Turkish ‘serial killer’ admits murdering three

İZMİR/ ISTANBUL – Doğan News Agency

A suspected serial killer, captured on June 12 in the western province of İzmir, has pleaded guilty to killing three people. 

During initial interrogations, suspect Atalay Filiz admitted that he killed Fatma Kayıkçı - a mother of two, who was found dead in the Tuzla district of Istanbul on May 28 - three years after being on the run following his first two killings.

After being brought to Istanbul from İzmir late on June 12, Filiz was sent to the city’s Çağlayan Court House early on June 13. 

According to Filiz’s statements, the series of murders began on Sept. 16, 2013 when he killed the son of a major general, Göktüğ Demirarslan, and his Russian girlfriend Elena Radchikova, after the two grew suspicious of him for the 2011 disappearance of Filiz’s girlfriend at the time, Olga Seregina. Denying any involvement in Seregina’s disappearance, Filiz said he killed Demirarslan and Radchikova because of their mounting suspicions.

After the two murders, Filiz was on the run for three years and had been living in Tuzla as Furkan Altın, a fake identity, for one-and-a-half years, working at a teahouse owned by the family of Fatma Kayıkcı, Filiz’s third alleged victim.  

Filiz said he killed Kayıkçı, a history teacher in Tuzla, after suspecting that she learned of his real identity. 

“Like everybody, she also knew me as Furkan. But one day she yelled at me as Atalay. I was surprised but tried not to show it. I didn’t like this situation and I was worried that everyone would learn about my real identity. So I decided to kill Fatma Kayıkçı, who posed a danger to me,” said Filiz. 

Police believe that Kayıkçı learned about Filiz’s real identity when she entered a locked room in Filiz’s home and found documents belonging to him. 

Being brought to Istanbul from İzmir late on June 12, Filiz was sent to Çağlayan Court House in Istanbul early on June 13. 

Found dead in an area close to her home, Kayıkçı was reported missing after a pair of women’s shoes, alongside traces of her blood, was found at the apartment of one of her neighbors residing on the ground floor. Police found Kayıkçı’s body on May 28, buried under a tree in a nearby uncultivated plot of land.

As part of the investigation into Kayıkçı’s murder, video footage of Filiz carrying the teacher’s body inside a wheeled suitcase emerged, with police retrieving the bag from a waste container. Securities sources say that around 3,000 Turkish Liras believed to be in Kayıkçı’s personal bag was missing, amid suspicions that it was stolen by the murderer. 

Filiz was spotted by surveillance cameras in the Çeşme district İzmir but police were unable to capture him. His detention came after he was identified by a passenger on a minibus en route to from İzmir to Gümüldür. After noticing that he had been identified, Filiz got off the bus and boarded another bus heading in the opposite direction. Police then stopped the second bus that Filiz was traveling and detained him.