Police searching for a missing man found a “human penis” in a bin, providing a clue to the fate of a victim later discovered in a landfill. The gruesome incident took place in Essex in 2024 when a bar worker is alleged to have tortured and stabbed his romantic rival, 45-year-old Cumali Turhan, to death before escaping to Turkey.
On November 19 that year, Cumali was seen in a Chelmsford pub with the now-missing Ceyhan Dinler before they departed for the Barista bar. Prosecutors claim it was here that Dinler stabbed Cumali in the neck. During the trial of Ciprian Ilie, jurors were told that the tip of Cumali’s tongue had been cut off and thrown away in a bin during the savage attack. In October, Ilie received a seven-year prison sentence for aiding an offender and obstructing the lawful and decent burial of Cumali.
The Channel 4 documentary, “Catching a Killer: Buried Truths”, follows the investigation into the horrific crime. Upon entering the Duke Street bar at the beginning of the inquiry, police quickly found traces of blood.
Officers donned white forensic suits and face masks as they examined the suspected crime scene, noting blood splatters in various places, including on surfaces, a television, a pepper pot, the ceiling and the floor.
Despite evidence indicating that a violent crime had occurred, officers were unable to locate Cumali’s body. However, during the programme, police made a disturbing discovery whilst conducting their search.
An officer explained: “We’re at the final stages of the process. So, we had our Essex Police search team, and there was a bin, which, apparently, was behind the bar, and it was the last actual thing that they were going to search.
“They started to remove rubbish and got right to the bottom of the bin, and they’ve seen, apparently, a human penis in the bottom of the bin.”
Subsequent footage showed some of the blood-covered items from the bin, which had been arranged on the floor, including a juice carton, an alcohol bottle, paper towels, and a broken broom.
An officer retrieved the penis from the bin with tweezers and positioned it on white fabric for closer inspection. It was observed that, owing to the presence of blood vessels, they should be able to “get a swab”.
Upon being informed of the find, Detective Chief Inspector Louise Metcalfe, who spearheaded the search operation, conveyed her disbelief, stating: “Certainly not what I was expecting on a Saturday afternoon.”
This wouldn’t be the only disturbing discovery, though, as continued examination of the bin resulted in what an officer characterised as “potentially one of the testicles”.
In more gruesome details, it was revealed that Cumali’s tongue had been cut off, with police suggesting that it had been forcibly extended and sliced off while he was still alive.
A detective remarked: “He’s gone to an extreme in this case. He hasn’t just stabbed this person multiple times, he has caused extreme pain to this person by torturing them.”
Cumali’s body was eventually found 20 miles away at the Enovert landfill site in Stanway, 45 days after his murder. Notably, it’s thought that this is the first instance of a police search at such a location yielding a body in the UK.
Dinler, last seen at London Stansted Airport on 19 November, remains at large. Crimestoppers has put up a £10,000 reward for information leading to his arrest; he’s believed to be in Turkey.
