Wisconsin man 'knifed girlfriend in throat' before sleeping with dead body for a month
The man, originally from Turkey, is accused of murdering his girlfriend and living in the apartment with her body for a month before reporting her death.
A Turkish national living in Wisconsin stands accused of killing his girlfriend and sleeping next to her body for about a month, before going to the police station and reporting her dead.
24-year-old Serkan Akcilad was charged last month with one count of first-degree reckless homicide and a modifiedfor use of a dangerous weapon to stabSilan Tut, court records show.
Akcilad walked into the Milwaukee Police Administration Building on Feb 27 and told the front desk officer that his girlfriend was dead inside the apartment they shared in the 1300 block of North 10th Street. Akcilad, from Turkey, had to use the Google Translate app on his phone to report the death.
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The defendant claimed he didn’t report his girlfriend’s death initially due to being “unfamiliar with the laws of this country.”
The affidavit stated, “Akcilad advised that about 20 days prior he ran an errand leaving his girlfriend at their apartment. When he returned he found her dead on the floor.
“Akcilad stated he had been gone for about an hour and when he returned she was ‘lying on the floor covered in blood.’ Initially, he thought [his girlfriend] was ‘joking’ and he tried to lift her up. Akcilad said [his girlfriend] was ‘cold as ice’ and he ‘fainted from shock.'”
Akcilad told police he discovered his girlfriend's body “about 20 days prior” and “slept by the dead body of [Tut] on the floor where he initially found her.”
Officers discovered Tut’s body in the apartment, lying with a pillow behind her head. According to the medical examiner, Tut had suffered multiple stab wounds to the torso and neck while the state of decomposition indicated she’d been dead for around a month.
“The body appeared to have been staged. During the search of the apartment no knives were located other than ‘extremely dull’ butter knives and the boxcutters,” police said.
The results of a “Blue Star” blood developer device, used to detect invisible traces of blood, indicated that Akcilad had stabbed Tut in a different area of the home and dragged her to where she was located by police.
Police also found food receipts from Feb. 14 through Feb. 21, indicating Akcilad had been in the apartment regularly since he allegedly murdered his girlfriend.
Blood spatter was discovered on multiple items within the home, which were collected into evidence along with an eviction notice. Another notice ordered Akcilad to pay $1,257 in past-due rent or vacate the premises.
According to one neighbour, Akcilad and Tut were arguing and screaming on Jan. 24, which lasted about five to 10 minutes.
Surveillance footage obtained by police from a local Pick ‘n Save grocery store allegedly showed Akcilad on that same day purchasing a bottle of bleach later in the night.
Akcilad reportedly said he purchased a nail gun on January 5, which he used to try to take his own life by shooting himself in the head with it. The affidavit said he “was found to have a nail in his head extending into his brain” and underwent surgery to have the nail removed in hospital.
Once the nail was removed from his head, the defendant told detectives he went out on Jan. 24 for about an hour but returned to find his girlfriend dead.
“He initially thought she was playing a joke on him, but she was cold to the touch and found she was dead. He then ‘passed out’ from shock. When he awoke, he saw she was still dead and may have passed out again,” the affidavit states.
Much of Akcilad’s admissions don’t appear to fit with his denial of having murdered his girlfriend.
He has allegedly admitted to moving his girlfriend's body from where she was murdered. He also allegedly said the only reason he reported his girlfriend's death was because the property manager was going to check on the apartment the following day.
While Akcilad has repeatedly denied being involved in Tut’s death and cover-up, he allegedly confessed to using her phone to communicate with her family to “convince them that she was alive and in good health.”
He is currently being held on bond of $1 million and is scheduled to appear in court for a preliminary hearing on March 19 for a preliminary hearing.
