Rafael Miriashvilli, 25, who once was involved in the rescue of a Jewish girl abducted by an Arab family, is rumored to have been found murdered.

By COLlive reporter

An Israeli Lubavitcher who was active in anti-missonary and intermarriage causes is rumored to have been found handcuffed and murdered.

Refael Miriashvilli, a single 25 year-old coordinator for Yad L'Achim combating anti-Jewish activity, went missing three weeks ago, leaving few traces or clues to his whereabouts.

Before leaving his parent's home in the city of Lod, he told his sister Sarah he was taking a train to the north of Israel. "I got a new job. Tell mom I prepared her dinner," he said.

Four years earlier, Miriashvilli was sentenced to a year in prison by a Tel Aviv court for kidnapping an Arab man who was involved with a young Jewish girl. She was pregnant at the time.

When he first disappeared, his mother Chanie Miriashvilli didn't connect the two incidents. But hours later she filed a police report, only to be told 'these things are common.'

This past Friday police visited the Miriashvilli home and took DNA samples, COLlive has learned.

The reason was a decaying body found in an abandoned building near the Beit Dagon Junction.

An initial investigation revealed that the handcuffed body lay there well over a week.

Police have yet to release an official statement on whether the body found is in fact Miriashvilli.