ANKARA, Turkey — Turkish police on Sunday arrested the suspected killer of an American tourist whose body was found in Istanbul earlier this year, a provincial governor's office said.

The man, identified by the initials Z.T. and nicknamed Laz Ziya by Turkish media, was arrested in Reyhanli in Turkey's southern Hatay province near the border with Syria, the provincial governor's office said on its website.

After questioning, the man was handed over to judicial authorities, the governor's office said. It gave no further details.

The body of 33-year-old Sarai Sierra, from New York, was found in the ruins of Istanbul's old city wall last month after she was reported missing in late January. Sierra, who had been traveling alone, was killed by a blow to the head.

The killing has attracted wide media attention in a country which receives millions of tourists each year and is generally seen as a safe destination for foreign travelers.