BODY OF LAKEWOOD NATIVE MAY HAVE BEEN FOUND

It's just as some feared: a body found in the Jerusalem forest appears to be that of the missing NJ yeshiva student. It says here:

Israeli authorities have stressed that at present they have no firm evidence of a terrorist abduction, but confirmed that the circumstances surrounding Sofer’s disappearance are pointing in that direction.

This is just why it's becoming dangerous to hike in some parts of the country.

Update: according to this latest news, Aaron Sofer didn't die from criminal violence:

Israeli police said on Thursday they had found the body of a 23-year-old American student who went missing last week near a forest in Jerusalem and that they did not suspect a criminal motive.

Aaron Sofer, a Jewish seminary student from New Jersey, vanished last Friday while walking in woods not far from the Yad Vashem Holocaust museum in Jerusalem. His body was found earlier on Thursday.

"Following a forensic examination, the body ... was identified as that of missing person Aaron Sofer. Tests showed that no criminal act was committed and the body will be transferred to the family in the coming hours," a police spokeswoman said.

Even so, it's still terrible that an innocent person had to suffer a terrible fate.