Teenage fugitive surrenders to police

A teenager accused of the grisly murder of his girlfriend surrendered to the police on Thursday, 197 days after the crime first made it to the headlines.

The case has received unprecedented coverage in the media and prompted demonstrations since the victim's decapitated head and body were found dumped in a garbage container in March.

The police had come under fire for failing to catch the suspect amid widespread accusations that 17-year-old Cem Garipoğlu's family, one of Turkey's richest, organized his escape and financed him in hiding.

Garipoğlu, who studied in Europe and speaks several languages, met up with his lawyer at an Istanbul highway and surrendered to police shortly after midnight, Istanbul Gov. Muammer Güler said.

Garipoğlu is accused of killing his girlfriend Münevver Karabulut just four days before her 18th birthday after taking her from school to his family's luxury villa in a wealthy Istanbul suburb.

Karabulut was stabbed several times and her head was cut off with a saw.

Her body and head were placed in a suitcase and a guitar case, which Garipoğlu dumped in a garbage container in central Istanbul, according to the testimony of a taxi driver who took him there.

The motive behind the murder remains unclear.

The girl's father, who has led a vocal campaign for Garipoğlu's capture, has alleged that his daughter may have been the victim of a Satanist ritual. The Garipoğlu family has been vilified for seeking to cover up the alleged crime after police established that their villa was cleaned up after the murder, although blood traces remained.

The boy's father was arrested earlier.

Garipoğlu was believed to have fled the country, but media reports said Thursday he spent the almost seven months since the murder in locations near Istanbul.

Television footage showed Garipoğlu, who had grown a beard, being led out of a police station.

He was not questioned by police officers due to the arrest warrant already issued, said Doğan news agency, before reporting that Garipoğlu had told the police while waiting for an appearance at the children’s court that he regretted Karabulut’s murder and that he had never been overseas. He stayed at a villa after being driven there by a person he did not know, Garipoğlu told police officers, according to Doğan news agency.