GUILTY Turkey - Sarai Sierra, 33, NY woman murdered, Istanbul, 21 Jan 2013 - #1

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katydid23 said:
On Fox News they just said that 9 locals were being held in connection with her death?

WTH? That sounds awful. Or did they just grab everybody and decide to sort it out later?
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Maybe they are witnesses? The people who saw or found her body?
 
belimom said:
This is what worries me. Nine men and one woman. I hope it was just robbery...
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Im a newbie but I'm positive those people are the ones that found her. Apparently she was found by people in the neighborhood.

I would not be surprised if it was a robbery gone wrong. While smartphone are increasingly common, iPads are still fairly rare and walking around with one could have made her a target.

Her poor sons:(
 
So she was staying in a low income district and her body was found in a similar low income district. Is there a connection between the two areas of some sort?
 
This is very sad news.

I think I know the place where her body was found. It is indeed very close to many hotels, restaurants and major tourist attractions. However, as someone was already writing here, there is a very busy street next to the walls and pedestrians tend to walk on the other side of the street, i.e. by the seashore, not where the city walls are.

I remember this because I was there with a friend two summers ago. Because I'm into historical sights, just like Sarai was, it seems, I went to take a closer look at the walls and take photos of them. However, as I was climbing there and taking photos I noticed some rubbish scattered around, beer cans and even what seemed to have been a fire place. I got the impression that some people (drifters? homeless people?) had been sleeping there and suddenly I didn't feel so safe staying there anymore.

I wouldn't call the other side of the street (the seaside) that safe either. I have seen a lot of rather shady characters walking around there and wouldn't really feel comfortable there by myself. I don't think it would be possible to attack anyone on that side, because there are so many people around always. However, on the other side of the street, where the city walls are, there are hardly any people ever and the noise of the traffic would make it very difficult to hear any screams :(
 
Anything is possible, and I hate to say it, but this feels like a sex crime to me.

It's far too easy to steal iPads and phones in Istanbul to have to go to all this trouble. Why?

Someone went through intense amounts of effort to either lure Ms. Sierra to an out-of-the-way area or to dispose of her body there. That goes far beyond what a simple street mugger would do.

And how was she going to be mugged at noon in the middle of thousands of people in the central tourist areas?? It doesn't sound right to me at all.

I don't know, but sadly, I think the story to come will be more grim.
 
I think she headed there after leaving Galata Bridge, maybe to see the castle?
 
tardislass said:
Im a newbie but I'm positive those people are the ones that found her. Apparently she was found by people in the neighborhood.

I would not be surprised if it was a robbery gone wrong. While smartphone are increasingly common, iPads are still fairly rare and walking around with one could have made her a target.

Her poor sons:(
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Agreed.

Welcome to Webslueths.
 
SurfieTX said:
So she was staying in a low income district and her body was found in a similar low income district. Is there a connection between the two areas of some sort?
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There's no connection. She was found miles away and across the Sea of Marmara from her hostel (check out Snoopster's map).

Not sure what the American press is talking about, because the reality is the area she is found is a sort of a no-man's-land with basically no residences at all.
 
ToutCa said:
Anything is possible, and I hate to say it, but this feels like a sex crime to me.

It's far too easy to steal iPads and phones in Istanbul to have to go to all this trouble. Why?

Someone went through intense amounts of effort to either lure Ms. Sierra to an out-of-the-way area or to dispose of her body there. That goes far beyond what a simple street mugger would do.

And how was she going to be mugged at noon in the middle of thousands of people in the central tourist areas?? It doesn't sound right to me at all.

I don't know, but sadly, I think the story to come will be more grim.
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Looking at the map, it is alongside that busy road. I wonder if she wasn't put there after the crime, rather than having the crime occur there in the middle of the day.

In the video it looks possible to stop a car there and move something into one of the "grotto" looking openings. Especially at night. ?
 
prima.facie said:
This may not be a popular opinion, but it is my opinion that she was having an "online affair" with this person and went there to meet him under the guise of being adventurous and wanting to take pictures. There are way too many things that do not add up (to me) as being normal behavior of a married mom, yet there are many things that add up (to me) as pointing to an affair. I have been weighing ALL possibilities of what could have happened here.

I am an experienced traveler - having traveled to other countries. However, I am also a pretty responsible adult woman and know that traveling even alone in the US is not safe without proper protection (I have a CCW and am always armed).

I get it that others here have done some alone trips to other countries.............BUT..........a married mom who has never stepped foot outside her own country going to a place that is NOT the same as the US (the US AF base located there is often on lockdown as I have known many people stationed there)....who by all accounts (nobody has said anything) knows not a damn thing about customs and crime, etc....AND meeting up with a man (she didn't even know if it was truly a man (er, men) - hello T'EO!!) in said foreign country is NOT NORMAL!!

I understand internet dating - I have done it myself - but I abide by some damn strict rules and I would never go meet some unknown dude in some other country ALONE - especially if married!

The husband sounds very naïve and maybe a bit in denial.

I just don't think that she is innocent in all of this. And really, wouldn't that be the best conclusion in all of this....much better than the alternative :(

....hoping truth comes out soon!
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well, I was hoping she was off having an affair.... :( not the outcome I thought or hoped for :(
 
ami said:
Looking at the map, it is alongside that busy road. I wonder if she wasn't put there after the crime, rather than having the crime occur there in the middle of the day.

In the video it looks possible to stop a car there and move something into one of the "grotto" looking openings. Especially at night. ?
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Oh, I totally agree.

But that seems more like something a psycho sex-crime guy would do than a simple street mugger. I may be proved wrong, of course. MOO
 
She may have been taking pictures with her iPad which would draw attention to her. I think it was just a crime of opportunity. Friends said she wasn't meek. She sounds like she would have put up a fight to keep her phone and iPad which had all her pictures.
 
I've added another placemark on my map. It's further away from the point of the peninsula, but there is a structure there that looks like where I saw LE in the video. The were climbing up an embankment near a wall. Is this specifically where Sarai's body was found?

http://goo.gl/maps/Lyq5n
 
Does anyone know if the top of the walls are reached by climbing up steps (like castles are other here in Wales/England?) Or are the top of the walls next to roads with a drop down? if that makes sense? I was just wondering because if you had to make your way up to the top (tourists) then surely that would be where the fateful act took place if indeed the reports that Sarai was dropped from a height are true.
 
I am still thinking about the Taylan text asking her if she had her wireless. I think he wanted to steal her phone. Maybe went to the wall to take pics and killed her? We'll see.

Feel very bad for her boys and family. At the same time, she was at a high risk of meeting someone bad. Who stays in men's couches or meets them to tour foreign cities without risking getting into trouble? She was too trusting.

Women need a travel buddy or professional tour guides IMO to accompany them and keep them safe.
 
Snoopster said:
I've added another placemark on my map. It's further away from the point of the peninsula, but there is a structure there that looks like where I saw LE in the video. The were climbing up an embankment near a wall. Is this specifically where Sarai's body was found?

http://goo.gl/maps/Lyq5n
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hmmmm....now I'm not so sure anymore. After looking at the video at this link, there are a lot of high walls around there. You can get a feel for the area.

http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=tr&tl=en&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.dha.com.tr%2Fdhavideogaleri.asp%3Fvid%3D422176&anno=2
 
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