Investigators announced yesterday that Fazıl Çataloğlu and his family were murdered and burned by suspects who stole their livestock.
The Çataloğlu family consisted of a couple, their son, daughter-in-law and grandson, who all went missing from their home in a rural part of the northern province of Kastamonu on Nov. 29 after a fire gutted their house.
Security forces combed the premises and nearby areas for any remains of the family but failed to locate them, while some sheep and goats stolen from the family's stable were found nearby.
Three suspects were arrested on charges of stealing the family's livestock, but no evidence was found at the time to link them to the disappearance of the family.
Bülent Kantarcı, Kastamonu's chief prosecutor, said in a statement yesterday that they concluded the suspects raided the house in November and killed the family members with a rifle and pistols before setting them on fire in an attempt to avoid suspicion.
Kantarcı said they had reached the conclusion after finding the remnants of prosthetic teeth belonging to Fazıl Çataloğlu and his wife Sebahat Çataloğlu at the scene.
