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

[radiator]

The thing I find odd about the trips is that they are not in a logical sequence and therfore more expensive than needs be. Lets say you live in London and fly to LA for a once in a lifetime visit. Why would you then fly to NYC and back to LA...even adding in a additional stopover in Kansas? All the while paying for two places? Why not fly to LA...then to Kansas...then to NYC as you make your way back to London.

Why a second return airfare to Turkey? This trip does not seem to be in the category of "money is no object." She unnecessarily backtracked when Amersterdam ( much closer to NYC than Turkey) could have been a stopover on the way home...saving money on flights and double rooms.

I haven't checked into these particular flights at all but often it's cheaper to buy tickets in another country than in the U.S. so perhaps she waited until she was in turkey and buying round-trip tickets to these places was less expensive than doing a stopover.

though I do find it slightly odd--mostly because there is so much to see in turkey!

 

[ami]

if it was her once in a lifetime trip I would do just as she did and see those places.

I lived in Europe for six years and one time flew with friends to Dublin for lunch. (Ryan air rocks with cheap flights)

I don't see the side trips as odd at all imhoo. The public transportation available is amazing and fast.:twocents:

I agree. I've traveled to some really random (seeming) places to meet friends, because I wanted to see a particular building or piece of art, because I read about someplace in a book and always wanted to visit, to see an ancestor's birthplace, etc -- it's impossible to even speculate what might draw someone to a particular city. Maybe she wanted to take pictures of something special, or something on a travel blog caught her eye, or she found a cheap airfare between two cities and just went with it. Or maybe she planned the Istanbul trip first, then another opportunity came up to see a little of Amsterdam & Munich and she just fit it in however it would fit? Hard to say.

Hopefully when her poor husband has time to retrace her steps and get more information, we can start to figure out her timeline better.

 

[Snoopster]

Looks like short updates from a family friend on instagram:

http://statigr.am/sentfromsi

Sarai's brother and husband are apparently having a lot of meetings today....

I clicked on the link and got a message that the account is private.

 

[Yellow]

if it was her once in a lifetime trip I would do just as she did and see those places.

I lived in Europe for six years and one time flew with friends to Dublin for lunch. (Ryan air rocks with cheap flights)

I don't see the side trips as odd at all imhoo. The public transportation available is amazing and fast.:twocents:

But I think that an American - particularly an American w little traveling experience - would see those places as very far apart. Europeans have a different mentality re traveling to other countries than Americans do. Most Americans, especailly ones older than students, traveling to Europe go to adjacent countries. Students perhaps travel like that but older people do not generally.

It is still a 2-3 hour plane ride and w airport security it would have taken half a day at least just to travel. It does not seem like she stayed there that long to put so much time into going.

If a once in a lifetime trip, most people want to go to the big three - Paris, Rome and London. Spending such a short amount of time in Amsterdam and Munich seems a little odd if she was just there to see the sites, if she was there for personal reasons, like seeing a friend, maybe not, but if she was just a tourist wanting to go to their countries, her length of stay as well as the fact that she made a separate trip is a little odd, IMO.

 

[Snoopster]

Just in support of what those who are familiar with European travel have been saying, SS might have simply planned her itinerary based on some cheap airfares.

I noticed on a travel forum I read with lots of regulars traveling to Italy that one man posted at the end of December that he had booked his next trip to Italy using Istanbul as his gateway since it seemed to be several hundred dollars cheaper than other flights to Italy, and heck, he'd 'always wanted to see Istanbul anyway'.

I wonder if this helped determine SS's itinerary. I'm guessing her room would have been pretty inexpensive too.


I just checked, and if any of you are interested, there are some great airfare deals right now through Turkish Airlines. You can fly round trip (incl taxes) from NYC (JFK) to Istanbul for $449, if you want to go in February.

http://www.turkishairlines.com/en-us/istanbul/special-offers/new-york-istanbul-flights-tickets/JFK18DD71IST

 

[Datchery]

A couple of thoughts on the itinerary:

1. Traveling to Paris or Rome might well have been more expensive than traveling to Amsterdam or Munich. I've known people - and not only super-adventerous people - who have, while on trips to Israel, gone to Ben Gurion airport and caught the cheapest flight available to a city in Europe. A bit less likely for a woman with a family, but still possible.

2. With airline deals and travel packages, It is quite possible that going from Turkey to continental Europe and back, especially if she could travel light and not have to pay baggage fees, would be cheaper than going from Turkey - Munich - Amsterdam on the way home.

3. If she was indeed in contact with an Amsterdam travel agent, he might have been able to get her a particularly good deal, but only if she did it within Europe (which includes Turkey under some definitions).

4. What still doesn't add up is that, according to an article I read, she only spent a day in Amsterdam: She flew to Amsterdam on the 16th, Munich on the 17th, and returned to Turkey on the 19th. That really isn't enough time to see much of anything, and a trip of that length is only reasonable if it is a stopover on the way to your destination. As I said above, taking a counter-intuitive travel pattern might make sense for a budget conscious traveler. It doesn't make sense if you aren't even spending a full day in the country you are going out of your way to get to.

I'm hoping against hope that she's OK.

 

[michellemarls]

Police search for missing American’s last Turkish contacts

Sierra’s family last made contact with her on Jan. 21, the day she was supposed to begin her journey back to the United States. DHA photo
The police are now looking for four Turkish citizens who contacted the missing 33-year-old Sarai Sierra while she was in Istanbul, daily Hürriyet reported.

Sierra’s husband, Steven Sierra, gave police forces her Facebook and Twitter correspondence with the four Turks, whose identities have not been revealed.

http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/po...acts-.aspx?pageID=238&nID=40117&NewsCatID=341

 

[Orgona]

I don't think taking a flight from Istanbul to Amsterdam to Munich to Istanbul is a round trip. That's Three one way flights right there. 1;Ist-Amst, 2;Amst-Mun 3;Mun-Ist.
It will cost more this way. I can only see her doing this if she was visiting some people there specifically and this was a time table they were available for her to visit. I would like to know if she was travelling with someone else to those destinations.

 

[fringles]

What does seem odd is going to amsterdam then straight on to Munich that day- its about 3.5 hours flying from Istanbul to Amsterdam and if she was flying on to Munich later in the day then that makes for a busy day of travelling, with not much time for sightseeing in Amsterdam, so IMO it makes the Amsterdam trip make not a huge amount of sense. I can't see a sleeper train (overnight) to Munich from Amsterdam so she either flew or caught a day train (seven hours or so).

Also, while there are lots of good reasons to go to Amsterdam, Munich isn't quite as exciting. It's not a bad city but I wouldn't think you'd go there unless you had a specific reason. It is the nearest major city to the site of Dachau, which is, I think, the easiest concentration camp site to visit, so I did wonder if she was wanting to go there.

 

[ami]

I clicked on the link and got a message that the account is private.

Yeah, that's what it's reading for me too this morning. It was open yesterday with a few updates in place of photographs.

 

[ami]

What does seem odd is going to amsterdam then straight on to Munich that day- its about 3.5 hours flying from Istanbul to Amsterdam and if she was flying on to Munich later in the day then that makes for a busy day of travelling, with not much time for sightseeing in Amsterdam, so IMO it makes the Amsterdam trip make not a huge amount of sense. I can't see a sleeper train (overnight) to Munich from Amsterdam so she either flew or caught a day train (seven hours or so).

Also, while there are lots of good reasons to go to Amsterdam, Munich isn't quite as exciting. It's not a bad city but I wouldn't think you'd go there unless you had a specific reason. It is the nearest major city to the site of Dachau, which is, I think, the easiest concentration camp site to visit, so I did wonder if she was wanting to go there.

You know, I'm one of the less suspicious (of her itinerary) posters at the moment, but that even strikes me as a wee bit odd. It would make sense if there was something or someone specific in Munich she wanted to see, a friend who lived there or a building/site she specifically wanted to visit. And maybe a layover in Amsterdam was necessary (KLM hub), and she extended the layover so she could see the sites as long as she was touching down there? But then why so much contact with the "Amsterdam tour guide" if she was only going to be there less than a day?

She did post a comment under one of her pictures "....Amsterdam was amazing in every way.the Cafes were epic lol...." And she had several shots of Amsterdam, a hotel, the train station, etc.

I didn't see any IG shots of Munich, and in her comments she didn't mention Munich - she just said she was in Amsterdam and would be returning to Istanbul.

 

[Snoopster]

You know, I'm one of the less suspicious (of her itinerary) posters at the moment, but that even strikes me as a wee bit odd. It would make sense if there was something or someone specific in Munich she wanted to see, a friend who lived there or a building/site she specifically wanted to visit. And maybe a layover in Amsterdam was necessary (KLM hub), and she extended the layover so she could see the sites as long as she was touching down there? But then why so much contact with the "Amsterdam tour guide" if she was only going to be there less than a day?

She did post a comment under one of her pictures "....Amsterdam was amazing in every way.the Cafes were epic lol...." And she had several shots of Amsterdam, a hotel, the train station, etc.

I didn't see any IG shots of Munich, and in her comments she didn't mention Munich - she just said she was in Amsterdam and would be returning to Istanbul.

Yeah, that's been niggling at my brain too. Even if she flew to Amsterdam early in the morning on the 15th (if I recall the dates correctly) and flew to Munich later in the day on the 16th, it was a pretty short stay in A'dam (worth it?) and a longer stay in Munich.

As far as the photos go, is it possible she just hadn't had a chance to post the photos she took in Munich? I presume, since she is all about photography, that she wouldn't want to post them until she had a chance to 'fix them up' to her professional satisfaction. But it seems her phone and iPad are missing so we won't know what photos she took in Munich until those items are found.

 

[ami]

http://www.ksdk.com/news/article/359747/28/Security-camera-spotted-missing-US-woman-in-Turkey

Pretty much just a rehash but with a few details I hadn't seen before:

Sierra took a side trip to Amsterdam, Netherlands, from Istanbul on Jan. 15. She stayed only one day before arriving in Munich, Germany, on Jan. 16. She remained there for three days and returned to Istanbul on Jan. 19.

Steven Sierra told the Staten Island Advance that his wife had been in contact over the Internet with a Dutch tour guide she had met in Istanbul. She rented a room from Yigit Yetmez, a student at the local Bilgi University who said he rented his spare room out to Sierra after they connected on the Internet, according to Turkish news media.

So depending on the accuracy of the reporting, that's the side trip time line (pretty much agrees with other reports).

I hadn't read before that the Dutch tour guide was someone she met in Istanbul. Does that even make sense, "contact over the internet with a Dutch tour guide she met in Istanbul"? Is that saying she had contact with the tour guide while she was still in the US, and then met up with him in person in Istanbul?

Also new to me was that the man she was renting from was a University student with a spare room.

I have to admit there are a few red flags, again depending on the accuracy of the reporting.

 

[ami]

One more thing: http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/staten_island/vanished_si_mom_on_cam_icrBdTuQZ0wm3FKYEBEBJL

Her friend, Maggie Rodriguez, was supposed to accompany her on the picture-taking trip but told The Post yesterday that she backed out at the last minute because she didn’t have enough money to go. She said she has been wrestling with the guilt ever since.

That's why the friend backed out. She's also got an IG account with a lot of pics of Sarai.

 

[fringles]

You know, I'm one of the less suspicious (of her itinerary) posters at the moment, but that even strikes me as a wee bit odd. It would make sense if there was something or someone specific in Munich she wanted to see, a friend who lived there or a building/site she specifically wanted to visit. And maybe a layover in Amsterdam was necessary (KLM hub), and she extended the layover so she could see the sites as long as she was touching down there? But then why so much contact with the "Amsterdam tour guide" if she was only going to be there less than a day?

She did post a comment under one of her pictures "....Amsterdam was amazing in every way.the Cafes were epic lol...." And she had several shots of Amsterdam, a hotel, the train station, etc.

I didn't see any IG shots of Munich, and in her comments she didn't mention Munich - she just said she was in Amsterdam and would be returning to Istanbul.

Me too - I didn't think there was anything strange about a trip, or even a couple of trips out from Istanbul, until I saw that Amsterdam was only for a day, and then that struck me as a touch odd. Though originally I thought I saw that she arrived in Amsterdam and left the same day for Munich, whereas now it seemed she went to Amsterdam on the 15th then on to Munich the 16th - which, if she arrived the morning of the 15th, left later on the 16th, isn't actually so weird. Still though, it does imply to me that she had a specific reason for going - someone she arranged to meet, or something she especially wanted to do, to make it worth spending the money and the time for such a short visit.

True, maybe the layover was needed - though the flight direct from Istanbul to Munich is shorter than to Amsterdam, and there are loads of direct flights. It's definitely possible it was a layover situation, but I can't see an obvious flight that would include that.

 

[blossomfish]

Here is an article that mentions that police are trying to locate someone who Sarai was corresponding with on social networking sites, and that they presume she met this man or woman after she arrived in Istanbul. I wonder if they are referring to the Dutch tour guide, or someone else. The article mentions that this person may be a suspect in her disappearance...

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/...g_messages_find_person_Ou7mPprMfHQ3gozEW9dBeN

 

[lucky181]

I thought she was staying in the yellow house but it is next door to that one. This is a blog by a young foreign woman who has been living across the street for 6 months and it includes pictures.

http://www.justonewayticket.com/2013/01/29/where-is-sarai-sierra/

 

[Orgona]

I thought she was staying in the yellow house but it is next door to that one. This is a blog by a young foreign woman who has been living across the street for 6 months and it includes pictures.

http://www.justonewayticket.com/2013/01/29/where-is-sarai-sierra/

Thanks Lucky, this is a very helpful article. The perspective of a "local tourist". Interesting that she felt relatively safe there.

 

[Chewy]

What does seem odd is going to amsterdam then straight on to Munich that day- its about 3.5 hours flying from Istanbul to Amsterdam and if she was flying on to Munich later in the day then that makes for a busy day of travelling, with not much time for sightseeing in Amsterdam, so IMO it makes the Amsterdam trip make not a huge amount of sense. I can't see a sleeper train (overnight) to Munich from Amsterdam so she either flew or caught a day train (seven hours or so).

Also, while there are lots of good reasons to go to Amsterdam, Munich isn't quite as exciting. It's not a bad city but I wouldn't think you'd go there unless you had a specific reason. It is the nearest major city to the site of Dachau, which is, I think, the easiest concentration camp site to visit, so I did wonder if she was wanting to go there.

This might be crazy, but maybe she got involved with smuggling something? Jewelry or art or documents, she's a photographer? Might be silly to consider it as a cloak and dagger type of thing but if she was paid to do it, she might have felt like it was worth it to get the trip for free.

Heroin Afghanistan accounts for over 90% of the world's heroin consumption. It's transported from source through old USSR countries like Kazakhstan and into Turkey, where it's then refined. It's then either taken to Greece where it is shipped to Marseilles, or driven into Europe and eventually into the UK.

Apparently Amsterdam has very lax drug laws.

http://www.amsterdam.info/drugs/

 

[SurfieTX]

This might be crazy, but maybe she got involved with smuggling something? Jewelry or art or documents, she's a photographer? Might be silly to consider it as a cloak and dagger type of thing but if she was paid to do it, she might have felt like it was worth it to get the trip for free.



Apparently Amsterdam has very lax drug laws.

http://www.amsterdam.info/drugs/

After watching the show "Locked up Abroad," I was really surprised at how many people would take the chance to do a 1 time drug run - these were "normal" people too.