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Channel 4 Documentary Revisits Essex Murder Case With Suspect Still at Large

Detectives recount a 47-day forensic search that recovered Cumali Turhan’s body in a Colchester landfill.

Overview

  • Catching a Killer: Buried Truths airs on January 6 at 9pm on Channel 4 and includes a previously unheard 999 call with investigators DCI Louise Metcalfe and Sgt Simon Gray.
  • Essex Police located Turhan’s remains on January 11, 2025 at the Stanway landfill after a 47-day search spanning 10 locations and more than 1,650 officer shifts, covering about 5,000 square metres.
  • Investigators say the operation is believed to be the first active UK police search of a commercial landfill to recover a body.
  • Main suspect Ceyhan Dinler, 38, left the UK via Stansted on November 19, 2024 and remains wanted, with officers working with the Crown Prosecution Service to pursue him.
  • An associate, Ciprian Ilie, 44, was jailed for seven years on October 14, 2025 for assisting an offender and preventing lawful burial, as an inquest recorded a provisional cause consistent with stab wounds to the neck.