Mideast Report

JERUSALEM (JPS) -- A father has been arrested as the prime suspect in the murder of his 22-month-old daughter, Hodaya Kedem-Pimstein, whose body was recovered after a four-day search in a forest outside the city.

Eli Pimstein admitted Wednesday to drowning his daughter, in the bathtub and then burying her the forest, according to Army Radio.

Police found the buried toddler on Tuesday in the western rim of the forest, about a 10-minute drive from Pimstein's Kiryat Hayovel home. Pimstein reported the girl missing on Saturday afternoon.

From the very start, police questioned the father's version of events. They could not understand how a 22-month-old could have pushed open the large iron gate at the entrance to the courtyard of the family home.

Police also found a mysterious letter at his home in which he wrote to his daughter "soon our souls will be united."