Background
Elif Kumal was a 33-year-old woman from Bandırma in Balıkesir province, Turkey (some reports say 34). In late December 2025 she went camping with her boyfriend and a friend by the Yukarıyapıcı pond on the Kapıdağ Peninsula in Erdek. Her family appealed to the public during the search.
During the search her relatives appealed for help through social media and television programmes, and the case quickly drew national attention, which in turn increased the number of teams and amount of equipment involved.
What happened
According to press reports, the couple argued during the trip and Kumal drove away from the campsite at night. Her boyfriend could not reach her and reported her missing on 28 December 2025; some reports give 27 December as the last contact.
AFAD, gendarmerie, volunteers, tracking dogs, helicopters and drones took part in the search. Camera footage showed that her car had not left toward Erdek or Bandırma. After eight days, on 4 January 2026, a specialist team from Ankara used side-scan sonar and located the car about 25 metres from shore at a depth of around 10 metres. Divers found her in the driver's seat.
The district governor had said from the start that the car had not left the area, and the camera footage pointed the same way. Kumal was buried in Bandırma on 5 January 2026.
Investigation
A preliminary autopsy at the Bursa Forensic Medicine Institute found no sign of a knife or gunshot wound, and the cause of death was recorded as drowning. The final report was reported to reach the same conclusion and found no toxic substance in her blood. A criminal examination of the car pulled from the pond reportedly produced no forensic findings.
Her boyfriend and the people with him were detained and then released under judicial control. The investigation continues, and we could not find a reliable record of whether it ended in a decision not to prosecute or in an indictment. Some relatives have argued it was a chain of neglect rather than an accident; these claims have not been established in court.
Elif Kumal was buried in Bandırma next to her father.
The Erdek and Bandırma prosecutors' offices were reported to be running the inquiry. Some findings are being re-examined at the family's request; the publicly reported information shows only that the investigation continues.
The case also features in debate about the importance of the first hours after a missing-person report and about how large searches should be run. Whether the death was an accident or the result of neglect has not yet been answered before a court.