CA CA - Sydney “Syd” West, 19, Univ of CA student, San Francisco, 30 Sep 2020 #2

[owleye]

Does anyone know if the parents have given an interview to a journalist yet or any "sit down" type media interview? Since this is a voluntary missing adult, and there does not seem to be any evidence of foul play, the police really can't do much at this point. Or have the parents petitioned to obtain the hotel CTV footage? Must be hallway/elevator images of her on that day from the hotel she stayed at.

 

[SpanishMossAntiques]

<modsnip>
I don't believe she committed suicide either yet I don't think she committed because of how she has fight in her, how she self motivates, how she knows it's just a voice in her head, and her behaviour doesn't line up with a suicidal profile.

Here's the link to the interview;

at 1:35 she says "It helped me to learn how to live life with more enjoyment". then at 1:42 SW says: "I do things out of passion rather than the fear of failure". I feel like she's out there trying to find out her place in the world; She's adventurous, artistic, loves water, is an earth lover, has strong political views, she's prepared, organised, she procrastinates at times, it's evident that she constantly feels judged from the comment on reddit about feeling like a check list, to the medium post about her voice telling her to go back and change this and that so it's perfect then she pushes through that, I think there's more to the words in the essay she had written then what meets the eye.

Every single decision is like a roll of a dice but with more sides, every emotion, every thought, every sight, every fight or flight contributes to decision making whether that be to go down this path, that path, to go into a store, to not go into a store, to research, to adventure, to explore, etc.

I was researching the area of Crissy field and if she traveled from Crissy field to the golden gate bridge she would of gone as followed; Crissy Field Ave to Battery E Trail to the Coastal Trail then onto the bridge. Assuming she had crossed over the bridge she could of gone towards Miwok Trail Trailhead, Wolfback Ridge Road, Alexander Ave or East Road all of those apart from Miwok Trail lead towards Sausalito I'm doubting she went towards Miwok Trail so if she went towards Sausalito what would be her next stop? That's my question right now, every single step can be broken down so rather than A to B you get all these checkpoints inbetween, so what I will be looking for are bus stops, places to sit down like picnic benches, parks, public buildings like a library, a church, anywhere you can have a break.

It would be worth having missing posters and news channel coverage in Sausalito, according to the 2010 census Sausalito's population was 7,061. Yet who's to say she stopped in Sausalito, she's quite a sporty person so she could of travelled quite a bit further than there. I'm gonna stick by my guts that are telling me that she's travelling along the coastline. Hopefully she gets found and hopefully she makes the decision to go back home to her family

I worked in LE, as a Public Safety Park Ranger, and - as a Director of Security and Investigations at a 420-bed long-term care psychiatric facility. I have a lot of experience with regard to suicides, and what I learned is this: There is NO WAY to determine who is suicidal unless they express some kind of plans.

None of the people in the suicides I dealt with had said a single word about what their intentions were, etc. The all came across as stressed, but stable psychologically.

Then there's the 'suicide note' - I never found a single one at any of the suicides and attempted suicides I have ever investigated.

The methods they had used varied widely; personally, I would just take a handful of narcotics and go to sleep - but then again I am not suicidal, and never have been. Mostly I've found that people are intent on killing themselves tend to do it in a way that would generally render first-aid fruitless: For example I had one person slit their wrists, another jumped head-first from the 5th floor, one shot themselves in the head (they had terminal cancer), another set themselves on fire in their car, and the one I found to be personally the most disturbing was a person who jumped head-first from a pier into Lake Michigan- in the shallow water under the pier were rocks with sharp, jagged edges (his head exploded upon impact).

Here are my thoughts: Sadly, I suspect this young lady jumped from the GGB. In the video she strikes me as internally distressed, even thought she's trying to hide it, and does so somewhat well. There were several things she said that would have given me worry, that's for sure... Anyway, I hope of course she just took off on an adventure with some guy she met and they're flying under the radar and will come back home soon.

BTW: There have been at least 1400 suicides from the Golden Gate Bridge since it was built.

 

[flowingbrooks]

Thank you for sharing your valuable experience. I'd like to know if the backpack was found, there seems to be some confusion about that and to me that would be very telling. Her father's description of what he viewed on the video does not include the backpack but yet he talks about it's the way she got around the city. I find it hard to believe she would be voluntarily gone this long away from a large very supportive network. The police believe no foul play like a kidnapping but she could have run into trouble being out there on her own. Sadly though I do think her demons led her to the bridge and she jumped. I hope I'm wrong. I would also like to know about the hotel footage and what the Uber driver had to say, what her friends/family said about her mood the last few days. There was a very short exchange given by parents to a reporter at the first vigil in CA. They update their Facebook page everyday with beautiful memories of Syd.

 

[DrConf]

I worked in LE, as a Public Safety Park Ranger, and - as a Director of Security and Investigations at a 420-bed long-term care psychiatric facility. I have a lot of experience with regard to suicides, and what I learned is this: There is NO WAY to determine who is suicidal unless they express some kind of plans.

None of the people in the suicides I dealt with had said a single word about what their intentions were, etc. The all came across as stressed, but stable psychologically.

Then there's the 'suicide note' - I never found a single one at any of the suicides and attempted suicides I have ever investigated.

The methods they had used varied widely; personally, I would just take a handful of narcotics and go to sleep - but then again I am not suicidal, and never have been. Mostly I've found that people are intent on killing themselves tend to do it in a way that would generally render first-aid fruitless: For example I had one person slit their wrists, another jumped head-first from the 5th floor, one shot themselves in the head (they had terminal cancer), another set themselves on fire in their car, and the one I found to be personally the most disturbing was a person who jumped head-first from a pier into Lake Michigan- in the shallow water under the pier were rocks with sharp, jagged edges (his head exploded upon impact).

Here are my thoughts: Sadly, I suspect this young lady jumped from the GGB. In the video she strikes me as internally distressed, even thought she's trying to hide it, and does so somewhat well. There were several things she said that would have given me worry, that's for sure... Anyway, I hope of course she just took off on an adventure with some guy she met and they're flying under the radar and will come back home soon.

BTW: There have been at least 1400 suicides from the Golden Gate Bridge since it was built.

In regards to you working within public service, thanks for your service. You make a argument on that there's no way to determine who is suicidal unless they express some kind of plans, which is partially true yet there are warning signs; Learn how to recognise suicide warning signs | SuicideLine Victoria

If you put yourself into the shoes of a suicidal person would you really feel compelled to speak about your intentions to someone of authority? Out of my experience when someone is suicidal there will be a disturbance in their behaviour, they generally confide in a friend yet not all the time, some are better at hiding their emotions than others and I find that when you speak to a friend or someone you've just met on social media that most times you can look out for those suicidal warnings in the link I have provided above. A social cue in young people when they are feeling down not neccessarily suicidal they will say specific things, for example "I'm just gonna go to bed..".

3-42% suicidal people leave a suicide note (Percentage slightly varies depending on which resource you look at). My condolences to all those people who committed. I respect your thoughts, I don't believe she jumped off of the GGB, we do need clarification on if she took a black backpack with her or not as an article does report that she had a backpack yet other articles don't mention that detail, from those example's you provided so in your experience suicidal people commit in reckless ways yet she was in sports clothes, she took an uber to Crissy field, she took Bose Headphones, she took her phone and she possibly took a black backpack so why does a prepared person commit suicide? If it was planned and reckless she wouldn't need to take her personal belongings like her Bose Headphones all she'd actually need is an uber to drop her off there so this is why I fail to believe she committed suicide. Yet you could be right as you have experience and I will openly admit that I don't have as much experience as you do nor do I have as much experience as Scott Dudek who says it was normal behaviour and he's been with the force for what 36 years? And is now a PI so I'm gonna stick to his judgement, another thing I'd like to mention is Scott says that SW doesn't have a boyfriend, personally I am not sure how he came to that conclusion.

Again thanks for your response and for voicing your opinion / experience and condolences to the people that committed and to their families. Having these eye openers is a learning experience in itself so thank you for taking the time to respond to my essay. At the end of the day the one fact remains is that she is missing, whether she's alive or dead she is out there missing and needs to be found.

I'd also like to thank the mod who "mod snipped" my previous essay, since I am new here I don't really know what I am or am not supposed to post and for whichever staff member it was that spent time out of their day/night to do that, thank you.

 

[ChatteringBirds]

3-42% suicidal people leave a suicide note (Percentage slightly varies

Quote snipped by me.

Did you mean 30 - 42%?

 

[DrConf]

Quote snipped by me.

Did you mean 30 - 42%?

Thank you for doing the snipping! No, I don't mean 30-42% I mean 3-42% which is a statistic presented by the National Institutes of Health in the USA, they have a "Comparative Study" posted on their website which goes in depth about what they found, for example they had found that 26.1% of their sample who left a note committed via hanging or shooting (p=.007), had no recorded history of psychiatric illness (p<.001) or recent psychiatric hospitalization (p=.005)

"Suicide notes (SN) are one of markers of the severity of a suicide attempt and are said to provide a valuable insight into the thinking of suicide victims before the fatal act" A snippet from another study off of nih.gov, so lets say her essay on medium.com was her way of a note that does provide us with valuable insight on her thinking and she also stated in her essay that she was expressing her true self.

I'd also like to strengthen a recent argument of mine; If she did jump off of the GGB then the chances of her being found are fairly probable. The official number of bodies recovered are 1,400 and that was from 1937 to 2012 not 2021, by 2012 the unofficial count exceeded 1,600 in which bodies were recovered or of people who saw the jumpers, according to the San Francisco Chronicle Analysis new suicides were occuring about once every 2 weeks.

It's important we bend theories to the facts not facts to the theories so correcting eachother wherever possible not only strengthens each others knowledge it increases the overall efficiency

 

[ChatteringBirds]

@DrConf Thanks for the info. It's a huge range for a statistic.

Here's to Hope.

 

[anon4829428]

From the same hometown as Sydney, and worked with her while we were both in High School. I haven't talked to her since, but she is the nicest person and great with kids. Been lurking here for a while and it is very sad that she has not been found. My heart goes out to her and her family. I hope she can find her way home safely. Two things that I wanted to say: 1. I find it unlikely that she jumped or fell off the bridge in broad daylight during rush hour without being seen by a passing motorist or bicyclist. Here is a video of a drive during heavy fog:

It is foggy, but certainly not foggy enough where you couldn't see the sidewalk. 2. There were massive fires in northern California throughout August/September, these caused adverse physical and mental health effects made the air look apocalyptic. Praying that she returns home safely!

 

[DrConf]

Confirmed accounts belonging to SW; sydgetsdacoin, sydney kaitlyn and her website that is offline: https://www.sydspiration.com/. The soundcloud has her instagram linked and the website, go to the Instagram and you can confirm that is SW yourselves.

<modsnip>


From the video that anon4829428 linked, I identified blind spots (These are blind spots for drivers, not other people walking down and depending on where the cctv is I don't think it's a blind spot for them either) which are the parts of the bridge where it goes around the beams or whatever you want to call them. In that same video there was what seemed to be a security vehicle, I've seen the same vehicle in other videos from which I have seen it drive up and down. I have to agree that someone had to of seen SW walking across the GGB.

< >modsnip>

I just wanna say thanks to all of you, you've done a great job, whether it be people commenting their views, liking the comments or a staff member doing staff stuff, thank you.

 

[Yemelyan]

I worked in LE, as a Public Safety Park Ranger, and - as a Director of Security and Investigations at a 420-bed long-term care psychiatric facility. I have a lot of experience with regard to suicides, and what I learned is this: There is NO WAY to determine who is suicidal unless they express some kind of plans.

None of the people in the suicides I dealt with had said a single word about what their intentions were, etc. The all came across as stressed, but stable psychologically.

Respectfully snipped and bolded by me.

Your statement here is SO important and I wish it was understood/heeded by more people. It honestly deserves to be pinned at the top of a lot of "unexplained" disappearances that are discussed on these boards. People here at Websleuths often get so carried away with the foul play angle that they refuse to see the role that mental health plays in a lot of disappearances. I've seen a lot of comments like "She didn't look like someone who would commit suicide" or "but she had plans in the not too distant future." (Not on this thread necessarily, but others for missing persons.) I think we all need to be more aware that there's no such thing as "looking suicidal" for the majority of people who commit.

 

[NSamuelle]

From the same hometown as Sydney, and worked with her while we were both in High School. I haven't talked to her since, but she is the nicest person and great with kids. Been lurking here for a while and it is very sad that she has not been found. My heart goes out to her and her family. I hope she can find her way home safely. Two things that I wanted to say: 1. I find it unlikely that she jumped or fell off the bridge in broad daylight during rush hour without being seen by a passing motorist or bicyclist. Here is a video of a drive during heavy fog:

It is foggy, but certainly not foggy enough where you couldn't see the sidewalk. 2. There were massive fires in northern California throughout August/September, these caused adverse physical and mental health effects made the air look apocalyptic. Praying that she returns home safely!

Unfortunately she did not jump in broad daylight; it would’ve been before sunrise. People have jumped in the afternoon without being seen, for example, Alison Bayliss.

 

[amethystcrystal]

<modsnip>
There was another essay she had written which in it, it says "Big wins, do not happen overnight. I will have to be quiet for a while until they do." what I'm concerned with, is her use of "quiet" rather than saying she's gonna work hard towards her goal, or that she's going to wait she says "be quiet for a while" and that differs to her use of language in her latest essay (Now Deleted) where she she self motivates herself and she does show that there is fight in her.

That line stood out to me too! A different comment from her Reddit that stood out to me also was her saying that her gap year didn't go as well as she hoped and that she wishes she could redo her gap year to be able to move on from it. After withdrawing from college she would've had another year before having to start college in Fall 2021 and I think she would've wanted to do something during that time or it could've been an opportunity to redo it (though I think her options would've been more limited with Covid). Just my opinion though. I also wonder if she was allowed to go back home after she withdrew or how her parents reacted to it? I think that could play a factor as well.

 

[DrConf]

That line stood out to me too! A different comment from her Reddit that stood out to me also was her saying that her gap year didn't go as well as she hoped and that she wishes she could redo her gap year to be able to move on from it. After withdrawing from college she would've had another year before having to start college in Fall 2021 and I think she would've wanted to do something during that time or it could've been an opportunity to redo it (though I think her options would've been more limited with Covid). Just my opinion though. I also wonder if she was allowed to go back home after she withdrew or how her parents reacted to it? I think that could play a factor as well.

Her options definitely would've been more limited with covid, I hear your opinion loud and clear and I do agree with the perspective that you are looking at this from, it's not necessarily that she wanted to do things in her future or she had a future planned it's more the part where if she had a chance to redo her gap year then she'd take it, she seems to be a very sweet person from all the comments she has made on Reddit, Instagram, and other outlets she had communicated from, in the interview she said it makes her happier being kinder to herself, and in the medium essay that so many people saw the one where she says she knows that it's just a voice and where she shows that she has fight in her. I pray that she is found

 

[DrConf]

<modsnip: Quoted post was removed> ... HOW do the parents have access to all her social media? Did the SFPD get the accounts handed over to the parents? Did the parents get access to her Dell Laptop? Did the parents figure out her password? If my parent had accessed my social media then I'd find a way to access them and delete them, yet if I were to go run away my first thing would be to delete social media, get rid of my phone as nowadays you can be tracked via imei and imsi, etc so in hopes SW is alive and did runaway then it all boils down to her knowledge base of what she knows, what she doesn't know, emotions and what she was thinking at the time. I sort of agree with what you are saying however, and that's because SW in a post I think it was on reddit? where she wasn't all reliant on social media as she grew up without it, so if her opinion has changed since then about social media I wouldn't know and it does seem that way seeing all her sm accounts so that's why I agree with you as her parents controlling her social media can be offsetting to anyone

 

[DrConf]

SW takes Uber to Crissy Field, paid for either via phone or cash (I can't remember yet I think Scott said she paid using her phone? Gonna have to check that), her phone can be tracked from various methods; The tracking app on her phone, Geolocation from a satellite and Triangulation from cellphone towers via imei or imsi. The last activity reported from her phone is in Crissy Field, even if she chucked her phone or dropped it at Crissy Field they'd still be able to see activity from the phone and I don't mean activity like a person browsing the phone, I mean activity in terms of battery level, service set identification, mobile data, applications, etc Life360 a tracking app also has capabilities of seeing battery level amongst location and other things the app has to offer and Scott said that they were not getting anything from the app and that the phone was last in Crissy Field, they still haven't retrieved the phone, in my training on the subject the only 2 ways that make sense to me of why there was nothing being reported from the tracking app when at Crissy field is either 1. her phone ran out of battery or 2. her phone was destroyed in some way I want to go with option 1 as it seems more viable, only because she took Bose Headphones and if you're gonna take Headphones with you then you're going to listen to something, so I think she could of been listening to something and ended up draining her battery on her phone. She took Bose Headphones and was wearing sporty clothing so she could of gone for a run while listening for music? Was she seen on GG Bridge wearing her headphones? Family offers $10,000 reward for information on whereabouts of UC Berkeley student missing since September "Her phone and Bose Headphones are also missing". Scott has said that Sydney's behaviour was normal, if it was normal then I'd assume it was routine for her to go out doing sport related activities, most probably running and Crissy Field is a great place to do sport related activities.

<modsnip>

 

[SimplyCass]

SW takes Uber to Crissy Field, paid for either via phone or cash (I can't remember yet I think Scott said she paid using her phone? Gonna have to check that)

[Snipped for focus]

If she booked it through Uber officially and all that, it has to be paid by card; there's no way to pay through cash, unless the driver did the drive but cancelled it (and then she could have given the driver some cash).

<modsnip: Quoted post was modsnipped> ... Early on, people wondered if she could have been abducted by car; the answer was no, as the barrier is too high/closed off and road traffic too heavy, for a stranger in a car to abduct her. She was seen entering the bridge and then not leaving. One other possibility is that she staged her own disappearance, but that seems really unlikely, as sShe would have had to known where the surveillance cameras were and when the fog gets too thick to elude detection.

I'm not familiar with the weather around the GG Bridge - is it well known or common for the fog to get deep/thick and then dissipate again? It seems incredibly unlucky if the cameras saw her enter, and then she left, but during the time when the cameras wouldn't see it, and she's been off the radar ever since.

 

[DrConf]

[Snipped for focus]

If she booked it through Uber officially and all that, it has to be paid by card; there's no way to pay through cash, unless the driver did the drive but cancelled it (and then she could have given the driver some cash).

<modsnip: Quoted post was modsnipped> ... Early on, people wondered if she could have been abducted by car; the answer was no, as the barrier is too high/closed off and road traffic too heavy, for a stranger in a car to abduct her. She was seen entering the bridge and then not leaving. One other possibility is that she staged her own disappearance, but that seems really unlikely, as sShe would have had to known where the surveillance cameras were and when the fog gets too thick to elude detection.

I'm not familiar with the weather around the GG Bridge - is it well known or common for the fog to get deep/thick and then dissipate again? It seems incredibly unlucky if the cameras saw her enter, and then she left, but during the time when the cameras wouldn't see it, and she's been off the radar ever since.

I've never used an Uber in my life so thank you for pointing that out, I'm only going off of what Scott Dudek said on the interview with Nancy Dudek. <modsnip>

Thanks for the detail of how the barrier is too high for her to be kidnapped, any and every detail, every piece of data is valuable, she was seen on cctv on the golden gate bridge which Scott Dudek himself has said. If you're a citizen walking down the gg bridge then you'd eventually be walking around those beams where the path continues and for which is a blind spot to the cameras, and not just that if you've seen the cctv during night time you can not see anything clearly, I haven't had time to review the cctv to see what it's like during the day / early hours which is something I'm gonna do today. With your statement about how she'd have to know where the cctv is and when the smoke gets too thick the same can be applied if she were to commit, she was seen alive on cctv on the golden gate bridge and then she wasn't seen anymore so if she did committ then either she'd know where the cctv is and when the smoke comes or it was by chance, same can be said if she decided to runaway that she either knew where cctv was and when the smoke comes or it was by chance. That being said I will take your perspective on board.

 

[flowingbrooks]

And her parents said upon reviewing the bridge footage they could barely make out who was around since it was just so foggy. They said the other cameras too were useless because of the thick fog.

 

[NSamuelle]

This all raises a question to me, HOW do the parents have access to all her social media? Did the SFPD get the accounts handed over to the parents? Did the parents get access to her Dell Laptop? Did the parents figure out her password? If my parent had accessed my social media then I'd find a way to access them and delete them, yet if I were to go run away my first thing would be to delete social media, get rid of my phone as nowadays you can be tracked via imei and imsi, etc so in hopes SW is alive and did runaway then it all boils down to her knowledge base of what she knows, what she doesn't know, emotions and what she was thinking at the time. I sort of agree with what you are saying however, and that's because SW in a post I think it was on reddit? where she wasn't all reliant on social media as she grew up without it, so if her opinion has changed since then about social media I wouldn't know and it does seem that way seeing all her sm accounts so that's why I agree with you as her parents controlling her social media can be offsetting to anyone

I can answer your question about the Dell laptop. They have it. I’m assuming they got access to any sites she was logged into. I don’t think they have access to her Twitter, because she made negative comments there about her dad that were not erased (negative comments about her sister’s social media access and her dad were deleted from Reddit). I’m not sure it’s legal to edit an adult’s social media, but maybe the police gave them a pass under the circumstances.

 

[ChatteringBirds]

<modsnip: Quoted post was removed>

I think this would be their way of trying to take care of their daughter in some way. Maybe they think it's what's best for her now that her social media has gone viral. She's legally an adult but still very young. I'm not saying they're making the right choice, but I think it's coming from a good place in their hearts.
ETA: I don't agree with it personally. I also can imagine their pain right now.