The cruel mother who threw her baby in the trash appeared before the judge

The mother of the baby found dead in a garbage dump 18 years ago in İzmit, Kocaeli, appeared before a judge. In court, she stated, "I don't remember how the umbilical cord separated from my body."

Detained suspect Emine Nilay Özkan (41), whose DNA and fingerprint analysis identified her as the mother of a newborn baby found dead in a garbage dump 18 years ago in the İzmit district of Kocaeli, appeared before the judge for the first time. Özkan, who is being tried for aggravated imprisonment, stated in her defense, “I don’t remember how the umbilical cord separated from my body. When I touched the baby, it was stiff.”

On May 27, 2007, the body of a newborn baby girl was found in a garbage dump in the Yahyakaptan neighborhood of İzmit. The baby’s body was buried in the Cemetery for the Unidentified, belonging to the Kocaeli Metropolitan Municipality Cemetery Directorate.

The autopsy report determined that the baby died from suffocation due to the umbilical cord being wrapped around her neck three times. The case remained unsolved until 2025, when the Kocaeli Police Department’s Public Security Branch Directorate Homicide Bureau reopened the case.

All suspects from the closed case were questioned again, and the evidence collected at the time of the incident was re-examined. During an 8-month investigation, fingerprints found on a box in a garbage container where the baby was discovered 18 years ago matched those of Emine Nilay Özkan.

DNA samples taken from Özkan also matched the baby's, confirming her identity as the mother. Özkan, apprehended in Sapanca, Sakarya, was arrested by the court on November 19, 2025. It was learned that Emine Nilay Özkan, the owner of a company providing project and financial management consultancy in the construction sector, also held active roles in various non-governmental organizations, associations, and chambers of commerce.

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