2 October 2018

Jamal Khashoggi disappears after visiting the Saudi consulate in Istanbul to pick up paperwork he needs in order to get married to Hatice Cengiz, his Turkish fiancee. She waits outside the consulate and calls the police when he does not return.

3 October 2018

The Saudi government issues a statement confirming Khashoggi is missing. It says he disappeared after leaving the consulate building the day before. Turkish officials say they believe Khashoggi is still inside the building, which they cannot search without an invitation.

7 October 2018

Turkish officials say they believe a hit squad of 15 men arrived from Saudi Arabia on 29 September and were present in the building on the day of Khashoggi’s disappearance, leaving shortly afterwards.

10 October 2018

Details of an alleged hit squad are listed on flight manifests leaked to Turkish media. Reports emerge that Saudi special forces officers, intelligence officials, national guards and a forensics expert were allegedly part of the team tied to the disappearance of Khashoggi. Authorities also claim that security camera footage was removed from the Saudi consulate in Istanbul the day of the disappearance.

11 October 2018

Donald Trump announces an investigation, but insists that the US will not forgo trade or diplomatic ties with Riyadh, regardless of the outcome.

Turkish police forensic experts arrive at Saudi Arabia’s consulate in Istanbul. Photograph: Osman Örsal/Reuters

12 October 2018

Turkish investigators allege that there are video and audio recordings to prove that Khashoggi was killed. Some officials say the evidence demonstrates that his body was dismembered.

17 October 2018

Turkish officials say an audio recording proves Khashoggi was attacked by a Saudi hit-team when he entered the consulate.

18 October 2018

Turkish investigators get access to the Saudi consul general’s residence in Istanbul and deploy floodlights and a drone. The search for Khashoggi’s body also extends to two woodland areas outside the city, a major expansion of the geographical scope of the inquiry. The US and UK join key European partners in pulling out of a Saudi economic conference.

19 October 2018

Saudi Arabia admits for the first time that Khashoggi is dead. Riyadh claims that he was killed in a “fist-fight” with Saudi officials and announces a purge of senior officials, including Saud al-Qahtani, an influential adviser to the Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin Salman, and Gen Ahmed al-Asiri, a senior intelligence official. It is reported that 18 Saudi nationals have been arrested. Trump calls the explanation credible, but Saudi Arabia’s claims are met with derision and incredulity from members of Congress.

The US president, Donald Trump, and Turkey’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. Photograph: Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty Images

21 October 2018

Trump backtracks, accusing Saudi Arabia of “lies”. Reuters gives an account of the murder from an unnamed Saudi official, who says Khashoggi was choked to death as the result of the fight, and his body wrapped in a rug and disposed of by a “local collaborator”.

22 October 2018

CNN airs security tape footage from 2 October which shows a body double dressed in Khashoggi’s clothes leaving the consulate and touring Istanbul’s landmarks. A car is found in an underground garage which belongs to the Saudi consulate. It cannot be searched without permission from Riyadh. CCTV footage from four days earlier shows men removing something from the car and driving away with it. Reuters reports that Qahtani allegedly orchestrated the killing.

23 October 2018

In Ankara, Turkey’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, tears down Riyadh’s claims that Khashoggi died in a fight, makes fresh allegations that the murder was premeditated and calls for Turkey to take control of the criminal investigation. He stops short of acknowledging Turkey has audio and video evidence of the crime, as is widely believed, and does not implicate Prince Mohammed.

In Riyadh, King Salman and the crown prince receive Khashoggi’s grieving family members for an audience.

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. Photograph: Bandar Aljaloud Handout/EPA

10 November 2018

Turkey says it has shared audio recordings of the murder with governments including Saudi Arabia and the US. Investigators give up their search for the body.

15 November 2018

Eleven unidentifed people are charged with Khashoggi’s murder in Saudi Arabia. The US Treasury imposes sanctions on 17 Saudi officials including Qahtani.

17 November 2018

The Washington Post reports that the CIA has concluded that Prince Mohammed ordered the killing of Khashoggi. Two days later the Saudis say any claims of culpability on the part of Prince Mohammed are false.

3 January 2019

The Saudi trial opens with the attorney general demanding the death penalty for five of the charged men.

19 June 2019

Agnès Callamard, a UN special rapporteur on extrajudicial killings who led an investigatory team to Istanbul, issues a report saying Prince Mohammed should be investigated. The death “constituted an extrajudicial killing for which the State of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is responsible”, she said. Riyadh says the report’s findings are “unfounded”.

10 September 2019

A transcript of audio recorded during the murder is released by Turkish media. According to the transcript, a member of the Saudi hit squad tells Khashoggi that he has to be taken back to Riyadh because of an Interpol order against him. The journalist objects, saying there is no legal case against him and that his fiancee is waiting for him outside. In his final words, Khashoggi urged his killers not to cover his mouth because he had asthma and could suffocate, Sabah newspaper reports.

30 September 2019

Prince Mohammed denies ordering the killing in an interview with US media but says he ultimately bears “full responsibility” for what happened because he is one of the country’s leaders.

23 December 2019

Eight of the 11 people on trial in Saudi Arabia are found guilty of the killing. Five are sentenced to death. The verdict says the Saudi investigation concluded that the killing was not premeditated and that Qahtani was cleared of any wrongdoing.