Turkey’s fugitive ‘serial killer’ a fan of ‘Dexter:’ Reports

Istanbul police raided a storage unit rented by the suspected murderer, Atalay Filiz, inside the warehouse of a logistics firm in the metropolis’ European neighborhood of Hadımköy on June 2.

A number of books and DVDs as well as a bicycle were seized as part of the investigation, while reports suggested most of the books were crime novels.

Found among Filiz’s stash was a number of DVDs of the popular TV series “Dexter” – the story of a blood spatter analyst at the Miami Metro Police Department who murders individuals who had gone unpunished through the justice system. 

Previously, numerous crossword puzzles were retrieved from Filiz’s apartment in Istanbul’s Tuzla district, where he is believed to have murdered a 40-year-old history teacher, Fatma Kayıkçı, allegedly because she had doubts about the serial killer’s real identity, as Filiz used a false identity and introduced himself as Furkan Altın. 

Filiz was also a self-proclaimed fan of Dostoevsky’s “Crime and Punishment,” a literary classic dealing with the psychology and moral dilemmas of a murderer, according to his profile on a popular Russian social networking site. 

The suspected murderer has been on the run for more than three years after he allegedly killed his childhood friend Göktuğ Demiraraslan, the son of Maj. Gen. Hasan Hüseyin Demiraraslan, and his Russian girlfriend, Elena Radchikova, on Sept. 16, 2013. 

While the motive behind the double murder remains unknown, recent reports claimed Filiz murdered the couple because they grew suspicious that Filiz was involved in the sudden disappearance of his girlfriend, Olga Seregina, who was friends with Radchikova. 

According to the latest allegations, Seregina was Filiz’s first murder and he committed the subsequent crimes in order to cover up his first killing, which he reportedly committed after the woman attempted to break up with him. 


Kayıkçı believed to be fourth victim

Speaking to Turkish daily Sabah, a childhood friend of Seregina’s said she wanted to break up with Filiz between August and September 2013, before she disappeared in December of the same year. 

“She told me Atalay was obsessed with her and wouldn’t let her go. Olga wanted to find a way to get rid of him,” Seregina’s friend, Yuliya Gordiyenko, said, adding that she used to be suspicious but she was “now sure” that Atalay murdered her friend.

Following the murders of Demirarslan and Radchikova, Filiz allegedly crossed the border into Greece and remained on the run for two years. He is believed to have returned to Turkey in 2014 using a counterfeit passport and lived under a false identity since. 

Police believe Kayıkçı might have grown suspicious of Filiz’s real identity, causing her to become the man’s latest victim. 


Seen in İzmir

While the entire country has been put on alert to find the suspected serial killer, police stated with certainty that Filiz was recently in the resort town of Çeşme in the Aegean province İzmir. 

According to reports, Filiz journeyed to İzmir on an intercity bus on May 29 and spent four hours at an Internet café in order to find a house to rent for a few days.

He later found accommodation with a student living in the city’s Buca district and spent two days at the apartment, while the student told the police that Filiz left on the morning May 31 and that he didn’t know Filiz was a fugitive.

Security authorities were investigating whether Filiz could have infiltrated into Greek territory by crossing into Chios.


Father questioned

Filiz’s father, former military pilot Cpt. İlhan Filiz, was brought to a police station on June 2 to testify on his son’s whereabouts. 

“I haven’t been seeing my son for a long while. I do not know about his situation,” he reportedly told the police.

The father also responded to questions on the storage unit in Hadımköy and said they rented the container in December 2012, when he was appointed to the capital, in order to store Filiz’s belongings, adding he hadn’t gone there since. 

Police have opened a phone line as part of the operation to locate Filiz. Anyone with information on his whereabouts is urged to call +90-212-214-4030.