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ANKARA: 5 Members Of Turkish Family Found Dead In US

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  • ANKARA: 5 Members Of Turkish Family Found Dead In US

    5 Members Of Turkish Family of Armenian origin Found Dead In US

    Today's Zaman
    May 30, 2008

    The decomposed bodies found last weekend in an oceanside home were
    identified Tuesday as three generations of a Turkish family.

    Manas Uçar, 58, and his wife, Margrit, 48, immigrated from Turkey
    years ago, and their twin 21-year-old daughters, Margo and Grace, had
    just completed bachelor degrees in biology. The fifth victim, the
    family's maternal grandmother, 72-year-old Fransuhi Kesisoglu, was a
    legal resident, said Lt. Erin Giudice, spokeswoman for the Orange
    County sheriff. Turkish news reports said the family was of Armenian
    origin.

    Deputies had visited the home overlooking the Pacific twice in the
    past two weeks, prompted by calls from a concerned neighbor and
    worried relatives. But deputies found nothing suspicious, and the
    callers conceded the family may have taken a vacation. On Sunday, two
    brothers forced their way into the house, only to discover the bodies.

    Giudice said neither homicide nor suicide had been ruled out, but she
    stressed that the community was not in danger and no suspects were
    being sought. Autopsies are not yet complete and toxicology results
    could take up to eight weeks, she said.

    Manas and Margrit Uçar were found in a downstairs closet, with two
    handguns near the bodies. One of the handguns was registered to
    Margrit Uçar and both husband and wife were shot, Giudice said. The
    daughters and grandmother were found in the attached bedroom and the
    twins were in the bed, she said. Their bodies were too decomposed to
    identify any gunshot wounds. Because the house was built into a cliff,
    the bedroom suite where the bodies were found was below ground level,
    shielded from view and well-insulated, Giudice said. "Everything was
    closed up," she said. "The family and the neighborhood thought they
    were on vacation."

    Margo and Grace Uçar both finished work toward bachelor degrees in
    biology at the University of California, San Diego, this past winter,
    said Pat Jacoby, a spokeswoman for the university. Manas Uçar came to
    the United States in the 1970s and was on the Syracuse University
    faculty about five years, said Eugene Drucker, a retired Syracuse
    professor who supervised Manas Uçar's doctoral dissertation in
    mechanical engineering. Uçar's wife, Margrit, also immigrated from
    Turkey and received her US citizenship in 1987 while in Syracuse,
    according to an article in the newspaper The Post-Standard.

    Manas Uçar became a consulting engineer after leaving the university,
    then moved to California in the mid-1990s, Drucker said. The Web site
    law.com lists Uçar as an expert on accident reconstruction,
    specializing in fires, explosions and seat belt use.

    29 May 2008, AP SAN CLEMENTE
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