Police discover violent murder of young woman in Turkey’s south

ADANA

Police teams in the southern province of Adana have tracked down the alleged killer of a 27-year-old woman whose dismembered remains were found on Dec. 7.

F.K., who were worked in a teahouse, admitted to choking Songül Erçil to death after she allegedly attempted to use drugs in the bathroom of his teahouse before allegedly dismembering her in an attempt to reduce his chances of being discovered.  

The murder was discovered after Adana Municipality garbage dump workers informed police after finding a severed leg inside a bag in a dumpster in the Sarıçam district on Dec. 3. 

The police launched an investigation into the murder and found that the condition of the leg, which had socks and pants on it, implied that the murder might have been committed just a few days before. 

After initial findings, Adana Chief Osman Ak allocated a special team to find the assailant. 

While a group began searching in a landfill for other potential body parts, another team started their searches at the initial crime scene.

Because there was no relevant missing person report, the police suspected the female victim was living alone. 

After an extensive search in 500 dumpsters in 30 neighborhoods and the retrieval of footage from nearby surveillance cameras, the police determined that the severed leg was disposed of in the Sucuzade neighborhood. 

The police found that Erçil was living in a hostel in the Kasaplar bazaar area and had been missing for a week. The teams spotted the location where the woman was last seen and found that 37-year-old F.K. traveled to the western province of Uşak immediately after she disappeared. The police then tracked the man and captured him upon his return to Sarıçam.  

Investigations found dyed hair and blood stains in the teahouse the man worked at. 

F.K. denied the accusations at first, but later confessed to the murder and said the woman came to the tea house late at night to take drugs in the bathroom, but he refused to grant permission to the woman and started arguing with her. He said he choked her after she started swearing at him before dismembering her body.