Police ID Calif. Mansion Bodies

Foul Play Not Ruled Out In Mysterious Deaths Of Turkish Immigrant Family

(AP)  The decomposed bodies found last weekend in an oceanside home were identified Tuesday as an engineer who testified at trials about accident reconstruction and four of his relatives.

Manas Ucar, 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.

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 Ucar were found in a downstairs closet, with two handguns near the bodies. One of the handguns was registered to Margrit Ucar 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, Giudice said.

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 Ucar 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 Ucar 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 Ucar's doctoral dissertation in mechanical engineering.

Ucar's wife, Margrit, also immigrated from Turkey and received her U.S. citizenship in 1987 while in Syracuse, according to an article in the newspaper The Post-Standard.

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

The family's home is in Sea Pointe Estates, a small, gated community in San Clemente, about 65 miles southeast of Los Angeles at the southern edge of Orange County.

[mediabrat60]

But property records show they bought their home in 1987.....things that make you go hmmmmmm?

[gmond]

The whole story makes you go hmmmm

[jetlizhan]

this is so strange and so sad - nice looking family in a nice neighborhood - you just never know about people. if this turns out to be a homicide/suicide case, what a waste. the old question of why can''t unhappy folks just LEAVE THE PREMISES!! why do they have to do away with other family members. very, very sad.

[eggy1620]

Honor killings most likely.

[mjm121]

Posted by ccfsdca at 11:05 AM : May 28, 2008

Wow...you are NUTS

[credibility2]

There''s no excuse or rational explanation for this type of barbarism and criminality, regardless of who is responsible.

[fibonacci_gr]

The man in that picture looks like he would be murdered.

[newsjunky5]

As an expert specializing in accidents, fires, and explosions, I wonder if Manas Ucar was on the trail of, or testified against, or was involved with dangerous criminal elements. Perhaps an insurance company murdered him.

[gizmocruz-2009]

I suppose the little remarks about Manson and "five times" are meant to be humerous? Totally unnecessary, crass and classless.

[abigail70]

ccfsdca, if you cared so much about God, you''d at least capitalize the name.

My heart goes out to these people. Such a sad, sad tragedy. What beautiful girls they were.

[culturechang]

Who knows the police may just officially concluded that this never happened....makes the investigation much easier. Then they can get back to that massage parlor case.