Always on the agenda for 15 years

On March 3, 2009, the body of a young girl, her head severed from her torso, was found inside a guitar case in a trash container in Beşiktaş. During their investigation, police determined that the body belonged to 17-year-old Münevver Karabulut. The killer was Cem Garipoğlu. There is only one question regarding this murder, which has remained on the agenda for 15 years: 'Is Cem Garipoğlu alive?', 'Did he die?'...

I was working at Habertürk Newspaper. The date was March 3, 2009. Around 21:00-22:00 in the evening, my General Manager Ramazan Kurnaz called and said, 'A girl's body, decapitated and in a guitar case, was found in a trash container in Beşiktaş. We don't know who she is or what happened. Get out there. I've sent a vehicle for you.' While I was getting ready, I called my source at the Beşiktaş police department. They put me on hold. Meanwhile, the transport driver arrived. After I got into the vehicle, the friend I had called at the police department returned my call. I asked for details about the murdered girl. At first, they didn't want to say. Then, they said, 'Her name is Münevver Karabulut, she is 17 years old.' When I asked if it was known who committed the murder, they said they absolutely couldn't say. After a little pressure, they said Cem Garipoğlu. They said he was Hayyam Garipoğlu's nephew. When I asked for his family's address, they said they would be at the Levent Police Station shortly, and we hung up. I immediately called my manager Ramazan Kurnaz, told him I was on my way, and shared the information I had received about the murder. When I told him the killer was Cem Garipoğlu, he said the case was very significant. Afterward, I called a reporter friend from the newspaper and sent them to the Levent Police Station for the family of the murdered Münevver Karabulut.

I went to the crime scene where the body was found. I got home in the early hours of the morning. A day later, the murder was the top story. However, no one knew who the killer was. On the night of the murder, we had filmed everyone, including the family, and gathered all the information. While all members of the press were struggling to gather information about the murder, I went to Cem's school and address in Bahçeşehir. I was in constant contact by phone with central reporter Hüseyin Şentürk and Public Order Bureau reporter Mustafa Şekeroğlu. I went to the school, spoke with the administrators, obtained a picture of Cem Garipoğlu, and sent it to my newspaper via email.

A day later, Turkey saw that the person who committed the murder was Cem Garipoğlu and saw his picture in our report. Afterward, we continued our pursuit every day in case Cem could be caught. We filmed and reported on every place, including where Cem had stayed. Our colleague Mustafa Şekeroğlu, who signed off on many successful reports and reached the footage in this murder, this time took the photo of the saw used in the murder from the file and reported on it.

197 days later, Cem Garipoğlu surrendered. I went to the Public Order Bureau that night as well. Garipoğlu, who spent the night at the bureau, was later taken to the Juvenile Bureau. As he was descending the stairs of the Public Order Bureau, we saw Cem Garipoğlu, whom we had been reporting on for about 6 months, for the first time that night. Cem Garipoğlu was arrested and sent to prison. On October 10, 2014, he committed suicide by hanging himself in Silivri No. 5 L-Type Prison.

However, no one believed Cem Garipoğlu's suicide. Rumors, social media posts, and even news reports were constantly made claiming he didn't die and had fled abroad. Münevver Karabulut's family applied to the prosecutor's office to have the grave opened. We included the answers to these questions in an interview we conducted with a retired homicide detective who participated in the autopsy. In the interview published on 12punto.com.tr on October 6, 2023, the police officer stated that every moment from the vehicle entering the Forensic Medicine Institute gate until the autopsy was performed was recorded on camera and photographed. On the very day this interview was published, Cem Garipoğlu's father went to the Silivri Chief Public Prosecutor's Office and requested that his son's grave be opened. Following this interview on 12punto, another development occurred. The Silivri Chief Public Prosecutor's Office requested the video footage of the procedures performed during Garipoğlu's autopsy from the Istanbul Forensic Medicine Institute Presidency. After reviewing this footage, the prosecutor's office will once again answer the question of whether Cem died or is alive, years later.