In a shocking twist to an already mysterious and bizarre saga, Turkish investigators say they believe that prominent Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi was murdered inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul after he entered on routine business four days ago.

Khashoggi’s fiance, who was waiting outside at the time of his disappearance on Tuesday, said he simply never came out. Since that time there’s been an international outcry and search for the missing journalist — a Washington Post columnist and former editor of a couple major Saudi newspapers — who had a reputation as an outspoken critic of Saudi Arabia’s rulers. He was initially widely reported“detained” inside the consul premises by Saudi authorities.

Saudi officials have vehemently denied having ever detained Khashoggi and have repeatedly said he freely left the embassy not long after he entered. The Saudi crown prince (MBS) himself on Friday invited Turkish authorities to enter the building to conduct an investigation, telling Bloomberg: “We are ready to welcome the Turkish government to go and search our premises,” he said of the consulate which is Saudi sovereign territory. “We will allow them to enter and search and do whatever they want to do…We have nothing to hide,” MBS added.

But Turkish police, after initiating their search of the Saudi diplomatic compound on Saturday, unexpectedly reached the following shocking conclusion, according toThe Washington Post:

Turkey has concluded that Jamal Khashoggi, a prominent journalist from Saudi Arabia, was killed in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul earlier this week by a Saudi team sent “specifically for the murder,” two people with knowledge of the probe said Saturday.

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