Israeli security forces early Sunday found the body of Christine Logan, an American tourist woman feared kidnapped by Arab assailants while hiking with a friend near Jerusalem the day before.

Logan's friend, 46-year-old Kaye Susan Wilson, was hospitalized after she managed to escape her attackers despite multiple stab wounds and her hands tied behind her back.

Open gallery view Israeli emergency personnel carry the body of U.S. tourist Christine Logan, discovered in a wooded area near Jerusalem on December 19, 2010. Credit: AP

Wilson, an immigrant from the United Kingdom who now resides in a Jerusalem-area community, told paramedics and police officers that she and Logan were assaulted by two Arab men while hiking at Khirbet Hanut, an archaeological site near Beit Shemesh.

Wilson said that she pretended to be dead to escape further attack and then managed to flee the scene and reach the road; Logan did not. After speaking briefly to investigators, Wilson was taken to the Hadassah University Hospital, where her condition was reported to be stable.

Police identified Logan's body early Sunday and are continuing to focus their investigation on the circumstances of the incident and searching after the perpetrators. Jerusalem District Police Chief Aharon Franco said on Saturday that the investigation would not rule out the possibility of the incident having been a terrorist attack.

Security forces launched a massive manhunt for Logan and her attackers shortly after the attack on Saturday. The search was expanded later in the day to include hundreds of Israel Defense Forces and Border Police troops. Police and the Shin Bet security service were also brought in to investigate the possible presence of terror cells in the area.

Roadblocks were put up, checkpoints along the Green Line were fortified and Route 375 was closed at one point to prevent the perpetrators from finding refuge in a Palestinian village in the area.

Items of clothing were found at the site of the stabbings, but there were no signs of Logan until into the night. Searchers were hindered by the absence of photographs or other identifying items that are usually available in such cases, as the missing woman is not an Israeli citizen or resident.

Investigators went to Hadassah Hospital, where they tried to coax additional details about the incident and the missing woman from Wilson, who was said to be in a dazed and groggy state, although completely conscious, since the incident.