Süleyman Aktaş is a Turkish

serial killer A serial killer is typically a person who murders three or more persons,A * * * * with the murders taking place over more than a month and including a significant period of time between them. While most authorities set a threshold of three ...

who murdered five people. He has been nicknamed "The Nailing Killer" due to his signature of nailing his victims' heads post-mortem.

Background and first murder

Süleyman Aktaş was born in Çambaşı. He was employed as a worker at the Turkish Electricity Company in

Denizli Denizli is an industrial city in the southwestern part of Turkey and the eastern end of the alluvial valley formed by the river Büyük Menderes, where the plain reaches an elevation of about . Denizli is located in the country's Aegean Region. ...

, Turkey. He was severely injured by high voltage during works at a 31.5 kV electric power distribution line. After this accident, he killed police superintendent Nuri Keskin in

Antalya Antalya () is the fifth-most populous city in Turkey as well as the capital of Antalya Province. Located on Anatolia's southwest coast bordered by the Taurus Mountains, Antalya is the largest Turkish city on the Mediterranean coast outside the Ae ...

in 1986. He was arrested, and was placed in

Manisa Manisa (), historically known as Magnesia, is a city in Turkey's Aegean Region and the administrative seat of Manisa Province. Modern Manisa is a booming center of industry and services, advantaged by its closeness to the international port ci ...

Psychiatric Hospital after the court ruled his mental disorder. Aktaş stayed four and a half years in the hospital before his release. He returned to his hometown of Çambaşı village in Bozkurt, Denizli.

Later murders, institutionalization, escape, and incarceration

In 1994, Süleyman Aktaş strangled four elderly neighbors three years after he came back to his hometown. He nailed the couples Ayşe (65) and İsmail Güneş (66), and Rukiye (77) and Ramazan Kocatepe (78) in the eyes and heads. In his testimony after his arrest, he stated that "He can not stand nails. He wants to nail people in the head." Aktaş was nicknamed "The Nailing Killer". He was hospitalized as diagnosed with

paranoid schizophrenia Schizophrenia is a mental disorder characterized by continuous or relapsing episodes of psychosis. Major symptoms include hallucinations (typically hearing voices), delusions, and disorganized thinking. Other symptoms include social withd ...

. He escaped from the hospital, but was apprehended in the coach terminal. In 2007, Aktaş was seen publicly for the first time after twelve years in a rehabilitation show program of the hospital. At noon of May 28, 2008, he assaulted his roommate, the

child killer Pedicide, child murder, child manslaughter, or child homicide is the homicide of an individual who is a minor. Punishment by jurisdiction United States In 2008, there were 1,494 child homicides in the United States. Of those killed, 1,035 ...

Ömer Yılmaz, and wounded him by hitting him in the head with a rock in the exercise yard of the hospital, where he had been kept in a special department for 13 years. Yılmaz underwent a head surgery in a nearby state hospital, and survived the attack. Aktaş also shared the same ward as

Ayhan Kartal Ayhan Kartal (born Ayhan Korniş, 1966 – March 13, 2000) was a Turkish rapist and child killer Pedicide, child murder, child manslaughter, or child homicide is the homicide of an individual who is a minor. Punishment by jurisdiction ...

, the latter of whom feared him before his death in 2000.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Aktas, Suleyman Living people Male serial killers People from Bozkurt, Denizli People with schizophrenia Turkish escapees Turkish serial killers Year of birth missing (living people)

Background and first murder

Later murders, institutionalization, escape, and incarceration

See also

References