Not a movie, but reality!

You receive a phone call and the person on the other end tells you, 'We've caught Hannibal.' What would you think? Well, in June 2003, I received such a call. I was working at the Sabah newspaper at the time. The caller was a police officer. He said, "Come to the Bakırköy Public Security Bureau immediately, we've caught Hannibal." I set off right away. I was surprised. I wondered if they were joking or if it was real. Because for me, the name Hannibal was limited to a movie. When you say Hannibal, the character 'Hannibal Lecter' played by Anthony Hopkins comes to my mind.

When I arrived at the Bakırköy Public Security Bureau, I saw that the person who had been caught was heading to the hospital for a medical report. I took his photo immediately to report on it. Then I got his details. As the police officer provided information, my blood ran cold, so to speak. The person referred to as the 'local Hannibal' in the news reports was 25 years old. He was addicted to thinner and bally. So, what had he done? What were his characteristics compared to the movie character? Had he committed murder? How many people had he bitten? I asked these questions I was curious about one after another.

The police officer began to explain. There is a death and an injury case in Zeytinburnu. He said this person could likely be the suspect. Now, I will tell you about what the 'Local Hannibal' had done.

On December 20, 2002, a 75-year-old woman of Uzbek origin, who lived with her son and daughter-in-law in Zeytinburnu, Istanbul, was attacked with a knife while entering her home after shopping in the morning. The attacker tied the elderly woman's hands behind her back, bit various parts of her body, and then bit her face, tearing off a large piece of flesh. The elderly woman, who suffered deep bite wounds, was taken under treatment. These bite wounds remained as evidence.

The date was February 10, 2003. 55 days had passed since the first incident. The address was again Zeytinburnu. A fire broke out in the home of an 80-year-old woman living alone. Her body was found in the extinguished fire. The investigation revealed that the elderly woman had been bitten to death and killed by having a skewer thrust into her body. Deep bite marks were also found on her face, arms, and legs. In fact, 75 percent of the flesh torn from the elderly woman's body was found stuck to the floorboards of the room where the murder took place. The remaining parts were missing from the house. These details were recorded in the police reports.

When the murder hit the press, panic ensued, and he was dubbed the 'Local Hannibal' in the news. The Istanbul police were on high alert. There was only one goal: to catch this person.

On June 10, 2003, a report came to the police that a 60-year-old American citizen waiting for a taxi on the Bakırköy coastal road to go to Atatürk Airport had been attacked. When the American woman resisted the attacker who wanted to kiss her, she was bitten and injured above her right eye as if he were trying to tear it off. The bite marks sent to the Council of Forensic Medicine matched the bite marks from the two attacks in Zeytinburnu, one of which resulted in death. Catching the Hannibal who had attacked 3 women of similar ages had now become the police's primary mission.

The Istanbul police detained dozens of homeless people in the vicinity of Zeytinburnu and Bakırköy. However, none of their teeth matched. Acting on the description provided by the American woman, the Bakırköy District Police Department Public Security Bureau teams detained a 25-year-old thinner addict under a bridge on the Bakırköy coast. The elderly woman injured in the first attack and the American woman were called to the police station for identification. Both women identified the attacker. When the teeth marks at the Council of Forensic Medicine matched the captured attacker, the 'Local Hannibal' was arrested. As a result of the successful work of the Bakırköy Public Security Bureau teams, this person who had caused fear was caught, and all Istanbulites, especially those in Zeytinburnu and Bakırköy, breathed a sigh of relief. Hannibal was not a movie this time, but reality...