CA CA - Sydney “Syd” West, 19, University of CA student, San Francisco, 30 Sept 2020

[Lusitana]

It feels wrong to be exposing certain stuff about this poor girl, especially since it's pretty clear her parents are trying really hard to keep those bits of information private.

 

[yurintroubl]

It feels wrong to be exposing certain stuff about this poor girl, especially since it's pretty clear her parents are trying really hard to keep those bits of information private.

I think most here are stripping the videos/writings to glean details which may help determine her whereabouts... Not running info up a flagpole to fly it like a banner for one cause/ideal or another. That's how I see it, anyways.

 

[CocoChanel]

MOD NOTE:

The only info that may be discussed on the open thread at Websleuths MUST come from mainstream media (MSM) or Law Enforcement (LE) statements. Comments from social media, even from those claiming to be family, are not permitted here. Those are considered rumors and violations of Websleuths TOS that we all agreed to when we joined.

Please post accordingly, or your post may be removed.

CocoChanel
Moderator

 

[Mommy2411]

Could she be at a mental health facility again and no one knows she went and she isn’t telling anyone she is there again??

 

[elisimo]

Without visual video of this, they'd suspect it was Syd but cannot confirm until a body is found, therefore keeping the case open. Syd's parents would probably be aware of this, which would explain their behavior and tone.

Making video appeals & holding vigils seems doubly heartbreaking for the family if they truly believe she jumped from the GGB.

 

[elisimo]

Could she be at a mental health facility again and no one knows she went and she isn’t telling anyone she is there again??

I think after 4 weeks, the doctors and social workers would have convinced her to contact her family. They can’t discharge a patient until they can assure she has a safe place to live and social support.

 

[ElizabethAnne]

Here are the CA laws concerning adults - https://www.dhcs.ca.gov/services/Documents/DHCS_Handbook_English.pdf Adults can be discharged after 72 hours for voluntary and involuntary psychiatric holds. If mental health professionals believe that more treatment is needed for an involuntary psychiatric hold patient, within 4 days they can request via the courts that the person be held an additional 14 days.

In California, in general, adults cannot be held in a mental health treatment program facility against their will.

 

[SouthAussie]

I think we'll find that hospitals and medical facilities have been checked.
As well, people working at those places likely would have noticed that a patient of theirs has been splashed across MSM as a missing person.


After a person has been reported missing, officers often investigate their whereabouts by doing well-being checks or calling local hospitals to search for any unidentified patients, Andraychak said.
"When we have someone at risk, that makes it a mandatory continuing search," Andraychak said. "It's not just that we take a report and file it — there's a lot of work we do."
Missing in SF: Police still investigating about 1,000 open missing persons cases


Tips on San Francisco Police Dept Missing Persons page:

Most missing person cases are solved within a few days or weeks. Some investigations go on for several months or even years. In such situations, you may want to enlist the services of a private investigator. If you have posters made to aid in the search, please contact the investigator assigned to your case before you distribute them to ensure it will not interfere with police efforts. Notify the investigator assigned to your case if you change your address or phone number.

Other Resources

• Local hospitals.
• Local homeless shelters.
• San Francisco Sheriff Inmate Locator (San Francisco Sheriff's Department)
• San Francisco Medical Examiner (Office of the Chief Medical Examiner | San Francisco)
• If you have the missing person’s Social Security Number, you may be able to get help from your local Social Security Administration office. Write a letter to the missing person and put it in an envelope with his or her name, then write another letter to the Social Security Administration with the person’s SSN, explaining that you are looking for this person. Send both letters to the Social Security office and ask that the enclosed letter be forwarded to the missing person’s last known address.
• Contact the Salvation Army, which offers help for families seeking a missing relative.

Missing Persons | San Francisco Police Department

 

[overworkedcollegestudent]

It feels wrong to be exposing certain stuff about this poor girl, especially since it's pretty clear her parents are trying really hard to keep those bits of information private.

What makes people think that the parents are trying to keep more details private? I sensed that but not any more then most parents would do.

 

[CaliSun]

The Gap Year Blues Part 1 essay was published Oct 3, 2019 and she is missing this year Sept 30, 2020. Some people have Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) which means as the days get shorter, people plunge into a depressive state, but do not know why. Serotonin levels are affected. This may not be the case here, but in some people who have it, it looks like bipolar - spirits great in the spring/summer, but during the latter part of the summer as the days get shorter through the winter - there is a crash with depression and anxiety. This is just speculation on my part due to the timing of the Gap Years Blues essay. Also, Seasonal Affective Disorder may affect females much more than men.

However the weather has been absolutely beautiful this year and very little rain and unseasonably high temps. An Indian Summer aside from smoke that may have kept her indoors a bit.

 

[Lusitana]

I honestly just hope she's okay. I keep getting the vibe that she didn't hurt herself and just took off to be left alone.

 

[ElizabethAnne]

I think we'll find that hospitals and medical facilities have been checked.
As well, people working at those places likely would have noticed that a patient of theirs has been splashed across MSM as a missing person.


After a person has been reported missing, officers often investigate their whereabouts by doing well-being checks or calling local hospitals to search for any unidentified patients, Andraychak said.
"When we have someone at risk, that makes it a mandatory continuing search," Andraychak said. "It's not just that we take a report and file it — there's a lot of work we do."
Missing in SF: Police still investigating about 1,000 open missing persons cases


Tips on San Francisco Police Dept Missing Persons page:

Most missing person cases are solved within a few days or weeks. Some investigations go on for several months or even years. In such situations, you may want to enlist the services of a private investigator. If you have posters made to aid in the search, please contact the investigator assigned to your case before you distribute them to ensure it will not interfere with police efforts. Notify the investigator assigned to your case if you change your address or phone number.

Other Resources

• Local hospitals.
• Local homeless shelters.
• San Francisco Sheriff Inmate Locator (San Francisco Sheriff's Department)
• San Francisco Medical Examiner (Office of the Chief Medical Examiner | San Francisco)
• If you have the missing person’s Social Security Number, you may be able to get help from your local Social Security Administration office. Write a letter to the missing person and put it in an envelope with his or her name, then write another letter to the Social Security Administration with the person’s SSN, explaining that you are looking for this person. Send both letters to the Social Security office and ask that the enclosed letter be forwarded to the missing person’s last known address.
• Contact the Salvation Army, which offers help for families seeking a missing relative.

Missing Persons | San Francisco Police Department

I think that I am puzzled by the lack of basic information in the case. For example, we know that there was a phone 'ping' in Crissy Field, but no one has confirmed a visual sighting of Sydney at Crissy Field, have they? It is just really vague...was her phone stolen or was she really there at Crissy Field? If they think her phone was stolen, is that why they think a search of the Presidio would turn up nothing? Very strange.

 

[Birdie1212]

I honestly just hope she's okay. I keep getting the vibe that she didn't hurt herself and just took off to be left alone.

Yes, vibes. I have my own vibes but worry the family will read these posts and that it will just be hurtful at this point. Early on, as a parent and as a parent of a child who knows Syd, I felt a sense of urgency and frustration to find her and wished I knew more in some small hope of helping. But, I feel the family is in a great deal of pain and doing what they need to do at this time. The whole thing is painful to all.

 

[Lusitana]

Yes, vibes. I have my own vibes but worry the family will read these posts and that it will just be hurtful at this point. Early on, as a parent and as a parent of a child who knows Syd, I felt a sense of urgency and frustration to find her and wished I knew more in some small hope of helping. But, I feel the family is in a great deal of pain and doing what they need to do at this time. The whole thing is painful to all.

I know, I feel terrible for the whole family. Breaks my heart.

 

[Mommy2411]

I think everyone is entitled to their own opinion and trying to help the best way they think they can for the same end result - to find her! Going after each other for comments on putting out thoughts or suggestions isn’t going to help anyone other than not wanting anyone to help which will
mean this thread will be pages back. We all want the same thing - to find her and hope she is ok!

 

[turanna25]

I personally feel that she did not jump. Maybe I'm being hopeful but that's what I feel. If it was a suicide why would the FBI be involved?

I honestly just hope she's okay. I keep getting the vibe that she didn't hurt herself and just took off to be left alone.

I feel the same way. I don't feel she hurt herself either. I hope she's ok too.

 

[SouthAussie]

<RSBM>
.......I can't help but not only feel terrible for her parents, but for Sydney too. What if she doesn't want this information out?

I agree.

Remember how I mentioned that I am reading "The Boy Between" by Amanda Prowse and her son Josh? Much further along in the book now.

When Josh was going off to University - about 4 hours away - it was so difficult for his parents. They knew he was not in the 'right place' to be going away. Josh knew he was not in the 'right place' to be going away.
So, despite his mum asking him at least several times "Do you want to defer?" "Why don't you stay here for a while, you can pick up your studies later?" ... Josh insisted on going away to Uni because it was what all his friends were doing.

Then, once he was away there was not a lot his parents could do. His mum contacted his principle advisor, who refused (and was legally unable) to give any info about Josh because 'he is an adult, and I cannot do that unless he consents'. (His parents didn't want Josh to know that they were trying to keep track of his health, because it made him angry - so, obviously, they could not get his consent.)
They would text/call Josh regularly - trying not to be a pain in the butski - and get the usual "I'm fine. Yes, things are great here. Doing well. Gotta go now."

Things were not fine.

 

[SouthAussie]

I personally feel that she did not jump. Maybe I'm being hopeful but that's what I feel. If it was a suicide why would the FBI be involved?

Oh, I hadn't heard anything about the FBI. Do you have the MSM link for that info? I would like to read it. I obviously have missed it somewhere along the way.

 

[ElizabethAnne]

I don't see her on the FBI Missing/Kidnapped webpage Kidnappings & Missing Persons — FBI

Where is the FBI saying they are involved? I googled the FBI San Francisco website and don't see anything. Maybe I am missing it.

 

[ElizabethAnne]

However the weather has been absolutely beautiful this year and very little rain and unseasonably high temps. An Indian Summer aside from smoke that may have kept her indoors a bit.

The smoke in some sections of the East Bay due to the wildfires has for sometimes weeks on end caused it to look like some post-nuclear war nuclear winter during the August and September time frames. The wildfires have stopped recently, but in August and September the smoke was unbelievable in Alameda County.

Also, the UC Berkeley campus police according to their website (Home | Berkeley UCPD) have 5150'd a number of people on campus during a 6 week time period from mid August to end of Sept, almost 2 per week (this list does not include a 5150 also listed for a nearby Dance Studio). There could be more because for some days, it lists that the file is not found:

20-01384 5150: WI; 72 Hour Mental Health Hold 08/19/2020 15:25 Stiles Hall; Stiles Hall

20-01427 5150: WI; 72 Hour Mental Health Hold 08/27/2020 21:15 2650 Haste St; Unit-2 Towle

20-01465 5150: WI; 72 Hour Mental Health Hold 09/06/2020 00:54 2415 Bowditch St; Crossroads

20-01466 5150: WI; 72 Hour Mental Health Hold 09/06/2020 09:39 1101 Eighth Street Outside Assist BPD

20-01480 5150: WI; 72 Hour Mental Health Hold 09/08/2020 21:11 Peoples Park; Peoples Park

20-01507 5150: WI; 72 Hour Mental Health Hold 09/14/2020 02:02 Sproul Hall; Sproul Hall

20-01535 5150: WI; 72 Hour Mental Health Hold 09/18/2020 13:26 Uva; Uva

20-01583 5150: WI; 72 Hour Mental Health Hold 09/24/2020 14:15 Sproul Hall; Sproul Hall

20-01599 5150: WI; 72 Hour Mental Health Hold 09/26/2020 23:46 Ucpd; Ucpd