Background
A file concerning the deaths of elderly neighbours in the village of Çambaşı, in the Bozkurt district of Denizli, in 1994 received wide coverage in the press under the name 'Nail Killer'. According to reports, the perpetrator's history included the killing of a police inspector in Antalya in 1986; the court found him not of sound mind and sent him to a mental-health hospital in Manisa. The summary's 'police chief' appears in some reports as 'chief inspector' or 'inspector'.
After about four and a half years of treatment he was discharged and returned to his village, where he continued to live among neighbours who were, like him, elderly.
This history was at the centre of the debate that followed: the public asked under what conditions, and with what monitoring, a person who had been treated for mental illness and involved in a serious incident should be discharged.
What happened
In 1994 the successive deaths of elderly neighbours in Çambaşı were at first attributed to natural causes. Reports say the first two deaths were put down to food poisoning because of the condition of the bodies, and the dead were buried. After later deaths and suspicious findings, the investigation deepened.
The number of dead is given as four or five depending on the source, with ages said to range from 65 to 78. The perpetrator was caught and again placed in a psychiatric institution on mental-health grounds.
Because events took place in a village, it took time for the deaths to be noticed and linked. That the deaths of elderly people were at first taken as ordinary showed that forensic examination cannot always be carried out in small settlements, and the file is therefore cited as an example regarding the determination of cause of death.
Investigation and aftermath
Reports also said he escaped from the institution where he was treated and was caught again, and that he harmed another patient there. These claims could not be individually verified and should be read as reported accounts rather than established facts.
The file is often cited in debates on monitoring people with mental illness after discharge and on public safety. It raised questions about the relationship between a person leaving an institution and the environment he returns to, the informing of relatives, and the role of local authorities.
Legacy
The Nail Killer case opened discussion on the link between the safety of people in villages and small settlements and gaps in monitoring after discharge from mental-health services. The case also featured in documentary series on serial killings in Turkey.
This text is written with respect for those who lost their lives. Victims are not named, out of consideration for their relatives' privacy.