Shelly Dadon, the 20-year-old resident of Afula whose body was found on Thursday in the woods near Migdal Haemek. Photo: Dadon family.

The father of Shelly Dadon, the 20-year-old resident of Afula, in the Jezreel Valley, whose body was found on Thursday in the woods near Migdal Haemek, said on Friday that his daughter was murdered by a terrorist who fled to a nearby Arab village.

“We started to worry. At 2 p.m. we realized something happened,” the father told Israel National News. Earlier in the day, Shelly left her home for a job interview, but she never returned. “We contacted the police and I gave a description (of Shelly), and then they told us to come to the station, and I realized something had happened.”

Her father said he believed the motivation of the crime “was nationalistic, and still can’t digest (her murder). She was a very responsible girl.”

Israel’s Shin Bet is still hunting her killer.

Chillingly, the crime may have happened while Shelly was on her cellphone.

“They shouldn’t rest until they find her phone, maybe there are fingerprints on it,” her father said.

While on the phone with her cousin, Shelly reportedly said, “There is someone scary here, I’m being strangled!”

Her father warned other parents. He said, “There’s no security in this country. My message to parents is not to send your children alone, we don’t digest the fact that in the state of Israel you go to your workplace and don’t come back. They just butchered my girl.”

Shelly’s funeral will be held on Saturday night at 10:30 p.m. in Afula’s cemetery.