Background
Selbi Uygur was a woman who disappeared in 2012 in the Dörtyol district of Hatay, Turkey. Relatives and others searched for her for years, but the missing-person file remained unresolved for a long time. The file was handled in connection with a separate investigation into the death of a man in the same district.
A ruling was issued in that linked file in 2018, but Selbi Uygur's fate was not established at that stage and the disappearance stayed open. The case had also been brought to public attention on a television programme in 2018.
The file is reopened
In May 2026, a Justice Ministry unit that reviews long-unsolved crimes took up the file again. The work extended beyond Hatay to Mersin, İzmir and Istanbul. According to press reports, people questioned during the review stated that Selbi Uygur had been killed and her body buried in a garden. An excavation lasting about 15 days was carried out at the location they indicated.
Clothing and human remains were found, and DNA analysis confirmed that the remains were Selbi Uygur's. The disappearance was thus resolved after roughly 14 years.
Legal status
Reports say three people were arrested in connection with this file. The proceedings are ongoing, however, and no final conviction has been issued for this case, so those involved can only be described as suspects or defendants.
The Justice Ministry announced that, as part of the same effort, six murder cases from 2005–2016 that had remained unsolved for years had been re-examined; the Selbi Uygur file was one of them.
Where it stands today
The case is often cited as an example of how old files can be resolved through renewed review and DNA analysis. For her family, the most important outcome is the end of years of uncertainty and the chance to lay a loved one to rest.