy release of the body and already drew “diplomats and local authorities.”
For now, the solid part of the story is much shorter.
Yitzhak Elmakayes was 44 years old. He lived in London, was the father of seven children, and arrived in Ukraine on August 10. On September 12, he was found dead in a forest strip on Kotsyubinsky Street in Uman — in a place where, according to acquaintances, he had already come to pray. During the initial examination, the Ukrainian police did not find external signs of violent death but appointed examinations and began an investigation.
There are initial reports of possible signs of violence. They cannot simply be discarded because they were there, and it was precisely with them that the Israeli part of this story began. But turning them into an established murder is even more impossible for now.
Currently, the answer lies not in a loud headline but with the forensic expert. And if the examination shows something that differs from the initial police examination, then the story will indeed change. Until that moment, it is more correct to leave the word “murder” with a question mark — as a version being checked, not as an already established fact.