"Beat & Release": 10 Years Later Man's Remains Found in Earthquake Rubble, Ex-Wife and 2 Brothers Charged, in Malatya

türkçe links to original Turkish article

(Hürriyet Newspaper, 23 July 2024)

        It took an earthquake to foil the perfect crime.

At the beginning of  2014 Hüseyin Bağatur (36) and his wife Hediye 

Geçit, both living in Malatya's Doğanşehir district, decided to divorce.  

Shortly afterwards Hüseyin bey disappeared (!) and Hediye hanım had

a new house built for her and her three children. 

During the earthquake that occurred on 6 February 2023 Hediye hanım's

new house collapsed.  Hüseyin bey's relatives noticed that Hediye hanım

frequently came to the area where the house was and, their suspicions

aroused, they notified the police. 

In the course of the renewed investigation into Hüseyin bey's 

disappearance, police tapped Hediye hanım's phone and observed that

she was frequently in contact with brothers Rıza and Bayram Türker

and that the subject of their conversations was the collapsed house's

rubble.  Police also determined that when the house was being built

in 2014 the Türker brothers' phone signals were detected in that area. 

With a search warrant, police had a sniffer dog roam the rubble and

(sure enough!) the dog reacted to some bones which police assumed

to be those of Hüseyin bey, missing for 10 years.  The bones have been

sent to the police forensic lab for DNA analysis and Hediye hanım,

along with the Türker brothers, have been jailed.