Elif Balıkçı, from the family living in İncidere Plateau of Divriği Göndüren village in Diyarbakır, called 112 Emergency Call Center on September 10 and reported that their 11-month-old daughter Büşra had disappeared while sleeping in the tent. Following the notice, commando teams, gendarmerie public order, AFAD and UMKE teams were dispatched to the region. A large-scale search operation was launched with artificial intelligence-supported unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), drones and tracking dogs.
During the searches carried out by the teams, considering the possibility of wild animals in the field, a t-shirt, bodysuit and diaper belonging to the baby were found approximately 2-3 kilometers away from the tent. Gendarmerie teams deepened the interrogation upon the family's contradictory statements. In her second statement to the gendarmerie, mother Elif Balıkçı admitted that the first report was fiction and claimed, "My daughter did not disappear. My husband, Yusuf Balıkçı, had debts and sold the baby to others for money. One of the two people who came to the tent in a white vehicle wrapped Büşra in a blanket and took her away."
Father Yusuf Balıkçı flatly denied this claim and claimed that the child was lost. The first arrests regarding the incident began.
When the investigation was transferred to the prosecutor's office, mother Elif Balıkçı changed her statement once again. This time, the mother, who alleged murder, said in her statement recorded in the prosecutor's office report, "My first statement was not true. My husband Yusuf Balıkçı killed my daughter Büşra. He took her body to the stony land 1-2 kilometers away above the tents and left it. I am complaining about him."
Father Yusuf Balıkçı continued to deny the accusations and claimed that his wife slandered him. While the gendarmerie was examining all camera recordings on the highways, the number of detentions increased to 10.
To find baby Büşra, the stony areas on the plateau were searched with cadaver dogs. By order of the prosecutor's office, the couple's other 4 children were taken under state protection and placed in the Sivas 4 Eylül Children's Home. The suspects were sent to the courthouse under intense security measures.
Among the 10 suspects referred to the courthouse, mother Elif Balıkçı and father Yusuf Balıkçı were arrested and sent to prison for the crime of 'deliberately killing a child descendant', and their relatives Rahime Budak, Özcan Budak, Mithat Balıkçı and Mehmet Resul Balıkçı were arrested and sent to prison for the crimes of 'Destroying, hiding or altering criminal evidence' and 'Favoritism of the criminal'.
On the same day, the statements of children under state protection, taken in the presence of expert pedagogues, completely changed the course of the investigation. The children said, "Our father had a debt. A person named Mehmet, wearing a blue sweater, came to the tent that night, wrapped Büşra in a blanket and took her by car to take her to Diyarbakır."
After the children identified him through the photo, the suspect Mehmet K. was caught by the gendarmerie in Diyarbakır and brought to Sivas. In her last statement, mother Elif Balıkçı stated that her husband owed money to Mehmet K. and that he made the previous statements under their guidance, but he did not see who did not take the baby.
The new suspect, Mehmet K., who was captured and brought to Diyarbakır, completely denied the accusations made against him during his interrogation at the gendarmerie. Mehmet K. was released on condition of judicial control, as no contact or location information that could constitute a criminal element at the time of the incident or in the near future was found in the HTS records review.
