Süleyman Aktaş was born in 1950 and lived in Çambaşı, a village in the Bozkurt district of Denizli province in western Turkey. He was married and had two or three children, and he worked as a line worker for the Turkish Electricity Authority. He was never convicted of any killing. After a killing in Antalya in 1986 and after the killings of neighbors in his village in 1994, a court found that he lacked criminal capacity, and on both occasions he was sent to a psychiatric hospital in Manisa. The cases are among those Turkish writers cite when they argue that the country has had serial killers of its own.
Aktaş worked on power lines. One report places an accident in 1984, in which he was struck by a charge of 31,500 volts while at work for the Electricity Authority. He survived and was treated for months. Reports agree that those who knew him saw a change after the accident: he became withdrawn, and his mind, one account says, never fully recovered. A 2023 student history project at Bilkent University also places the work accident before the first killing and treats it as central to the question of his legal responsibility.
In 1986 a man was killed in Antalya, and Aktaş was arrested for the killing. The month is not on record. After medical examinations, the court found that he had paranoid schizophrenia and could not be held criminally responsible. One report gives the phrase as "cezai ehliyeti olmadığı", another as a ruling that he had no criminal capacity, "cezai ehliyeti bulunmadığına". The court, its number and the year of the decision are not on record.
The court ordered treatment, and Aktaş entered the Manisa Mental and Nervous Diseases Hospital. Most reports say he stayed about four and a half years; one gives about five, and one names Bakırköy hospital in Istanbul as the place of treatment before his release. After that he went back to Çambaşı.
In mid-1994 an elderly couple of the village died, and their deaths were first put down to natural causes. On the night of July 24, 1994, according to a confession statement attributed to him, a second elderly couple, neighbors of his, were killed, and another neighbor, a man in his sixties, was seriously injured. The injured man named Aktaş to his nephew. Reports disagree about what followed. One account says the man died after naming him; another says he survived with serious injuries. For that reason the toll in 1994 is given as four in one report and as five in others, and the combined toll for the two events as five or six.
Aktaş was detained the same day, together with four other men. Taken before the chief public prosecutor of Bozkurt, he confessed. He described the acts as tasks he had been given, and said the number nine mattered to him. Later, in court, he withdrew the account and blamed his wife and sons.
The deaths of the first couple were reclassified as killings once he had spoken. The date of that reclassification is not on record.
Little is recorded of the proceedings. One report says forensic psychiatrists who examined him concluded that he had paranoid schizophrenia and could not be cured. Another says the court "ruled that he had no criminal capacity" ("cezai ehliyetinin bulunmadığına hükmetti"), and that he was therefore sent for treatment instead of standing trial in the usual way. A third describes him as a man whose prosecution could not proceed on the ground that he lacked criminal capacity ("cezai ehliyeti" olmadığı gerekçesiyle yargılaması yapılamayan). No verdict of guilt and no sentence is on record. The name of the court, the case number and the year of the 1994 decision are not on record.
Aktaş was again placed in the Manisa hospital, on a closed ward.
He escaped from the hospital and was recaptured. The escape is dated to 2008 in one account; the Posta newspaper wrote in 2023 that he escaped several times and was returned each time. The same report says neighbors left their homes when he got out, fearing his return. Another account says the population of the village fell from about 1,500 to about 600 within hours of the news.
Accounts differ. Posta wrote in May 2023 that he died in a psychiatric hospital in 2000. A 2025 report says he took part in a television interview in 2007, and another outlet dates his escape and recapture to 2008, both of which do not fit a death in 2000. Whether he has died, and when and where, is not on record.
Aktaş was never convicted. The courts' findings are findings of incapacity, as reported, and are not findings of guilt. The count of victims is disputed: three, four or five for 1994, five or six for both events. His place of birth is given as Manisa in one report and as Çambaşı in another. The sequence of the first couple's deaths, the date of his arrest and the date of the hospital escape are disputed.
1950: Süleyman Aktaş is born.
1984 (one report): work accident with a high-voltage line.
1986: a man is killed in Antalya; Aktaş is arrested; a court finds he lacks criminal capacity and sends him to the Manisa hospital.
About 1990 to 1991: released from hospital after about four and a half years (most reports); returns to Çambaşı.
Mid-1994: an elderly couple of the village die; their deaths are first treated as natural.
July 24, 1994: a second elderly couple are killed and a neighbor is seriously injured and names Aktaş (his own statement gives the date).
1994: he is detained, confesses to the chief public prosecutor of Bozkurt, and later withdraws the statement; a court again finds that he lacks criminal capacity.
2000: Posta reports a death in a psychiatric hospital in this year.
2007: television interview (one report).
2008: escape and recapture (one report).