Background
Çamdibi, a neighbourhood in İzmir's Bornova district, is a busy residential area home to university students and working families. In 2003 a woman identified here as Z.B. was killed in a knife attack, and no perpetrator has been found to date.
What happened
The killing of Z.B. in Çamdibi in 2003 went on record as one of the oldest of İzmir's long-unsolved murders. Details of the incident have reached the public only in limited form.
Investigation
During the investigation police detained hundreds of people and collected thousands of statements. Some people were questioned as suspects, but no case was brought against any of them because of insufficient evidence. The file sat unsolved on the shelf for about twenty years.
In 2023 the newspaper Yeni Asır listed Z.B.'s file at the head of its list of murders in İzmir left unsolved between 2003 and 2023. According to reports from April 2026, special teams set up within the İzmir Police Department are re-examining 49 such files, using methods such as new DNA analysis.
Where it stands today
According to official figures cited by the press, the killers in 51 murders in İzmir are still unidentified. Reopening these files offers families fresh hope, but no development has been announced in Z.B.'s file so far. Obstacles such as lost evidence make this work difficult. This page is written in memory of Z.B.