‘Missing child’ Leyla died of starvation: Governor

AĞRI

A four-year-old girl whose dead body was found on July 2 in the eastern province of Ağrı lost her life due to starvation as initial findings have not determined beating or sexual abuse, Ağrı Governor Süleyman Elban said on July 3. 

Leyla Aydemir was reported lost on June 15 after she came from the city center with her parents to visit her grandfather in the village of Bezirhane.

For 18 days, teams have dugs holes, closely inspected reed fields, and headed down wells around the village, but they had been unable to bring back good news.

Aydemir was finally found dead on the shore of a creek on July 2 some three kilometers away from the village.

Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu said late on July 2 that the area was “repeatedly searched” in the past two weeks.

“We think she may have been carried there [after she died], but we should wait for the autopsy results,” he said during a live interview with private broadcaster CNN Türk.

'No mark of assault or injury'

Governor Elban said the red spots on the little girl’s body were initially thought to be the result of an assault, but this possibility has now been ruled out as experts have determined they were a result of sunburn.

“There is no mark of assault or injury on her body. There is also no sign of sexual abuse,” the governor said on July 2, stressing that three prosecutors are continuing the investigation into a possible kidnapping.

“One suspect has been detained,” the governor added.

“Missing children” have made headlines across Turkey over the past two weeks and three more missing children were added to the list on July 3.

Six-year-old Ufuk Tatar in the southern province of Hatay, 15-year-old Salih Oral in the eastern province of Siirt and 14-year-old Yusuf Yılmaz in the southeastern province of Diyarbakır are the latest additions to the list of missing children that have hit headlines in Turkish media.