One mistake was enough for the special team

Yusuf Kavuk is 32 years old. He works as a chef. During his time working in Alaçatı, İzmir, he met Derya Altun, who was there on vacation. A romantic relationship subsequently developed between them. When Altun went to Macedonia, where she was a student, Kavuk went with her. A day later, Derya Altun's other boyfriend, Harun Ateş, also went to Macedonia. Kavuk proposed to Derya there and was rejected. It was after these moments that the journey to death began for Kavuk. Months later, in İnegöl, Bursa, he was stabbed to death by Harun Ateş. His body was dumped in a wooded area and covered with stones. We researched the details of the investigation into the case of Yusuf Kavuk, whose body was found while he was being sought as a missing person. We wrote about how the special team consisting of experienced police officers solved the case.

Yusuf Kavuk's family filed a missing person report after he suddenly disappeared in Nevşehir on July 4, 2023. Following investigations that determined Kavuk had gone to İnegöl, the Nevşehir prosecutor's office forwarded the situation to the İnegöl prosecutor's office. Upon this, the İnegöl police determined in their investigation that Yusuf Kavuk had come to İnegöl. The matter was transferred to the Bursa Provincial Police Department's Missing Persons Bureau. However, when he could not be found by November and suspicions of murder increased, the case was transferred to the Public Security Branch's Homicide Bureau. A special team was formed with the knowledge of İnegöl Chief Public Prosecutor Veli Ecir, Bursa Provincial Police Chief Dr. Sabit Akın Zaimoğlu, and Public Security Branch Manager Lütfü Zileli. The team formed within the homicide bureau was composed of successful and experienced police officers who had solved many cold cases. While the special team conducted the matter with great diligence and secrecy, the family appeared on Müge Anlı's program this time.

So, what had been done in the file during the 4-month period before the special team took over? Whose statements were taken? What was said? They read and examined everything one by one. They saw that the statements of Harun Ateş and Derya Altun, the last people Yusuf Kavuk met, had been taken after the missing person report. The special team established contact with these two individuals and began to listen to them as well. Harun Ateş repeated the statement he had given previously to the special team. "Yusuf called me from a phone booth at the Bursa Bus Terminal. He stated that his phone was not working because it was from abroad, so he was calling from the booth and that he was at the Bursa Bus Terminal. I went with the car I rented and picked him up. We hung out all day. Then he left me," he said.

HE REQUESTED THE SAME VEHICLE BECAUSE THERE WAS NO GPS

The Homicide Bureau special team were experts in these matters. They were the team that had taken many cold case files off the shelf and solved them. The teams immediately went to the company where Harun Ateş rented the car and requested the GPS log of the rental car Ateş used on July 4, 2023, the day Yusuf Kavuk disappeared. However, the company owner stated that there was no GPS in that vehicle. He also stated that a few weeks after returning the car, Ateş came back and wanted to rent a car, specifically requesting the same vehicle. Because he knew there was no GPS in that vehicle. In fact, the stage that led to solving the murder began with these statements from the company owner. Because Harun Ateş had rented the vehicle without GPS again. But there was something he did not know. The company owner had installed a GPS in this vehicle, which did not have one, after it was returned.

AFTER THIS DETAIL, THE SPECIAL TEAM BEGAN TO FOLLOW THE TRAIL

The special team immediately requested the vehicle's log. Examining the GPS records of the vehicle handed over by the company owner, the Homicide Bureau special team saw that Harun Ateş had gone to a point in Bilecik Bozüyük at short intervals and that the vehicle had waited there for a while. Upon this, when the teams went to the area where the GPS showed the location, they saw that it was a place with a cliff in the forest.

Returning to Bursa, the special team called Harun Ateş again. They asked why he stopped there and why he went to that region twice. Ateş stated that his vehicle broke down. He said he took it to a mechanic. Of course, he did not know that the team in front of him was the best at their jobs. When they asked which mechanic, he gave an address in the village where the body was found. When the special team went to verify, they saw that there was a car wash business at the point described instead of a mechanic. Ateş had the car he used to transport the body after the murder cleaned there. For the trunk with bloodstains, he had said, "I carried a sacrificed animal because it was the period of Eid al-Adha, that's why there is blood." 'There is no such thing as a perfect murder,' Harun Ateş had given false statements, but he had also left details regarding the murder. The experienced special team now confirmed that Harun Ateş had killed Yusuf Kavuk; all that remained was a confession and finding the body.

The special team placed both Harun Ateş and Derya Altun under physical and technical surveillance. When the date showed January 2, 2024, the operation was launched, and Harun Ateş, along with Derya Altun, and 5 others were detained. Derya Altun was arrested by the court she was referred to on January 5, 2024, and sent to prison. Derya Altun told the Homicide Bureau special team that she had no knowledge of the murder and that she only found out when Kavuk's brother called her and said he was missing, stating, "I told Harun Ateş one day that I would buy an iPhone headset for my son. He said he had one and that I shouldn't buy one for nothing. He brought a headset from the car. When I plugged it into my own phone to check if it was broken, the text 'Yusuf's headset' appeared. I said to Harun, 'What is this headset doing with you? Yusuf is missing. How can you give it to me?' He said, 'Oh, he got out of the car quickly that day. He must have taken my headset by mistake. It must have gotten mixed up.' It didn't cross my mind at that moment."

Harun Ateş, on the other hand, used his right to remain silent at the police station. The experienced special team was so sure that Ateş had committed the murder. While taking Harun, who used his right to remain silent, to the courthouse, Ateş asked about Derya on the way. After the special team told him she had been arrested, Ateş said, "Brother, she is innocent and has no knowledge of it. I killed him. I will tell you everything," and described the murder as follows:

"I picked Yusuf up from the bus terminal. After a while, we started arguing because of Derya. I stopped the car near the Furniture Market. We got out. He took a knife out of his pocket and started swinging it at me. I took it from his hand and stabbed Yusuf to death. I started by stabbing his throat and then randomly into various parts of his body. Then I put the body in the trunk of the car. I drove around with the body that day. At night, I went to Derya as if nothing had happened. I didn't tell her anything. In the morning, I got up and took it to the wooded area in Bilecik Bozüyük, which I knew from before, and dumped it. I covered it with stones." He said, "After the murder, I went to the wooded area a few times with Derya and her family, using other people's vehicles under the pretext of picking mushrooms and having a picnic. I would leave them and check the body."

As a result, the special team consisting of experienced police officers solved a murder. Harun Ateş and Derya Altun were arrested for the crime of 'Intentional Killing' and sent to prison. 'There is no such thing as a perfect murder,' just as in this saying, when the special team is professional, we have seen how small mistakes and persistent follow-ups turned the case of the missing Yusuf Kavuk into a murder investigation and ensured the capture of the suspects. One mistake was enough for the special team.