Aggravated life sentence handed down in murder case solved after 20 years

A verdict has been reached in the investigation reopened years later regarding the death of Yasemin Dermenci, who went missing in the Fethiye district of Muğla in 2006. The Antalya 6th High Criminal Court sentenced Tursun Karabulut, who was being tried while in custody, to an aggravated life sentence for the crime of "intentional homicide."

As part of the Fethiye Chief Public Prosecutor's Office's efforts to solve cold cases, teams from the Muğla Provincial Police Department's Public Security Branch and the Fethiye District Police Department re-examined the file on Dermenci's disappearance.

During the investigation, information was obtained from statements taken last year regarding a different missing person case, indicating that Dermenci had been killed with a rifle and buried in 2006. Following technical and physical surveillance, Tursun Karabulut and Ö.D. were taken into custody.

In an excavation carried out in a wooded area in the Korkuteli district of Antalya, which Karabulut pointed out, human bones believed to belong to Yasemin Dermenci were found. A DNA analysis was initiated regarding the bones. Following the detention procedures, Karabulut and Ö.D. were arrested; Ö.D. was later released before the trial and appeared in the case as a witness.

The fourth hearing of the case was attended by the detained defendant Tursun Karabulut and his lawyer. Denying the accusations in his defense, Karabulut claimed that his late wife had killed Dermenci. Karabulut stated, "I request my acquittal. I did not kill anyone; my husband killed her. She buried the body with her friends. She also threatened me to keep me quiet."

The public prosecutor had requested in his final opinion, which he announced at the previous hearing, that the defendant be sentenced to aggravated life imprisonment. Following the statements of the parties, the court panel sentenced Karabulut to aggravated life imprisonment.

News Source: 12punto