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 The grisly details read like something out of the movie, Seven. 
 
 For six years, the police in Bursa province in western Turkey had been looking for the bodies of Kenan Oner’s parents. In April, they finally found them, chopped up and buried in a garden behind their house. Investigators had long suspected that Oner—a 56-year-old former bank manager—had killed his mother and father to claim his inheritance. So the police went to Oner’s apartment and burst through the door. 
 
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 Enlarge Kenan Oner's alleged crimes have roiled the country. Turkey Police 
 
 When they found him in the living room, the lights were off. He was sitting alone, the police say, doing nothing, as if he’d been waiting for them to arrive. “Did you dig the garden?” Oner asked. And then they cuffed him. 
 
 Oner has refused to comment on the charges. But now, as he sits in jail, awaiting trial, investigators are searching for the body of his wife, who disappeared in 2005. They think he killed her then buried her remains inside the walls of the apartment. (Oner hasn’t commented on these charges either). 
 
 The national press is already covering the case like a soap opera, and many observers think it will prove to be Turkey’s trial of the century, with non-stop coverage and incessant media speculation. Turkey is no stranger to murder stories. But rarely has a case captured such attention of this nation of 76 million, where crimes of passion are common, but cold, calculated killing seems rare. 
 
 Oner’s alleged crimes have shocked the country, not only because of what he allegedly did with the bodies, but because of the precision and planning that went along with it. “Our suspect is a disciplined, organized and educated person who planned the murders meticulously,” a senior police official says, speaking on the condition of anonymity because he isn’t authorized to talk to the press. “I have not seen a similar criminal profile before.” 
 
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 Enlarge Years after Oner's parents went missing, police found their remains buried in their garden. Turkey Police 
 
 It was Oner’s meticulousness that ultimately led to his capture. Over the past 30 years, he has saved thousands of documents including hourly notes of his movements. Among his files: A hand-drawn map of his parents’ garden with an “x” marked on it. According to the police, the notes he took around the dates of his parents’ disappearance read: “What am I going to do with these now?” and “I dug my dad’s garden, I am very tired.” 
 
 The police say Oner is not a psychopath or a serial killer. His main motivation was allegedly money, as police say he was embroiled in bitter dispute with his parents and siblings over his inheritance. 
 
 This isn’t the first time Oner has been accused of murder. In 1980, when the Turkish military took over the country, Oner was a philosophy major and a member of a radical communist group. Fearing arrest, he fled to France, where years later, he killed a Turkish friend for his money. Oner took the dead man’s passport, cash and his car and fled to Turkey, where he no longer feared arrest. Before long, he found a job at a bank, met his wife, Canan, married her and had a child. 
 
 But the French police were persistent. In mid 1990s, Interpol issued a warrant for his arrest. The Turkish police picked him up him and put him on trial. In 1998, a court sentenced him to life in prison. Some seven years later, however, Oner received parole and was back out on the street. 
 
 When he returned to normal life, Oner discovered that his wife was having an affair. He filed for divorce, but months later, in 2005, his wife disappeared. Oner says she ran away to Europe with her lover. 
 
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 Enlarge Oner and his wife. Police now believe he killed her and buried her remains in his apartment. He says she went to Europe with her lover. Turkey Police 
 
 In the meantime, Oner was desperate for money, police say. He had trouble finding a job because of his criminal record, so in 2008, he left Istanbul and moved in with his parents in Iznik, a small town in Western Turkey. A month later, his father, Ahmet Refik, and mother, Emine Oner, went missing. 
 
 The couple lived modestly, but they had saved more than $2 million and owned dozens of shops and apartments. Oner’s parents reportedly refused to give him his share of the inheritance before they died. After their parents went missing, Oner’s brother and sister went to the police and blamed the convicted killer for their disappearance. 
 
 For years, the police searched for the elderly couple, but to no avail. “We were suspicious of him [Oner] all along,” the senior police officer says. “But we could not find the bodies so there was no real evidence to accuse him.” 
 
 As careful and fastidious as he was, Oner appears to have made a fatal mistake. After his parents’ disappearance, he forged his mother’s signature to access $150,000 from her bank account. His brother and sister filed a complaint, which set off a chain of events that led to the resumption of the murder case last year. 
 
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 Enlarge For 6 years, police couldn't find Emine Oner, left, and Ahmet Refik. Turkey Police 
 
 Earlier this year, a Turkish court convicted Oner to three years in prison on charges of forgery. In April, when the authorities went to take him to serve his sentence, they also obtained a search warrant to search his apartment. They confiscated his notes, hoping to find new clues into his parents’ disappearance. When they found the map of of the garden, they went back to Iznik to dig it up. 
 
 That’s when they found the chopped up bones, which belonged to his parents, according to the senior police officer who says he has seen the forensic results. 
 
 The death penalty is illegal in Turkey, but if found guilty, Oner may spend the rest of his life behind bars. In the meantime, his murder trial is likely to be a media frenzy of epic proportions. The press is already foaming at the mouth at the prospect of a the trial, and running sensational headlines such as “Man chopped his parents into 300 pieces.” 
 
 As the gruesome details emerge, the story—like the movie Seven—is likely to get even more stomach-churning. 
 
 Elcin Poyrazlar is Vocativ’s Istanbul bureau chief. Her debut novel, The Death of a Journalist, was published earlier this month by Ithaki Yayinlari. ||||| Turkey police arrest 11 over US woman's murder 
 
 ISTANBUL — Turkish police have arrested 11 people over the murder of an American woman who disappeared while visiting Istanbul last month, police and the local media reported Sunday. 
 
 The body of 33-year-old Sarai Sierra, a mother of two, was found on Saturday near Istanbul's ancient city walls with fatal head wounds, the Radikal daily reported. 
 
 "We have confirmed that she was murdered by way of impacts on her head," Istanbul police chief Huseyin Capkin told reporters on Sunday. "But we need to conclude the investigation before details emerge." 
 
 The Milliyet newspaper said she was also stabbed several times in her abdomen, but there was no sign of rape or theft and she was still wearing jewellery when police found her. 
 
 Turkish police had been searching for Sierra after her family reported that they had lost touch with her on January 21, the day she was due to return home to New York. 
 
 The Hurriyet newspaper, along with other media outlets, reported that Istanbul police have arrested 11 suspects but gave no further details. 
 
 Sierra's body might have been dumped in a blanket on Tuesday night on the main road near the ancient walls, Hurriyet reported, citing a possible eye witness. 
 
 "I saw a man removing something from the back seat of a car," the woman was quoted as telling the police. "Then I saw a hand there." 
 
 Sierra, who has two children aged nine and 11, left the United States for Istanbul on January 7. 
 
 Sierra's body might have been dumped in a blanket on Tuesday night on the main road near the ancient walls, Hurriyet reported, citing a possible witness. 
 
 "I saw a man removing something from the back seat of a car," a woman was quoted as telling the police. "Then I saw a hand there." 
 
 Police had initially detained a Turkish man named Taylan K., who is believed to be the last person to see Sierra before she went missing, but released him after questioning, according to local reports. 
 
 The two had reportedly met online four months ago. 
 
 Hurriyet speculated that Sierra might have been tricked into trying to smuggle drugs into the United States, citing an anonymous retired US agent from the Drug Enforcement Administration. 
 
 But Capkin said there was no indication that she was involved in such a scheme. "She was a lonely wanderer," he said. 
 
 Istanbul is Turkey's largest city, home to at least 15 million people and considered a relatively safe travel destination which is visited by millions of tourists every year. 
 
 Copyright © 2013 AFP. All rights reserved. More »
– Turkey is in the midst of what Vocativ calls its murder trial of the century. Kenan Oner is accused of murdering his parents, chopping them up, and burying them in their yard, all so he could get his inheritance early, police believe. Still missing is his wife, who hasn't been seen since 2005; police believe he killed her, too, hiding her remains in his apartment walls. He had recently discovered she was having an affair. And all this was after his murder conviction in the 1990s for killing a friend in France, also allegedly for money; he was sentenced to life but got out on parole after seven years. Oner, 56, was arrested in April, years after his parents disappeared in 2008 while he was living with them. When police arrived at his apartment, he was sitting in the dark, they say. His question to them: "Did you dig the garden?" Despite long suspecting Oner, police couldn't find evidence to lead to charges—until they discovered the buried remains. They got help from Oner's own careful notes: For decades, he's recorded his actions by the hour, including a note around the time of his parents' disappearance that he had dug up their garden—and he also drew a map of the garden with an "X" marking one spot. Last year, Oner's son blamed his father for all three murders, per Turkish News Tuhaf. In Turkey, such calculated murders are rare, adding to the press fascination with the story, Vocativ notes. "I have not seen a similar criminal profile before," says an official. (Click to read about a Turkish killer who went on a TV dating show looking for love.)