Özgür Dengiz (born 1984) is a Turkish

serial killer A serial killer (also called a serial murderer) is a person who murders three or more people,An offender can be anyone: * * * * * (This source only requires two people) with the killings taking place over a significant period of time in separat ...

and

cannibal Cannibalism is the act of consuming another individual of the same species as food. Cannibalism is a common ecology, ecological interaction in the animal kingdom and has been recorded in more than 1,500 species. Human cannibalism is also well ...

. Captured on September14, 2007, in

Ankara Ankara is the capital city of Turkey and List of national capitals by area, the largest capital by area in the world. Located in the Central Anatolia Region, central part of Anatolia, the city has a population of 5,290,822 in its urban center ( ...

, he admitted killing two men, attempting to murder another man and cannibalising one of his victims. He is nicknamed the "Cannibal of Ankara".

Early years

Özgür Dengiz was born in Edirne to Satılmış, a

non-commissioned officer A non-commissioned officer (NCO) is an enlisted rank, enlisted leader, petty officer, or in some cases warrant officer, who does not hold a Commission (document), commission. Non-commissioned officers usually earn their position of authority b ...

and veteran of the

Turkish invasion of Cyprus The Turkish invasion of Cyprus began on 20 July 1974 and progressed in two phases over the following month. Taking place upon a background of Cypriot intercommunal violence, intercommunal violence between Greek Cypriots, Greek and Turkish Cy ...

, and Sultan, a seamstress. He fought with his parents constantly, and often ran away from home. He did not continue his education after finishing

middle school Middle school, also known as intermediate school, junior high school, junior secondary school, or lower secondary school, is an educational stage between primary school and secondary school. Afghanistan In Afghanistan, middle school includes g ...

. When he was 17, he killed one of his friends during an argument, and was sentenced to a reduced 10-year sentence in prison due to his young age. His father was the one who turned him in to police. He served three years of the sentence before being pardoned by President

Ahmet Necdet Sezer Ahmet Necdet Sezer (; born 13 September 1941) is a Turkish statesman and judge who served as the tenth president of Turkey from 2000 to 2007. Previously, he was president of the Constitutional Court of Turkey from January 1998 to May 2000. The ...

. He then joined the army at his father's insistence. During his military service, he was hospitalized several times for psychological problems. Dengiz attempted to escape the military multiple times, and due to fail attempts his aggression increased. After completing his service, he returned to Ankara. His mother opened a tailor shop for him; however, he did not stop by even briefly.

Crimes

On June 5, 2007, Dengiz killed Sedat Erzurumlu, a computer engineer, who angered him by saying that he could not afford to buy the

laptop A laptop computer or notebook computer, also known as a laptop or notebook, is a small, portable personal computer (PC). Laptops typically have a Clamshell design, clamshell form factor (design), form factor with a flat-panel computer scree ...

he had been looking at. Dengiz stole two laptops from the store, and took also his victim's mobile phone with him. Later on, Dengiz tried to sell one of the laptops, but was cheated out of the money. He kept the other one at home. On September 12, 2007, Dengiz shot a garbage collector at the Mamak Dump. A few hours later, he met Cafer Er, a 55-year-old municipal worker, and killed him after a brief conversation by shooting him in the head twice from behind. He dragged his victim's body and put it in his car. Then, he skinned the corpse with a

cleaver A cleaver is a large knife that varies in its shape but usually resembles a rectangular-bladed tomahawk. It is largely used as a kitchen knife, kitchen or butcher knife and is mostly intended for splitting up large pieces of soft bones and slas ...

; he ate some of it raw and put the rest in his bag. He wrapped the body in a cloth and put it in the

trunk Trunk may refer to: Biology * Trunk (anatomy), synonym for torso * Trunk (botany), a tree's central superstructure, and the stem of woody plants * Trunk of corpus callosum, in neuroanatomy * Elephant trunk, the proboscis of an elephant Comput ...

. He abandoned the corpse at the Mamak Dump and returned to the apartment he shared with his parents. He gave a piece of flesh to stray dogs outside his apartment. He then put the remaining flesh in the refrigerator.

Capture

Cafer Er had been missing for days when his corpse was discovered in the Mamak Dump. On closer examination, it became apparent that he had been murdered, his body mutilated and large chunks of flesh cut from the soft parts of his body. Further investigation revealed that Er had last been seen arguing with a young man in the park he was responsible for keeping clean. The police soon traced Dengiz with the help of recording of calls Dengiz made with the mobile phone he had stolen from his second victim Erzurumlu, but lost at the last murder scene.Newspaper ''Milliyet'' September 16, 2007
They conducted a search of his apartment for evidence, and discovered fresh meat in a plastic bag in the refrigerator. They took samples for analysis, which proved the positive identification of a human arm, buttock and thigh.

Questioning, arrest, and conviction

Dengiz showed no remorse for his crimes, saying he was irresistibly drawn to eating human flesh. The only emotion he is said to have exhibited as he explained his behavior was to break into fits of laughter. He said he would have kept killing had he not been caught. After making his statement, Dengiz was arrested by the court. He was later found guilty of 2 murders, and sentenced to 2

life sentences Life imprisonment is any sentence of imprisonment under which the convicted individual is to remain incarcerated for the rest of their natural life (or until pardoned or commuted to a fixed term). Crimes that result in life imprisonment are co ...

. However, the

Court of Cassation A court of cassation is a high-instance court that exists in some judicial systems. Courts of cassation do not re-examine the facts of a case; they only interpret the relevant law. In this, they are appellate courts of the highest instance. In ...

of Turkey ruled that Dengiz was insane, and not fit to stand accused. His conviction and sentence was overthrown, and Dengiz was admitted to the psychiatric wing of a mental hospital.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dengiz, Ozgur 1984 births Living people People convicted of murder by Turkey Cannibals Turkish criminals Turkish people convicted of murder Turkish serial killers Violence against men in Asia Incidents of cannibalism People from Edirne

Early years

Crimes

Capture

Questioning, arrest, and conviction

See also

References