The Insidious Dismemberment Murder

In September 2022, 56-year-old tailor Kazim Tatar was reported missing after returning from his holiday in Turkey. Since then, there had been no trace of him. What was initially regarded as a harmless missing persons case turned out to be a diabolically orchestrated murder plot. As Kazim Tatar’s house had been set alight just two weeks after the missing persons report was filed with the police, this struck the police as highly suspicious, and they subsequently carried out an intensive search of the burnt-out house for evidence. Indeed, despite the fire, evidence was found that pointed to a bloody crime. This led to the conclusion that Kazim Tatar had apparently fallen victim to a crime. Yet he remained as if he had vanished into thin air. It was not until November 2022 that parts of his body were discovered in a wooded area near Moers-Hülsdonk, where they had been buried. Who had murdered Kazim, and why? The investigation led to his friend Tüncay C., who had collected Kazim Tatar from the airport after his holiday and driven him home. According to the police investigation, Tüncay then killed Kazim with two shots. The murder weapon used to shoot Kazim Tatar matched the pistol that Tüncay had recently purchased. The investigators assumed that he had cut up Kazim’s body in his house and then buried it in the woods. To leave no trace, he had set fire to the house two weeks later. But why? The answer to this question led to Kazim’s 51-year-old ex-wife, Birgül, who had commissioned Tüncay to kill her ex-husband. This was because he still possessed gold jewellery that belonged to her, as well as a large amount of cash. He kept both in a hiding place in his house. Birgül promised Tüncay a share of these if he would kill her ex-husband. Tüncay went along with the diabolical plan out of sheer greed. After driving his friend home from the airport, he threatened him with his pistol to make him reveal the hiding place. When Kazim did so, it sealed his fate. He had hidden the cash and jewellery in a ventilation shaft in the bathroom. Birgül received the lion’s share of the spoils. A total of 18,000 euros and gold jewellery worth 5,000 euros. Investigations also revealed that Birgül had helped Tüncay dispose of the body. At the end of 2023, Tüncay was sentenced to life imprisonment by the Kleve Regional Court for the treacherous murder of Kazim Tatar. Birgül was not charged until January 2024 as the mastermind behind the murder of her ex-husband Kazim Tatar, and in early March she was also sentenced to life imprisonment by the Kleve Regional Court. She, too, had thus received her just punishment.