Writing on the wall: Murdered woman wrote three names in the well where she died

The lifeless body of Songül Sarı was discovered in a well in the northern Turkish province of Bartın on Nov. 30. Now, authorities have discovered that she wrote three family members’ names on the wall of the well before she died.

Authorities remove the body of Songül Sarı from the well where she was found.

Duvar English

Murder victim Songül Sarı wrote the names of three family members on the wall of the well where she died in northern Turkey, authorities reported. Police have taken those three people into custody on suspicion of murder.

The 31-year-old Songül Sarı left her house on Nov. 29 around noon and never returned, her family said. Family members reported her missing and on Nov. 30 her body was discovered floating in a well in the Daşboğazı district of Bartın, about a kilometer from her family home. 

While investigating the incident, police discovered that Sarı wrote, in pen, the names of three of her family members on the wall of the well before she died, blaming them for her death. The three people have been taken into custody on suspicion of murder. The investigation into Sarı’s death is ongoing.

Femicide - when women are violently killed - is at a record high in Turkey, and has been on the rise for the past decade. According to the We'll Stop Femicides Platform, a Turkish NGO, 358 women have been murdered in Turkey since the beginning of 2021. In 2020, 410 women were killed. In 2008, when the platform began tracking femicides, that number was 66.