Azerbaijan solves 2019 cold case murder in southern district

Azerbaijani law enforcement authorities have resolved the 2019 disappearance of a resident in the Jalilabad district, identifying it as a premeditated murder, the Prosecutor General's Office and the Ministry of Internal Affairs said in a joint statement.

Nadir Mammadov, a resident of Goytapa in the Jalilabad district, was reported missing in March 2019 after leaving his home. A criminal investigation opened in August 2019 was suspended in October 2022 after extensive searches failed to locate him.

Renewed joint investigative and operational efforts confirmed that Mammadov's disappearance was linked to murder motivated by revenge, authorities said. Investigators established reasonable suspicions against Ramiz Alakbarov, born in 1959, an acquaintance of the victim.

According to prosecutors, on March 23, 2019, Alakbarov took advantage of Mammadov's intoxicated state, placed him into his car in Goytapa, and drove him to the yard of his private residence in the village of Taza Alvadi in the neighboring Masalli district. Alakbarov strangled Mammadov inside the vehicle around 10:00 p.m. and concealed the crime by throwing the body into an unused water well on the property.

On September 20, 2026, the investigation reclassified the case under Article 120.1 of the Criminal Code of Azerbaijan (premeditated murder). Alakbarov was detained as a suspect and confessed to the murder during interrogation in the presence of legal counsel. Excavation of the well pointed out by the suspect yielded bone fragments presumed to be human.

The joint investigation and related procedural measures remain ongoing.