GUILTY Turkey - Sarai Sierra, 33, NY woman murdered, Istanbul, 21 Jan 2013 - #5

[Yashim]

OT Yashim, are you aware that there is a series of mystery novels involving an Inspector Yashim from Istanbul?

Yes, I bough the first of the series.

The Janissary Tree. That's how I got the name.

Haven't started on it though.

Yashim, the Eunuch

I don't even know what kind of a name Yashim is. Maybe it's Yasim. And written like that for easier pronunciation.

In that case it should be pronunced as Yas-him. Not the sh sound.

In other words, Yes I am aware.

 

[Yashim]

I gotta go sleep. Gotta get up in a few hours.

Just checked the news.

There's a new piece on Ziya.

One of the residents (some guy named Mahmut G.) near the walls told LE that he saw Ziya on the day of the crime. Seeing that there were two lines of scratch marks on his cheek, he asked him what happened. Ziya told him that he fell onto some shrubs and that's how he got the scratches. LE suspects that the SS's fingernails could be the cause...

The rest is old info. They just couldn't wait for me to savor my new theory. Perhaps, I should take another sabbatical.

http://haber.gazetevatan.com/Haber/515784/1/Gundem

 

[NewYork625]

I gotta go sleep. Gotta get up in a few hours.

Just checked the news.

There's a new piece on Ziya.

One of the residents (some guy named Mahmut G.) near the walls told LE that he saw Ziya on the day of the crime. Seeing that there were two lines of scratch marks on his cheek, he asked him what happened. Ziya told him that he fell onto some shrubs and that's how he got the scratches. LE suspects that the SS's fingernails could be the cause...

The rest is old info. They just couldn't wait for me to savor my new theory. Perhaps, I should take another sabbatical.

http://haber.gazetevatan.com/Haber/515784/1/Gundem

We savor your theories too! Please no more sabbaticals!!!

 

[Yashim]

ullhair:

Yashim ... we are so glad that you are back!!

BBM

me, too.

:great:

 

[writer411]

Hi Everyone,

Sorry I was away. I thought this case was over.

In a way, it is over. Lots of theories still swirling around creating interesting discussion, but the facts about how Sarai died remain locked in time, on Jan 21.

 

[ThinkHard]

Sairi Sierra, American Tourist, Killed by Blow to the Head, Turkish Police Say

Saria Sierra Update: Istanbul police release surveillance photos of slain staten island mom


Thread #1
Thread #2
Thread #3
Thread #4

Looking at this image. Her jacket in this picture looks to be a darker brown, and seems to be a bit longer then the other pictures of her in the leather jacket we have seen...also as Herat pointed out there seems to be something possibles reflective on the lapel. Looking at this image now the jacket on the woman in the photo reminds we of a North Face Denali fleece then a leather jacket. The reflective thing on the lapel looks to me like the white north face Denali logo.

I don't know if it matters but that just really doesn't look like the jacket we've seen in so many photos, or the jacket she was wearing in the mall footage on the 20th. Perhaps she brought more then one jacket. But since jackets take up a lot of space that would seem odd.

 

[writer411]

re: gold, i think observers are ascribing significance to it that probably wasnt there for a person in the throws of taking another human beings life. unless the killer went after sarai specifically for her jewelry, given the crazed and frenzied state of mind of this person, he most likely would not have even seen gold metal against sarsi's olive-colored and probably dirt-covered skin. as for the FBI, they probably made those comments for which they have probably already apologized to the family bkuz sarai was of puerto rican, hence, ethnic descent. as for the faked death suppostion, basically, in the USA, all high profile desceased ppl are still alive, dont ask me why. but from elvis to michael jackson to tupac and chandra levy, the longer the death remains unsolved, the more the urban legend persists.

 

[SmilingSweetly]

Yashim - I'm typically a lurker. Read every page - rarely comment. I'm coming out of lurk-ville to say I missed you very much while you were away. Thanks for coming back. Your information, translations, theories and sense of humor are much appreciated. Thanks again!

And to everyone else who has who has been contributing - thanks! I love being able to read through other people's ideas and the new information they find. This case has really touched me. I hope it is solved soon.

 

[ThinkHard]

She was expecting to go back to her apt on 21st after the outing at Sarayburnu.

Yes I'm sure she did. But what I had meant by questioning that was in regards to when she was flying out. For example she called her dad on the 20th to give him flight details, but if she wasn't flying out until the 22nd why wouldn't she have called him on the 21st to give him the details. And if she had kept in regular touch with her family, and wasn't leaving till the 22nd, then I would think her family would think it was odd that they hadn't heard from her the entire day on the 21st (with the exception of an early morning text to her sister). So I had assumed her family must have at least thought her departure was on the 21st, writing off not hearing from her to the fact she was busy traveling and prepping for travel.

Which if she was leaving on the 21st I always wondered how close she was cutting her schedule ...

.....also which brings me to something else I was thinking about today....one excuse we keep tossing around for her going to the walls is the idea that she desperately wanted to photograph something there....however I have a couple things that seem to not match up with this explanation....

How can it be that someone who only posted 6 Instagram pictures from Turkey, (someone who was supposedly alone in their room every night with plenty of time to edit them, and had posted 5 photos in only 3 days in Amsterdam)....be sooooooo into her photography mission that the very thing they want to do on their last day, maybe even last hours in Istanbul, is go to creepy walls and take photos.....

It seems if photography was such a motivating force that she just HAD to get to those walls and take pictures...someone that motivated would also be motivated enough to have taken, edited, and posted more then 6 photos in her entire stay in Istanbul.

Which makes me really question what was drawing her to those walls. Because I just feel given some other factors it wasn't photography.

Also, (sorry for rambling), I feel that someone, who's main focus of going to those creepy dirty walls was photography...wouldn't have taken the time to look extra girly and feminine that day if their only goal was to crawl around a dirty place to shoot railroad photos.

I mean something just doesn't go together.

 

[ThinkHard]

In the very last footage, she is seen carrying a brown paper bag under her arm. Or something wrapped in light brown paper.

And doesn't look like heavy.

But I have never seen the shops in Eminönü use such brown paper bags. Why wouldn't she buy that on her way back?

She wouldn't be late anyway. And those shops are open until 7 PM.

That is weird. And no hat.

And in the previous footage in Eminönü, she seems to be on the land side not on the seaside. Because, as far as I remember the there are fences on both sides of the road. But on the lend side, somewhere in front of the Mosque (Yeni Cami) , they have placed bollards. And in the picture, I see bollards in the background. And that road on the back may even be the Arpacilar street and not the main avenue.

She must have switched to the seaside again.

I agree Yashim, when I saw the shot of her timed 13:29 in eminonu, I also thought she was walking on the road behind Yeni Cami.

And I thought this was weird, because we had been told she was seen on video in serkeci at 1:15 go towards Sarayburnu, and walking straight along Kennedy cadessi spotted shortly after the serkeci sighting by a camera in cankurtan.

But here we have a video of her in Eminonu behind Yeni Cami, which of course is before serkeci , coming from the bridge, at 1:30pm....

What'd she do, walk in circles? Was the 1:15pm serkeci sighting completely bogus?

Makes no sense.

 

[Rolandred]

Relocation makes no sense. Why try to relocate her and leave the husband and kids unprotected?

If you really want to make yourself crazy, Yashim, start reading the post about the Red Shirt Lady decoy theory in thread #4, about page 65 or so.

A woman with long dark hair wearing a long red shirt and jeans was pulled from the water off just about the time SS goes missing. There is even footage of a policeman using a cell phone with two of SS's NYC photographs to compare with the woman found. I don't think anyone here ever found any followup on who that woman was.

This is and has been a big question mark for me too. The lady in the red shirt pulled out of the sea with very similar looks to SS...and the same color shirt SS was wearing last time seen...

 

[NewYork625]

Yes I'm sure she did. But what I had meant by questioning that was in regards to when she was flying out. For example she called her dad on the 20th to give him flight details, but if she wasn't flying out until the 22nd why wouldn't she have called him on the 21st to give him the details. And if she had kept in regular touch with her family, and wasn't leaving till the 22nd, then I would think her family would think it was odd that they hadn't heard from her the entire day on the 21st (with the exception of an early morning text to her sister). So I had assumed her family must have at least thought her departure was on the 21st, writing off not hearing from her to the fact she was busy traveling and prepping for travel.

Which if she was leaving on the 21st I always wondered how close she was cutting her schedule ...

.....also which brings me to something else I was thinking about today....one excuse we keep tossing around for her going to the walls is the idea that she desperately wanted to photograph something there....however I have a couple things that seem to not match up with this explanation....

How can it be that someone who only posted 6 Instagram pictures from Turkey, (someone who was supposedly alone in their room every night with plenty of time to edit them, and had posted 5 photos in only 3 days in Amsterdam)....be sooooooo into her photography mission that the very thing they want to do on their last day, maybe even last hours in Istanbul, is go to creepy walls and take photos.....

It seems if photography was such a motivating force that she just HAD to get to those walls and take pictures...someone that motivated would also be motivated enough to have taken, edited, and posted more then 6 photos in her entire stay in Istanbul.

Which makes me really question what was drawing her to those walls. Because I just feel given some other factors it wasn't photography.

Also, (sorry for rambling), I feel that someone, who's main focus of going to those creepy dirty walls was photography...wouldn't have taken the time to look extra girly and feminine that day if their only goal was to crawl around a dirty place to shoot railroad photos.

I mean something just doesn't go together.

I appreciate your point of view, but my take on it is different...

I imagine she was feeling excited about seeing her kids again and being home, and that that gave her renewed energy...She may have dressed nicely because she was happy and feeling positive after being homesick...Maybe she had come to realize what she had at home was best after all, and she was happy with that realization...

It looks like it was a beautiful day, and she had a long flight ahead of her the following day. Perhaps she wanted to take a nice long walk the day before being confined in an airplane for hours, so she walked along a road beside the sea, enjoying the sunshine and the sea breeze...

I see the walls as something beautiful, historic, and fascinating, and maybe she saw them that way too. Also, she had to have heard the train whistle from the commuter train that ran frequently, and was close to where she was walking. Since she had photographed train tracks before, the sound of the train may have lured her to investigate beyond the walls...

Maybe she did take other photos, but hadn't editted and uploaded all of the photos because she simply was in no hurry.

 

[ThinkHard]

The still photo is taken at the foot of the wrought iron pedestrian overpass, on the sea side, in front of a takeout food place (that's the counter, not a step). She is heading in the direction of Sarayburnu.

It's a warm sunny day. 63 F that day in Istanbul. Doesn't need a hat.

Looks like she is trying to be visible. As if she is meeting someone. Someone she likes and wants to look nice for. Like a man.

I don't know if it is. I might be wrong but her are my reasons for thinking its not that location. At the end of the Galata bridge on the eminonu side, all the food places are under the bridge and they are all on the inside, pedestrians walk on the outside closer to the water. In that shot, you can see a taksi, but on the part of the bridge with the cafes there are no cars. If she was up on the top part of the bridge there would indeed be cars visible, but there are no food stands along the bridge on the street level. There is the tram, and cars, and foot traffick, and people selling you stuff they lay out on blankets, but no food stands with counters, no food stands at all on that layer of the bridge.

As you get to the end of the bridge on that side, in order to cross the road you are forced to go through this crowded busy smelly under pass with shops that have cheap stuff, like "genuine fake watches", and there is the entrance and exits to the eminonu tram stop.

I'm not so sure that image is from the end of the Galata bridge, I just don't think there is any food stand street level in that spot at all, or building. Just boats on that side (side facing Sarayburnu), and in the other side of the eminonu end of the bridge are really ornate fishing boats to order balik ekmek (fish sandwich).

I dunno I might be mistaken, it just doesn't look like the spot your indicating to me.

 

[Rolandred]

Who was this woman pulled out of the sea? Was there any news about her in Istanbul ?

 

[SophieRose]

I appreciate your point of view, but my take on it is different...

I imagine she was feeling excited about seeing her kids again and being home, and that that gave her renewed energy...She may have dressed nicely because she was happy and feeling positive after being homesick...Maybe she had come to realize what she had at home was best after all, and she was happy with that realization...

It looks like it was a beautiful day, and she had a long flight ahead of her the following day. Perhaps she wanted to take a nice long walk the day before being confined in an airplane for hours, so she walked along a road beside the sea, enjoying the sunshine and the sea breeze...

I see the walls as something beautiful, historic, and fascinating, and maybe she saw them that way too. Also, she had to have heard the train whistle from the commuter train that ran frequently, and was close to where she was walking. Since she had photographed train tracks before, the sound of the train may have lured her to investigate beyond the walls...

Maybe she did take other photos, but hadn't editted and uploaded all of the photos because she simply was in no hurry.

When she was first reported missing, older woman, as well as younger boy, reported that she was taking pictures of buildings in the neighborhood. None of those were uploaded.

 

[Herat]

I agree Yashim, when I saw the shot of her timed 13:29 in eminonu, I also thought she was walking on the road behind Yeni Cami.

And I thought this was weird, because we had been told she was seen on video in serkeci at 1:15 go towards Sarayburnu, and walking straight along Kennedy cadessi spotted shortly after the serkeci sighting by a camera in cankurtan.

But here we have a video of her in Eminonu behind Yeni Cami, which of course is before serkeci , coming from the bridge, at 1:30pm....

What'd she do, walk in circles? Was the 1:15pm serkeci sighting completely bogus?

Makes no sense.

I've only seen two images of SS on Jan 21.

The still photo taken at the foot of the pedestrian bridge not too far from Galeta bridge, and the video taken on Kennedy, just about where the Sarayburnu street is. A reporter was also filmed discussing it and showing the camera there.

Are there other photos- can anyone please post an image from Yeni Cami or from cankurtan.

 

[writer411]

Who was this woman pulled out of the sea? Was there any news about her in Istanbul ?

In recalling the news from that time, seems like a little more unearthing than usual might have been going on. The FBI was on the scene and at that time, observers like us (but probably not local LE and FBI) thought SS might still be alive. IDK if they ever said who the Bosphorus woman was. It wasnt important to the international media reporting on the missing American tourist situation.

 

[ThinkHard]

I appreciate your point of view, but my take on it is different...

I imagine she was feeling excited about seeing her kids again and being home, and that that gave her renewed energy...She may have dressed nicely because she was happy and feeling positive after being homesick...Maybe she had come to realize what she had at home was best after all, and she was happy with that realization...

It looks like it was a beautiful day, and she had a long flight ahead of her the following day. Perhaps she wanted to take a nice long walk the day before being confined in an airplane for hours, so she walked along a road beside the sea, enjoying the sunshine and the sea breeze...

I see the walls as something beautiful, historic, and fascinating, and maybe she saw them that way too. Also, she had to have heard the train whistle from the commuter train that ran frequently, and was close to where she was walking. Since she had photographed train tracks before, the sound of the train may have lured her to investigate beyond the walls...

Maybe she did take other photos, but hadn't editted and uploaded all of the photos because she simply was in no hurry.

I appreciate your perspective as well.

I have to say just one thing though, in photos and in certain places even those walls do look fascinating....but in person, particularly the area she was found, those walls are just creepy. There is trash and broken bottles, dirty blankets, clearly visible from the road. It is not an inviting place. Even when I would drive by there in a car, I would always get a bad feeling in the pit of my stomach driving by parts of them.

The best I can try to explain it that maybe you'll understand, is that going into that area would be the equivalent to going for a walk under an old bridge where its clear homeless people live.

I dunno if that makes sense, but I hope.

 

[NewYork625]

I appreciate your perspective as well.

I have to say just one thing though, in photos and in certain places even those walls do look fascinating....but in person, particularly the area she was found, those walls are just creepy. There is trash and broken bottles, dirty blankets, clearly visible from the road. It is not an inviting place. Even when I would drive by there in a car, I would always get a bad feeling in the pit of my stomach driving by parts of them.

The best I can try to explain it that maybe you'll understand, is that going into that area would be the equivalent to going for a walk under an old bridge where its clear homeless people live.

I dunno if that makes sense, but I hope.

That does make sense. I appreciate the perspective from someone who has actually been there.

 

[ThinkHard]

http://www.panoramio.com/m/photo/35880596

Galata bridge looking to eminonu

http://www.panoramio.com/m/photo/35880596

Galata bridge at end eminonu side.

Herat I'm really confused. You keep saying that picture of sarai is from the end of the Galata bridge but I don't think it is.

The pavement isn't those square there.

I've attached some images for reference.

Where at the end of the bridge is that image suppose to be from? There are no food stands at the end of the bridge on the car level. And those posts behinf her arenas on the bridge either.

I'm confused and just trying to pin point her location, but I'm not seeing that it was at the end of the bridge.