Cops: Man suspected in wife's death may have killed himself
Riza Cosa, left, and Hatice Corbacioglu, in an undated photo. Corbacioglu, who crossed the border into New York from Canada on June 15, 2009 to visit Cosa, was reported missing in the summer of 2009. Cosa is being sought by authorities as a person of interest in that disappearance and in the death of his wife. Credit: Handout
Police are trying to verify reports that the man wanted for questioning in the homicide of his Hicksville wife and the disappearance of his Canadian girlfriend has killed himself in his native Turkey, authorities in Canada and Nassau said Thursday.
Turkish media outlets reported Thursday that Riza Cosa, labeled "a person of interest" in both cases, jumped off a 10-story apartment building, plummeting nine stories to his death.
The decomposing body of Cosa's American wife, Angela Winsome Perez, 45, was found stuffed in a plastic bag May 10 at a work site in New Cassel where Cosa once worked as a welder. She was reported missing last July.
The girlfriend, Hatice Corbacioglu, 33, hasn't been heard from - or used her bank accounts, telephone or Facebook page - since she told her family she was going to visit Cosa in New York on June 15, Toronto police have said. Her car was found abandoned and "covered in grime" at Kennedy Airport in November, they said.
For his part, Cosa flew out of the United States to Istanbul in July, and authorities haven't been able to find him.
Toronto police, who are investigating Corbacioglu's disappearance as a missing person case, are trying to verify the Turkish reports of Cosa's suicide, Toronto Constable Steve Butt said Thursday. Det. Vincent Garcia, a Nassau police spokesman, said Thursday the department was waiting for the FBI to check out the report on the department's behalf.
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