https://edition.cnn.com/2018/10/17/middleeast/trump-saudi-khashoggi-intl/index.html

Jamal Khashoggi investigation closes in on Saudi Crown Prince's inner circle

By Laura Smith-Spark and Bard Wilkinson, CNN

Updated 1725 GMT (0125 HKT) October 17, 2018 

Trump reiterates Saudi denial on missing reporter 02:34

(CNN)Turkish investigators wearing hazmat suits searched the Saudi consul general's residence in Istanbul on Wednesday, looking for clues to what happened to Jamal Khashoggi amid growing indications that the men allegedly responsible for the journalist's death have close ties to the highest levels of the Saudi government.

Sources told CNN that a group of Saudi men whom Turkish officials believe are connected to Khashoggi's apparent killing were led by a high-ranking intelligence officer, with one source saying he was close to the inner circle of the kingdom's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

Khashoggi, a Washington Post columnist, visited the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on October 2 to obtain papers that would have allowed him to marry his Turkish fiancée. The insider-turned-critic of the Saudi government has not been seen since.