Kriti Mehrotra
With HBO Max’s ‘The Palu Family: Under a Dark Spell’ delving into one of Turkey’s most disturbing, manipulative, and violent criminal cases, we get a documentary series that is haunting. After all, it carefully details the way a man used claims of demonic possession as well as psychological deception to not only control his wife’s entire family but also commit two homicides. The victims were 35-year-old Meryem Palu Tahnal and her 6-year-old daughter Melike Tahnal, but they were actually killed months as well as cities apart in drastically different ways.
Meryem Palu and Melike Tahnal Faced Struggles in Their Last Few Months
It was reportedly in 1973 when Meryem Palu was born to Hava Palu and Harun Palu as one of their five children, with her siblings being Emine Palu, Ayşe Palu, Fatih Palu, and İsa Palu. According to the aforementioned show, she grew up surrounded by comfort, love, and support at every step of the way, especially with her family being rather successful in the construction industry. In fact, they had their own three-story home, rental properties, and active projects, but what mattered to them above anything else in the long run was the tight-knit bond they shared.
Therefore, when Meryem started having troubles in her marriage with Ahmet Tahnal after a decade of being together in 2008, she didn’t hesitate to return to her parents’ home with her two children in tow. As per the series, her husband allegedly had a gambling problem and had promised her to a few men as a way to resolve matters, which she obviously was not okay with. So, her parents stood by her and even reported Ahmet to the police when he came after her, allegedly threatening to take her back. He was arrested before being released within a few hours, only to return to the family home the next morning with even more determination.
What ensued was a physical altercation that culminated in Harun fatally shooting his son-in-law, for which he was later sentenced to a few years in prison. Meryem subsequently moved into her family home for good, but she was still allegedly terrified that her in-laws might take revenge on her soon and thus moved in with her eldest sister Emine and her husband Tuncer Ustael. The family reportedly struggled with social isolation, threats, and “jinns” in the months to follow, driving most of them to leave home and live out of a car across several cities for weeks. However, things changed as Meryem allegedly told her family she had continued to keep the Tahnals updated about their location.
Meryem Palu and Melike Tahnal Were Considered Missing For Over a Decade
On Dcember 20, 2008, Meryem reportedly stepped out of the car at 2 am claiming she had to go to the bathroom, but she never returned. Her family grew worried by the morning, and when she still didn’t return, they filed a missing persons report, telling authorities about how she was allegedly fearful for her life owing to her former in-laws. The Palus subsequently sold their home and led a rather nomadic lifestyle, telling everyone who would hear about the dangers they were allegedly facing and the jinns they claimed to be dealing with. Then, around the fall of 2009, 6-year-old Melike disappeared from their care, never to be seen or heard from again.
Tuncer, his wife, and the rest of the family initially told neighbors and well-wishers that the young child had been taken away by her paternal family, but they soon ended up reporting her missing, too. As the years passed, no clues about either the mother or the daughter came to light, yet authorities were able to clear the Tahnals rather quickly upon realizing they were a normal family. It thus wasn’t until years later that the family admitted both of them were dead and had been buried. As per them, Meryem died of natural causes after being neglected for months and was then buried in the Tütünçiftlik region of Kocaeli. On the other hand, Melike was killed, wrapped in a white sheet, and buried by the shores of a stream/river in the rural area on the outskirts of Istanbul. It was in 2011 when the Palus went to the police to give their confessions, but they soon ended up changing their statements by claiming they had acted “under duress.”
Thus, it wasn’t until 2018 that the matter was again seriously looked into, after the Palus went to the true-crime/reality show ‘Müge Anlı ile Tatlı Sert’ to share the story of Meryem and Melike’s disappearance. Their episode aired on December 21, 2018, and soon, speculations of how they died came to light. Although neither Meryem nor Melike’s remains have been found as of writing, based on police evidence, confessions, and witness statements, they were both brutally murdered at the behest of Tuncer. Meryem was beaten and starved for months before being tied to a tree as “punishment” – either for being involved with the Talhans or having a jinn inside her – which caused her death. As for Melike, the little girl was allegedly tortured for the same reasons, but her cause of death was not from neglect or accident. According to the show, Tuncer gave her vinegar and “denatured alcohol,” which caused abdominal swelling. Then, he allegedly gave her hard compressions, only for them to cause internal ruptures and tears until she had sadly bled to death internally.
The Palus and Tuncer Ustael Were Arrested For Their Acions in 2019
While Meryem and Melike were alive and even after they initially went missing, the Palus continued to blame the Tahnal family, going as far as to compare them to the mafia. They claimed the family was deadset on seeking revenge against them because Harun had caused their son Ahmet’s death, but the reality was that they were far from dangerous. They were normal civilians who led an ordinary life, not only determined to move forward from the past but also with no connections to any alleged organ trafficking rings. The only dangerous individuals were the Palus, who had fallen under the charm of their son-in-law, Tuncer Ustael, to the point that they had allegedly lost all sense of self. As per the show, he allegedly manipulated them, made them believe in jinns, kept them drugged up, and gained access to all their assets before selling them off for personal gain.
Tuncer did so while his father-in-law was in prison for Ahmet’s murder, only to utilize that incident to get in with the vulnerable individuals. He was then emotionally, mentally, physically, and sexually abusive with the family, allegedly assaulting not only his sisters-in-law and his brothers-in-law, but also the children. The latter allegedly included the two he shared with Emine and the two Meryem had with Ahmet, Melike, and Recep Tayyip Tahnal. The latter had managed to flee the home thrice before authorities took him into state care, but Meryem and Melike weren’t so lucky. According to the show, it was only when Harun was released from prison that the family managed to distance themselves from Tuncer and went to the police, but they later recanted their statements out of fear. After all, Emine was still with him, and so were their two young kids.
Things changed after the family went on the reality show, as it culminated in the arrest of the entire family, apart from Harun. While Tuncer was identified as a cult leader-like individual with a penchant for violence, Hava, Emine, Ayşe, Fatih, and İsa were identified as his aiders and abetters. That’s because they lied to the authorities about Meryem and Melike’s disappearance despite knowing the truth about what had happened to them, with İsa also having helped Tuncer bury the bodies. They were his survivors in the sense of his manipulation and alleged domestic abuse, but they also tried to help him get away with murder. Therefore, they were all arrested and criminally charged on September 17, 2019. Even though no bodies were ever found despite excavations, one of the charges was intentional homicide.
After Years of Proceedings, The Palus and Tuncer Ustael Faced Justice in 2023
On February 13, 2020, Tuncer was sentenced to 4 years in prison for “depriving” Meryem of her liberty by tying her to a tree, 3 years for using Meryem’s bank cards, and a life term for Meryem’s “killing by torture.” His wife Emine, along with Hava, İsa, and Ayşe, were each sentenced to 12 years and 6 months in prison for “complicity in the crime.” They were also given an additional 1 year and 6 months for “depriving” Meryem of her liberty, but these were suspended. As for Fatih, he was given 8 years and 4 months for “complicity in the crime.” Three years later, the Supreme Court overturned all these verdicts, so the 6 defendants were retried, reconvicted, and resentenced. In October 2023, Tuncer was given an aggravated life sentence for “premeditated murder with monstrous intent or by inflicting torture” in connection with Meryem’s 2008 murder. His wife Emine, along with Hava, İsa, Ayşe, and Fatih, were each sentenced to the same terms for their complicity in the crime, but these 5 were all released after serving only a few years.
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