Yeshayahu Demner was a respected engineering professor described by students as a reserved, kindly man.
Now police suspect the 46-year-old bachelor led a double life, dedicating the last year of his life to spreading the AIDS virus until he was murdered last week.Demner's case has stunned Israel. Gay activists fear their struggle for acceptance in a conservative society has been set back years. Some lawmakers are pressing for a crackdown against people with Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome.
The story broke when police, alerted by colleagues that Demner was missing for two days, burst into his Haifa apartment Monday to discover his naked body on the couch with marks on his head from being struck.
Police said meticulous personal records found in the apartment revealed a dual identity.
David Tuval, the detective in charge of the case, said the documents showed Demner discovered he had HIV, the sexually transmittable virus that leads to AIDS, in the fall of 1993. After that, he had sex "with many dozens of men" on condition that no protection be used, Tuval said.
Police sources said the murderer might be a sex partner who discovered Demner was HIV-positive. They refuse to say if they have any suspects.
Another man was found murdered in Pardes Katz, near Tel Aviv, on Sunday, and police were investigating possible links to the Demner case, the Itim news agency said.
The second victim was a 30-year-old waiter born in Haifa, Demner's hometown, who had no criminal record. They said he suffered deep cuts apparently from stabbings, Itim reported.
Demner's colleagues and students said they were shocked about the allegations about the man they knew as the head of the electronics lab at the Technion engineering institute.
"The surprise is total," said electrical engineer Yisrael Ariel, a Technion graduate. "He was such a very nice person. He did his job well. It's totally out of character for him to transmit the disease on purpose."
Tuval said police don't know Demner's motives. But tabloids have constructed a grisly portrait of a man determined to take as many people with him as he could.