Turkish investigators believe two Uzbek men arrested over the murder of an Uzbek woman whose headless body was found in a trash bin in İstanbul last month also killed a second Uzbek woman and scattered her body parts in other bins across the city, Turkish media reported Thursday.
Police found the headless body of 37-year-old Durdona Khakimova on January 24 in a trash bin in Şişli, wrapped in a sheet. Her legs had also been cut off.
After reviewing closed-circuit camera footage, police detained two men, also Uzbek nationals, at İstanbul Airport as they tried to leave the country.
Investigators now believe the suspects also killed 32-year-old Ergashalieva Sayyora after finding body parts in several trash bins.
Sayyora arrived in Turkey on December 28 and stayed in contact with her family until January 23. Following a tip, investigators looking into her disappearance determined she had been staying in the same home where Khakimova was killed.
The two women lived there for about a month with the suspects, and Sayyora was in a relationship with one of them. January 23 camera footage showed her entering the house, followed by the suspects, who were later seen leaving the next day carrying black trash bags, according to the reports.
Subsequent footage showed the suspects taking a white suitcase out of the home, getting into a taxi headed to the Fatih district, emptying the contents into a trash bin and then walking to the Yenikapı metro station.
During questioning over the second suspected murder, investigators learned Sayyora was killed with a sharp instrument on January 23 and her body dismembered. Both suspects face murder charges and were due in court on Friday.
Khakimova’s killing prompted protests by women’s rights groups in İstanbul and Ankara calling for justice and action against violence targeting women.
The We Will Stop Femicide Platform, a Turkish group that tracks reports of the killing of women, says 294 women were killed by men in Turkey in 2025 and that 297 women were found dead in suspicious circumstances.
© Agence France-Presse