A suspected Turkish serial killer who was being sought for the murder of three people, including a Russian
citizen, was caught on a minibus in the western province of İzmir after
someone saw him and notified the police on June 12. The police had been
on high alert for Atalay Filiz, who was also sought internationally.
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“I
ate whatever I found, frogs, bugs, etc.,” Filiz reportedly said in his
testimony, adding that he had been hiding in a mountainous area in the
city’s Gümüldür neighborhood since May 31.
According to the
police, Filiz got on a minibus to go to İzmir’s Menderes district early
on June 12, when a suspicious passenger saw him and notified the police.
Filiz however got off the minibus, prompting a police search of all the
minibuses in the district before he was located and apprehended.
Filiz presented a false ID when he was caught, but later admitted who he was, according to reports.
Three
fake driving licenses and four fake IDs alongside his passport and
authentic ID were found on Filiz, who also said in his testimony that he
had tried to travel to Greece with a group of migrants but failed.
Filiz was being kept in the Menderes police headquarters and had received a medical exam.
İzmir
Provincial Police Chief Celal Uzunkaya arrived at the headquarters and
said the person who notified the police would be rewarded.
“The
case was solved with the cooperation of the citizens and the police. We
thank the person who notified us,” Uzunkaya said on June 12.
Meanwhile,
Menderes Mayor Bülent Soylu congratulated the police for apprehending
Filiz, saying that municipal officials and employees were also warned to
notify the police if they saw the suspected serial killer.
“We
warned our personnel working in the cleaning, park and garden
departments about this, for they are always among the people. I
congratulate the police. They performed a meticulous duty via taking the
notice into consideration,” he said.
The suspected murderer had
been on the run for more than three years after he allegedly killed his
childhood friend Göktuğ Demiraraslan, the son of Maj. Gen. Hasan
Hüseyin Demiraraslan, and his Russian girlfriend, Elena Radchikova, on Sept. 16, 2013.
While
the motive behind the double murder remains unknown, recent reports
claimed Filiz murdered the couple because they grew suspicious that
Filiz was involved in the sudden disappearance of his girlfriend, Olga
Seregina, who was friends with Radchikova.
According to the
latest allegations, Seregina was Filiz’s first murder and he committed
the subsequent crimes in order to cover up his first killing, which he
reportedly committed after the woman attempted to break up with him.
Filiz is also the suspect in the murder of a 40-year-old history teacher, Fatma Kayıkçı.
While
the entire country had been put on alert to find the suspected serial
killer, police stated with certainty that Filiz was recently in the
resort town of Çeşme in İzmir.