‘Shadow of Truth’ investigates the murder mystery of a 13-year-old in Israel
“Shadow of Truth” is based on 2016’s true crime Netflix series by the same name, starting with a murder and ending with widespread criticism of Israel’s criminal justice system. In 2006, the body of 13-year-old Tair Rada was found in a locked bathroom stall at her school in Israel. This series investigates the complicated murder mystery and the challenges presented for those involved in the case. With the case’s discrepancies, your perception of who the killer was might change from one episode to the next.
The episodes are recounted through reenactments, audio clips, and narrations by host Omri Rose. It appeared the murder happened at Golan Heights during the school day in plain sight. How did the murderer accomplish this without anyone seeing or hearing anything? But this case was not what it seemed. Legal proceedings are still unfolding and filled with unexpected twists and turns.
Each podcast episode inches closer to the murder trial’s final moments. In the first episode, the school psychologist told police she remembered seeing the school’s gardener entering the teacher’s lounge in a panicked state, but he was interrogated and cleared.
Next, the school’s janitor and Ukrainian immigrant, Roman Zadorov, was named as a suspect. His home was searched, sketchy materials unrelated to the murder were found, and he confessed when the police used tactics to potentially spur a confession. In actuality, nothing traced Roman back to the crime scene, since DNA and fingerprints were not found.
Police told Roman that Tair’s blood was found on his personal items, and at first Roman denied the accusations, then believed he could have gone off the rails and done something, like a murder, he did not remember. Roman was given an informant in his jail cell to try to extract more information, where Roman allegedly told him he slashed the victim twice. Then, Roman denied these details later on in the interrogation room.
But that wasn’t the end of the story. Roman soon retracted his confession, the case went to trial, and the public took issue with the verdict. Six years later, shocking information was brought to authorities and a new suspect was identified, as explained in the fourth episode. When placed under house arrest, this individual attempted to kill someone while the police were doing everything in their power to detract attention from the case. In the sixth episode of the podcast, “Shadow of Truth’s” creators unveil their latest research and explore where the case is heading today.
Shadow of Truth was created by Yotam Guendelman, Ari Pines, and Mika Timor, and is now streaming on Netflix. The podcast “Shadow of Truth” is brought to you by Gramercy Hill/Rebel Way Entertainment/Wondery, with new episodes posted weekly through November, 2021.
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