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After weeks of gray rumors, Turkey's chief prosecutor has confirmed that journalist Jamal Khashoggi was strangled and dismembered as soon as he entered the Saudi consulate in Istanbul a month ago.
But Saudi Arabia faces a torrent of international condemnation over the murder of the royal insider-turned-critic, the location of his body remains a mystery.
Here is what we know so far.
– 'Destroyed' –
After initially insisting Khashoggi left the consulate unharmed, then saying he died in a brawl, the Saudi regime was admitted to a "rogue operation" on October 2.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan says a 15-person team from Riyadh for the premeditated hit.
The Turkish prosecutor 's office revealed in a statement on Wednesday that the body was cut into pieces it was "destroyed", but did not say how.
– 'Not in need of burying' –
After the statement was issued, a Turkish official told the Washington Post – for which Khashoggi was a contributor – that authorities are investigating a theory the body was destroyed in acid, or in the consulate or the Saudi consul's nearby residence.
Khashoggi was killed. The official was cited as saying "biological evidence" in the consulate's garden.
"Khashoggi's body was not in need of burying," the official told the US newspaper on the condition of anonymity.
– 'Local co-conspirators'? –
A stream of reports in Turkey's pro-government media – often anonymous sourcing Turkish officials – have a number of theories about the murder and its aftermath.
Some claimed the body was wrapped up in the air, while others said the hit squad in the back.
There have also been reports – citing an unnamed Saudi official – that the team handed the body to a local Turkish collaborator, who then disposed of it.
Erdogan has always called on Riyadh to identify any such "local co-conspirators".
However, the Saudi chief prosecutor, who visited Istanbul this week, said Saudi authorities had made no such statement about local collaborators, according to the Istanbul prosecutor's office.
– The forest and the well –
The search for the body has generated much excitement in the press, but few results – at least that has been made public.
Turkish police first searched the consulate and the consul general's residence, then hunted for evidence in a vast forest on the fringes of Istanbul.
They also investigated an abandoned car in Saudi Arabia.
Saudi authorities denied Turkish police permission to search in the garden of the consulate, but allowed them to take water samples for analysis, local media reported.
Turkish investigators also used a robotic arm to inspect the sewers around the consulate.
– 'We do not know where the body is' –
Saudi Arabia, for its part, has kept quiet on the island of Turkey and the international community demand answers.
Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir said on October 21 that a "tremendous mistake" had been made and those responsible would be punished – 18 suspects have been arrested in Riyadh.
"We do not know where the body is," he said.
After weeks of grisly rumors, Turkey's chief prosecutor has confirmed that journalist Jamal Khashoggi was strangled and dismembered as soon as he entered the consulate in Istanbul a month ago
