Ali İhsan, Nuray and Melike Balaban were found dead in the wreckage of their burned home. Police investigators examining the scene detained the family’s son, M. Balaban, for questioning after he arrived at the house soon after the fire was contained with wounds to his face.Balaban told police that he had been wounded while roughhousing with friends. Police spoke to his friends and determined that no such incident had occurred. In the ensuing investigation, police found that Balaban had allegedly injected hydrochloric acid into his father’s throat and strangled his mother and sister before setting the house on fire to cover his crimes.
Stating that he placed a cloth with chloroform next to his father’s pillow, the suspect said in his testimony: “When I saw that he had lost consciousness, I injected hydrochloric acid into his throat. I strangled my mother and sister to death after they woke up to the sounds [of me killing my father]. I do not regret killing my father, but I am sorry for causing the death of my mother and sister. I started the stove, taking coal from the woodbin, in order to destroy the evidence. I started a fire in a corner of the house to make it look like a fire had killed them. Then I took everything that could be used as evidence to the house of a friend.” The investigation into the incident is still under way.
