The family of 34-year-old Sultan Çağan, who went missing in Istanbul's Başakşehir district on June 18, reported to the police that their daughter had not returned home from the textile workshop where she worked. The Missing Persons Bureau determined from security camera footage that Çağan entered a supermarket, did some shopping, and then got into a car.
Suspicious relationship partner
Investigations revealed that Sultan Çağan had been in a relationship for two years with 26-year-old Vedat Çoban, whom she met at the workshop where she worked. It was established that Çoban had recently left his job there and started working at a pastry shop.
From denial to confession
Police detained Vedat Çoban. In his initial statement, Çoban claimed he had never seen Çağan, but later said he had met with her but dropped her off from the car a short time later.
However, police officers noticed scratches on Çoban's neck. When asked to remove his t-shirt, his entire body was seen covered in nail marks. Unable to explain the marks on his body, Çoban confessed to the murder in tears.
Threats and argument
In his statement at the Public Order Branch Directorate, Çoban said he had been in a relationship with Çağan but wanted to break up because he had a fiancée he intended to marry. Çoban said, "She was opposed to it. She said she would tell my family about our relationship, disgrace me, and prevent my marriage."
Hit with stone, strangled with rope
Çoban explained that they met on the night of the incident to discuss the matter again, an argument broke out, and he became angry when Çağan threatened him. In his statement, Çoban said, "I hit her on the head with a stone I found on the ground. She suddenly fell to the ground covered in blood. When I saw she wasn't dead, I strangled her to death with a clothesline I found on the ground."
Threw body and belongings into water
After the murder, seeing Çağan motionless, Çoban confessed that he first threw her slippers into the water, then her bag. He said he crushed her mobile phone with a stone to render it unusable and then threw it into the water as well.
He explained that after deleting the conversations he had with Çağan from his own phone, he returned home, slept, and went to the pastry shop where he worked as usual in the morning.
The suspect, Vedat Çoban, whose procedures at the police were completed, was referred to the courthouse.
