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

[NSamuelle]

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.

It’s interesting, though, that they’ve deleted negative things about the family, including the Medium poem and its emphasis on the “scrutiny” she is under, but have not deleted Sydney’s posts about alcohol use, pictures showing a bottle of alcohol, or a comment on a NSFW thread where Sydney was attempting to converse with an older man.

 

[ChatteringBirds]

It’s interesting, though, that they’ve deleted negative things about the family, including the Medium poem and its emphasis on the “scrutiny” she is under, but have not deleted Sydney’s posts about alcohol use, pictures showing a bottle of alcohol, or a comment on a NSFW thread where Sydney was attempting to converse with an older man.

Really, and they have access to all of it? Tempting to analyze that, but I won't.

 

[NSamuelle]

Really, and they have access to all of it? Tempting to analyze that, but I won't.

They have access to Reddit (alcohol use, NSFW thread), but I don’t know about VSCO (picture of a bottle of alcohol).

 

[DrConf]

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.

Thank you, now this is all starting to unravel. This seems to me that there may be something going on under the hood, a lot of missing pieces, I am not sure of the laws in the USA yet from where I am from the parents, or any other citizen is not allowed to access someone's social media account if they are an adult without the permission of that person yet for the police that's a different story as they can request data from social media and as the "cyber space" is quite a complex place, say for example a foreign police force want access to someone's social media and the company is hosted in America, you have to follow American laws to obtain that data. I didn't see any NSFW thread belonging to SW yet I'll have another sift through, how old is the person when you say "older man" as to determine the man is older you'd have to know his age? I don't suspect the parents of foul play however I do suspect that they're trying to cover up anything personal, any personal affairs that they don't want anyone turning into a situation where people call the parents "abusive", etc, every family has their affairs yet it is a little concerning that they've only selectively deleted data from her accounts and not all the other personal things

 

[DrConf]

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.

A lot of contradictions are being made, Scott is saying one thing and the family are saying another. Scott said in the Nancy Grace interview that she walked onto the bridge by a bit or something and that's all they got and the parents are saying they couldn't make out that it was her?

So which is it? Did she go onto the bridge or didn't she? If she didn't go onto the bridge at all then her jumping off the bridge is a theory that can be thrown out of the window.

There are also a lot of "maybe's" or "she might of". In on msm article it says "she may of taken a black backpack", another article says "her Bose Headphones are missing". Something I found out that I would like to clear up for everyone about the "tracking app" that Scott Dudek was going on about and how there was no activity coming from it, I thought he was saying "kile" then I realised he was saying "tile" and he mentioned it's like a sticker, so I found out that tile is like those samsung trackers you put on your phone, keyring, etc to find it, it uses bluetooth and gps, the range of the tile tracker can reach upto 150ft. The battery lasts from 1-3 years which is quite long and when you're far away from your tile device you will see where it was last updated yet if it is truly lost you can activate the "Tile community and every phone running the Tile app can anonymously help you find it" it does that by updating the location of the Tile device on your app by yeah using every phone running the Tile app that comes into bluetooth range with the Tile device.

The Bose Headphones she uses I believe they are bluetooth ones, the "main market" for Bose Headphones are wireless, bluetooth devices, I skimmed the website and I saw that only the gaming headset can come with a wire that can be turned into wireless? I'm just skimming a lot of websites for anything that could help give valuable insight.

 

[K9Enzo]

I listened to the NG podcast and Scott (PI) did not sound convinced of what he was saying even. He would make statements about Sydney, but then say this was totally normal for her. I'm not so sure.

Unpopular opinion, but I don't think most parents know exactly what's going on with their adult children. That does not mean they aren't good parents at all. But even young adult children lead their own lives, in most cases, and don't share everything with parents. That's normal.

I'm more interested in what her close friends have to say than her parents. They probably have a better pulse on how she was really doing. They may not be totally honest with the parents, but hopefully if they were interviewed by LE they were. IMO

 

[10ofRods]

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 social media, before it was deleted, showed that she did an internship at her father's firm, which didn't go well apparently.

It also showed that her father hired a service that helps young people get into elite universities, and IIRC, the cost was $50,000.

<modsnip>

She did want to keep up with her sport (rowing) and UC Berkeley let her be a walk-on, but I also suspect she didn't want to be living at home. I can't imagine that kind of pressure from my parents to go to an Ivy or to Stanford...

 

[Curious_in_NC]

Her social media, before it was deleted, showed that she did an internship at her father's firm, which didn't go well apparently.

It also showed that her father hired a service that helps young people get into elite universities, and IIRC, the cost was $50,000.

That's a lot of pressure and she really wanted to get into Stanford...but didn't. There were posts about that on reddit as well, at one point.

She did want to keep up with her sport (rowing) and UC Berkeley let her be a walk-on, but I also suspect she didn't want to be living at home. I can't imagine that kind of pressure from my parents to go to an Ivy or to Stanford...

A post in Thread #1 gave the number as $15,000 but it's a lot of pressure nonetheless. As for the gap year, it's not clear what didn't go well. Having a daughter of the boss doing an internship might have created friction if others were passed over for the the position, but there's no indication Sydney wasn't otherwise qualified.

There was another traumatic event that occurred in April 2019, possibly during her internship, a gas explosion in downtown Durham that killed two people and injured dozens. In the picture with this article, the Chesterfield building where she interned is in the center background. One building was leveled. The Chesterfield is about three buildings away from it. Even if she wasn't there at the time, the effects likely lingered. Work at the Chesterfield businesses was probably disrupted for weeks after that. Many nearby businesses and restaurants were closed either permanently or for many months.
'Frightening and sad day': Duke employees injured in Durham explosion, President Price says
Sydney's post about her gap year seems to be deleted now so I don't know if the dates overlap or not.

 

[genuineusa77]

I wonder if she was given some med by her doctors that made her suicidal. There are meds that do that.

 

[katydid23]

I don't usually say this---it takes a lot for me to conclude 'self harm' in a situation. I try to stay optimistic.

But I guess because I was born in San Francisco, and have known of several people who were 'lured' to the the Golden Gate as their way out, that I tend to believe she did the same. ...If that is her walking onto the bridge in that heavy fog, it is believable that she may have jumped.

Drivers do not always see it happening because it is crowded and you need to watch the road and the other cars while driving in the fog. The fog on that bridge gets thick as pea soup on many mornings.

I don't want to believe e it happened but I see some red flags that make me wonder. I feel like she was somewhat isolated and did not have many deep connections/friendships that she may have wanted at the time.

I went to UC, and my first year was one of the most stressful, chaotic and lonely years of my life. I couldn't find a 'friend group' because I lived off campus with 2 ex students. So I wasn't really in the swing of things on campus. And it was so competitive.

In my heart, I have an aching feeling that she may have jumped. I hope and pray I am wrong.

 

[flowingbrooks]

To clarify, the parents did identify Syd on bridge but because so foggy couldn't tell who/what was around her. Other cameras per mother are useless for same reason.

 

[amethystcrystal]

I wonder if there's cameras in the Marin parking lots (on the other side of the bridge) and if the fog would've blocked those too or not? Sometimes the fog just sits on the bridge and the areas around them off the bridge are more visible. If there are cameras in the parking lots I wonder if they checked those to see if she was spotted walking around the lots at a later point, if anyone was seen talking to her off the bridge or if she could've gotten into a car in the parking lot on the opposite side? Or would the parking lots have been too foggy also?

 

[RedMaple]

Article posted today on SFGate:

The search for student who vanished in SF goes on, 6 months later

 

[amethystcrystal]

The family also made a website for finding Sydney that went live today: https://findsydneywest.com/

They also added a Frequently Asked Questions to the site:
FAQ | Find Sydney West

Under the FAQ section they mention that her backpack was found “in an area around the Golden Gate Bridge,” not on the bridge it seems, and was turned in to the police. Also updates that she deferred to 2021 in the fall after a concussion she had over the summer which made virtual classes difficult and other info.

 

[BuckeyeGal]

The family also made a website for finding Sydney that went live today: https://findsydneywest.com/
They also added a Frequently Asked Questions to the site:
FAQ | Find Sydney West

Under the FAQ section they mention that her backpack was found “in an area around the Golden Gate Bridge,” not on the bridge it seems, and was turned in to the police. Also updates that she deferred to 2021 in the fall after a concussion she had over the summer which made virtual classes difficult and other info.

Concussions can sometimes trigger depression and other mental health issues...that combined with having to delay her future/plans for an additional year may have contributed to self-harm.

 

[amethystcrystal]

Concussions can sometimes trigger depression and other mental health issues...that combined with having to delay her future/plans for an additional year may have contributed to self-harm.

My thoughts as well One section I found under FAQ was interesting "Why was Sydney at the Golden Gate Bridge?": "Sydney enjoys that area and would often go their to take pictures, take in the view, or to go for a walk/run." If she was staying in Pleasanton before spending a few days in SF (if what the PI said was correct), I think that would be a little harder for her to get there regularly unless she had a car to take or somewhere/friends in the city to stay or visit with before then. There is BART in Pleasanton to SF, though I think you would have to take a bus or two to get to that area or it could be a 1-2 hour walk from the closest BART station in SF (according to Maps), though possible. I wonder what happened in the month before she disappeared or how she felt after withdrawing.

 

[scriabina]

<modsnip: Quoted post was removed>

Having a concussion recently seems like a big deal as it can trigger mental health issues & even suicidal ideation, so it's also odd that the concussion is only mentioned in passing. If she had any previous suicide attempts, had they been before or after this concussion? Were there any other behavioral changes in her since the concussion? What adverse affects from the concussion specifically caused her to defer her college admission? The answers to these questions may very well be linked to the reasons behind her disappearance. It seems like the family is 99.9% sure that Syd is gone permanently but they don't want to accept it so they are continuing this sort of charade of denial, asking for the public's help but deliberately withholding info that the public would need to understand the full picture. I guess selling those masks & T-shirts helps the family keep hope alive, even if it's mostly likely false hope.

 

[collegeisintense]

I agree that Sydney may have faced some more extreme mental health issues than anxiety/depression, someone on Websleuths and other forms have mentioned that she shows many symptoms of bipolar. Her Positive Reddit comments/posts , the tiktok videos and honesty all of her happy/positive social media activity happens in short bursts of time and then she would go silent on social media for a period before having a period of time of seeming happy. A family friend also said that Sydney went missing during a “depressive episode”. Bipolar could also explain rash decisions: leaving Berkley and potentially jumping. Just thoughts.

 

[collegeisintense]

<modsnip: Quoted post was removed>

It’s confusing because on their new website it says that Sydney was staying with family friends in SF but on Nancy Grace Scott Dudek, their PI said she was staying at a hotel prior to disappearing. Just another discrepancy that I would love some clarification on.

 

[NSamuelle]

<modsnip: Quoted post was removed>

It’s strange that she didn’t immediately come home after withdrawing from Berkeley over a month before, instead of “couch-surfing” as the PI said on Nancy Grace, which may have been a slip of the tongue since the family said she was staying with “family friends.” What was she doing for that month?

Sydney said on her Reddit account that her parents refused to pay OOS tuition when she was accepted to Berkeley, so I wonder if staying in CA was her way to say “fine, I’ve withdrawn and I’ll stay for a year to get in-state tuition, stop guilting me for not getting into an Ivy.”