Autopsy report released: Rojin Kabaiş's definitive cause of death determined

The definitive cause of death for 21-year-old university student Rojin, whose body was found days after she went missing in Van, has been determined by a Forensic Medicine report following an autopsy.

In the report prepared by the Council of Forensic Medicine, it was announced that Rojin Kabaiş's death was caused by drowning.

Rojin Kabaiş (19), a first-year student in the Child Development Department at Van Yüzüncü Yıl University's Faculty of Education, left her dormitory after dinner on September 27. Rojin K., who told her friends she was going to the shores of Lake Van to collect pebbles, did not return after that day.

Her friends, who could not reach Rojin Kabaiş when she did not return to the dormitory that night, reported her missing to the police the next day. On the same day, her mobile phone, headphones, snacks, and a water bottle were found on the shore.

No trace of Rojin Kabaiş could be found during the 18-day search conducted by police, gendarmerie, AFAD, and fire department teams.

However, on October 14, a citizen in the Mollakasım neighborhood of Tuşba district noticed Rojin Kabaiş's body while watering their garden. The location was approximately 20 kilometers away from the university shore.

CAUSE OF DEATH COULD NOT BE DETERMINED IN THE INITIAL AUTOPSY

According to the report by Nazlı Timur from Sabah, samples taken from the body of Rojin Kabaiş, whose cause of death could not be determined in the initial autopsy, were sent to the Istanbul Council of Forensic Medicine. Detailed examinations conducted there found no evidence of battery, force, poisoning, sexual assault, or trauma. The 1st Specialization Board of the Forensic Medicine Presidency reported that the cause of death was definitively drowning.

FATHER KABAİŞ HAD CLAIMED MALE DNA WAS FOUND ON ROJİN'S BODY

Rojin Kabaiş's body was handed over to her family following the autopsy procedures. The young student was laid to rest at the Yeniköy Asri Cemetery in her hometown of Bağlar, Diyarbakır. Her father, Nizamettin Kabaiş, had claimed that male DNA samples were found on his daughter's body.

Claiming that his daughter's headscarf was left behind on the 13th day of the search, the father said, "13 days later, while the search was still ongoing, they brought the headscarf and left it on the edge of the lake. There was a distance of 150 meters between the phone and the headscarf. That headscarf was not on the edge of the lake either. They had left it about 4-5 meters away from the lake on a handful of sand. This means the people who beat Rojin left it there. They brought it there later to cover their tracks. The police also said, 'Don't interfere.' They didn't let me take a photo. They waited there, the crime scene investigation team arrived. They took it for analysis. We asked for the results twice, but it still hasn't reached us. They insisted on searching Bardakçı village but did not search the other villages, they did not search the houses. The police officer was younger than me, he said to me, 'Uncle, we have searched all these villages.' I said to them, 'How did you search?' They drove through the village and the streets, but they didn't search the houses. I asked the police, 'Sir, did you search inside the houses?' He said to me, 'Honestly, we didn't search inside the houses. Let's be honest about this. But we have examined the cameras.'"

COUNCIL OF FORENSIC MEDICINE HAD DETECTED DNA BELONGING TO 2 MALES

Stating that the examination conducted by the Council of Forensic Medicine on his daughter's body found DNA samples belonging to 2 males, the father said, "They took DNA samples from 47 people. There is DNA belonging to 2 different males. If they find them, the matter will be solved. Besides these, there is other evidence. I saw it with my own eyes. Before I went inside, they had lifted my daughter's sweater up to her abdomen. There was no water in her stomach at all. There were signs of battery on her back. I saw both with my own eyes. We were saying there were signs of battery, they were calling it bruising. I saw it with my own eyes, it was not bruising. I saw both things, her face was swollen before she was even taken for autopsy. There was a blackness on both her eyelids and her forehead, but her face was swollen. There was a smell of medicine coming from that swelling. Also, they had left cotton like a bracelet under her throat. This means they had harmed that area too. They had already written in the autopsy report that the esophagus was cracked. I saw these 3-4 things before the autopsy started, but I didn't see her throat. They had also pulled the zipper of the body bag. They hadn't opened it completely. It seems there were signs of battery on her feet too, I didn't see that. Then they sent me a photo, I saw it in that photo."

WHO IS ROJİN KABAİŞ?

21-year-old Rojin Kabaiş, a first-year student in the Child Development Department at Van Yüzüncü Yıl University, did not return after leaving the dormitory where she was staying on the evening of September 27. The search efforts, which were initiated upon her family's missing person report, ended 18 days later on the Mollakasım shore. The death of Rojin, whose body was found on the shore, raised suspicions.