The year was 1961... It was hot days of July in Istanbul. Passenger ferries, cargo ships and fishing boats were sailing throughout the day on the line stretching from the Bosphorus to Marmara, and there was intense maritime traffic off the coasts of Sarayburnu and Ahırkapı. The date sheets showed July 24th. The police were informed after parts thought to belong to a human body were noticed in the sea off the coast of Ahırkapı. During the investigation carried out by the teams coming to the area, body parts of a man were found.
MALE BODY PARTS WERE FOUND FROM THE SEA
The body recovered from the sea was not whole. It was missing its head and some limbs. No documents were found on him that could reveal his identity. According to the initial information obtained, it was estimated that the body might belong to a man approximately 40-50 years old. The police had two important questions in front of them: Who was the person found in the sea and why was his body dismembered? The body was sent to Forensic Medicine to determine the exact cause of death and how the dismemberment of the body occurred.
ATTACHED TO THE PROPELLER OF THE STEAM
In the examination carried out on the body of the unidentified man, the cause of death was evaluated as drowning. As for the absence of the head and some limbs of the body, the focus was on maritime traffic. According to the initial assessment, the man may have died by drowning in the sea, and his body might have been torn apart by the propeller of a ship or ferry passing through the area while he was being dragged.
This evaluation also changed the direction of the investigation. Although the dismembered body aroused suspicion at first, the possibility of murder fell into the background after the Forensic Medicine examination. There was an important issue left for the police to solve: Who was this man pulled from the sea? Missing applications were examined. An investigation was conducted to identify the body. However, no results were obtained in the first studies.
A WOMAN'S LOST APPLICATION
A week has passed. This time, 35-year-old Fatma went to the police and said that she had not heard from her 55-year-old husband Haydar for days. Haydar did not return home, and despite his family's inquiries, he could not be reached. Following his missing complaint, an effort was initiated to find Haydar. While his age, physical characteristics and the period of his disappearance were being investigated, the attention of the Homicide Squad teams was drawn to the unidentified male body found off the coast of Ahırkapı a few days ago. The police had a serious possibility in front of them. Could the unidentified body found off the coast of Ahırkapı be Haydar, who had been missing for days?
THE FILE HAS BEEN OPENED AGAIN
Based on this possibility, the file, which was ruled out as a murder suspicion after the Forensic Medicine's first evaluation, was re-examined. The police received detailed information about Haydar's physical characteristics from Fatma. The information obtained about the missing man was compared with the records regarding the body found off the coast of Ahırkapı.
HAYDAR COMES OUT
As a result of the studies, it was determined that the unidentified person taken from the sea was 55-year-old Haydar, thanks to the marks on his body. The police now had an identified body in their possession. However, the head and some of the body's limbs were still missing. And new questions arose. Where was Haydar before he disappeared? Who did he last meet with? How did he fall into the sea? Homicide Squad teams began to trace Haydar's last days to find answers to these questions.
HAYDAR'S LAST DAYS WERE INVESTIGATED
During the investigation, it was learned that Haydar was a mobile liver farmer. Information about his family, relatives, people he worked with and people he met with was sought. An effort was made to determine where Haydar was before he disappeared and who he last met with. The police were checking the stories of the people around Haydar one by one. The aim was to reveal as completely as possible the time period until the day he disappeared. One of the people whose information was sought was 18-year-old İsmail.
THEY MET FIVE MONTHS AGO
İsmail was not an ordinary acquaintance of Haydar. Ismail was fishing. Haydar was a traveling liver farmer. They met about five months ago. Haydar offered İsmail to work as a mobile liver farmer like him, and then took him to his home. For a while, İsmail started living in the same house with Haydar, his wife and children. For this reason, the Homicide Squad teams also sought Ismail's information. In the first meeting, İsmail told what he knew about Haydar's disappearance. However, the police were not satisfied with just listening to the stories.
CONTRADICTS APPEARED IN İSMAİL'S STATEMENT
While the Homicide Squad teams were investigating the information given by the people around Haydar one by one, it was evaluated that there were some contradictions in what İsmail said. His initial statement was re-examined. Haydar's movements before his disappearance were compared with what İsmail said. Ismail was interrogated again after some of the information given by the young man did not match the research conducted. This time the questions were more detailed. When was the last time he saw Haydar? Where was he the day he disappeared? What happened to Haydar? As the interrogation progressed, Ismail's narrative began to change. And finally the confession came.
BLOOD-CILLING STATEMENT REVEALED
18-year-old İsmail, in tears, said that Haydar was not missing, he was dead. He then confessed that he committed the murder. Ismail's statement during the interrogation also revealed details of the incident that were unknown until that day. Explaining what happened between them after they started living in the same house with Haydar, İsmail said that they were left alone at home on the night of the incident. He then described the moment of the murder with the following words: "There was an argument between us. I hit his head and knocked him unconscious." Ismail's confession did not end there. As the interrogation progressed, it began to become clear why the body found off Ahırkapı on July 24 was headless and missing limbs.
HE CUT THE BODY TO PIECES
According to the information obtained, after killing Haydar, whom he knocked unconscious, İsmail began to dismember the body. He cut off his head, feet and arms. He used two baskets to dispose of the body parts. He placed the cut pieces in two baskets and the body in the canister. He put stones in two baskets and a canister to sink to the bottom of the sea. After these procedures, Ismail had to take the body parts away from the house and throw them into the sea. He rented a boat for this.
HE SAID TO THE BOATMAN "THERE IS A STINKY GOAT"
Ismail came to the boat with two baskets containing the body parts. However, it was not necessary to understand what was in the baskets and canisters he was carrying. Therefore, he said to the boatman, "There is a stinky goat, I will throw it into the sea." he said. Convincing the boatman with these words, İsmail went to sea with the baskets and the canister containing the corpse parts. Ismail left the two baskets into the sea next to the pontoons of the Galata Bridge. He threw the canister containing Haydar's body into the sea off Sarayburnu. Thus, he tried to dispose of the body parts by dropping them into the sea from different points. What İsmail told now explained why the body found off Ahırkapı on July 24th had no head, arms and feet. However, the Homicide Squad teams were not done yet. What Ismail said had to be confirmed.
BODY PARTS WERE SEARCHED IN THE SEA
After İsmail explained where he threw the body parts, a search was carried out at sea. During the searches, one of the baskets containing stones and body parts was removed from the sea by fishermen. The removal of the basket aroused great interest in the surrounding area and many people gathered to see the found basket. The basket recovered from the sea was extremely important for the investigation. Because after Ismail said that he dismembered the body, put the pieces in baskets and threw them into the sea, he supported the narrative of a basket containing human body parts being taken out of the sea.
ARRESTED
After the other part of the body was found, Ismail was taken to the scene and given a drill. He explained once again how he committed the murder at the scene and how he dismembered the body. Sandalcı was also found and his statement was taken. In his statement to the police, Sandalcı said that he knew İsmail from the surroundings and that day he said to him, "There is a stinky goat corpse, brother, I have to throw it into the sea. I believed it and carried it. I was surprised that he threw it in different places." After the completed investigation, Ismail was taken to the courthouse and arrested and sent to prison.
THE SHIP'S PROPELLER WAS NOT SHARP
When the body found off the coast of Ahırkapı was examined for the first time by Forensic Medicine, it was evaluated that the unidentified man died by drowning and that the dismemberment of his body might have occurred as a result of being caught in the propeller of a ship or ferry at sea. Therefore, the possibility of murder had faded into the background. However, the picture that emerged with Ismail's confession showed that the incident was completely different from what was thought. Haydar's head, arms and feet were not torn off by a ship propeller. The body was dismembered before being thrown into the sea. The blood-curdling murder, which was revealed through a missing persons complaint, hit the agenda of Istanbul like a bombshell.
