GUILTY Turkey - Sarai Sierra, 33, NY woman murdered, Istanbul, 21 Jan 2013 - #3

[ToutCa]

Could she have gotten in a car somewhere? Would it really be the case that between the last place she was seen (Sabaylana, spelled wrong I know) and her body there would not be any cameras?

Unfortunately, yes, it makes sense she was not sighted on camera again.
There are no shops there. No cameras. No residences. It's a highway that leads (eventually) to the airport with the Sea of Marmara on one side and scrubland, city walls, train tracks, and cliffs up to the Topkapi Palace on the other.

The car abduction theory is still under debate. She disappeared off camera approximately where her body was found, so most investigators have seemed to say she was just killed there. But we don't know. Some are considering the theory she was abducted by car and then taken back and dumped there.

 

[necco]

Wouldn't a local know where the cameras were? Couldn't the killer, in theory, have brought the body back to near where she was last on camera to throw off investigators?

 

[ToutCa]

Some money quotes from Yellow's NY Daily News article on SS's last walk:

Sierra, an amateur photographer who took pictures with her Samsung Galaxy phone and iPad 3, was carrying her electronics and wallet in a bag slung around her shoulder. She left behind her passport and a second wallet...

But through extensive interviews with top law enforcement officials and witnesses, the Daily News has pieced together Sierra’s final journey.
Before she vanished, she walked precisely 2.2 miles and was captured by roughly 20 different surveillance cameras, police chief Ertan Ercikti told The News...

Before reaching the site, she strolled past the World House hostel, but she looked nothing like the wayward, awestruck tourists streaming outside.

“She wasn’t walking like a foreigner,” the police chief Ercikti would say later. “She was walking like she knew the place.”...

[Galata Bridge]: It’s unclear whether she pulled out her cell phone or iPad to take pictures of the Hagia Sophia or Topkapi Palace, but investigators are certain that she wasn’t being followed...

At 12:44, one hour and 11 minutes after she walked out of her apartment, she was captured on a surveillance camera strolling past a hilly street called Sayaburnu.

It was the last time she was seen alive.

State prosecutor Huseyin Kaplan said the investigation has been unprecedented in scope
“There was another murder that same night,” Kaplan told The News. “If we’ve done one thing about that murder, we’ve done 200 things about this case.”
“If it’s possible to find her killer, we’ll find him.”

 

[Yellow]

What is weird is that it does not seem like she was with anyone because I imagine they would have captured her on camera with them between the bridge and that last camera stop...

Why would she have went to the place where her body was found? The article talks about her possibly getting lost or else just wandering around..maybe to take pictures?

I would think they would be able to access whether anyone was following her.. If no one was following her, who would have killed her? And how would they know she was at that specific spot, unless they were following her?

Makes it look like a random did it? I mean, if LE could deduce that no one was following her, then it would have to be a random UNLESS she had made plans to meet someone at that spot.

I read too in one of the DN article that Taylan gave husband texts of his conversations w SS.

 

[ToutCa]

Wouldn't a local know where the cameras were? Couldn't the killer, in theory, have brought the body back to near where she was last on camera to throw off investigators?

Yes, so they're still investigating that theory.

They've said they are looking at all avenues. Mostly they've said she was killed at or right by where she was found, but they've committed to little.

 

[ToutCa]

What is weird is that it does not seem like she was with anyone because I imagine they would have captured her on camera with them between the bridge and that last camera stop...

Why would she have went to the place where her body was found? The article talks about her possibly getting lost or else just wandering around..maybe to take pictures?

I would think they would be able to access whether anyone was following her.. If no one was following her, who would have killed her? And how would they know she was at that specific spot, unless they were following her?

Makes it look like a random did it? I mean, if LE could deduce that no one was following her, then it would have to be a random UNLESS she had made plans to meet someone at that spot.

I read too in one of the DN article that Taylan gave husband texts of his conversations w SS.

Many on Websleuths have written probably hundreds of posts on these questions already.

Theories on why she went on Kennedy Caddesi: she heard the walls had graffiti to photograph, she heard the walls themselves were cool to photograph, she heard it was a good place to photograph RR tracks (an interest of hers), she had been there before to photograph, she was meeting a guy to hook up, she was meeting a pal to take photos, she was meeting a drug mule handler, she was meeting a drug dealer, she was taking photos of boats, she was on her way to a boat ride to the Asian side...just some of the many.

On not being followed: Note that they still only say she wasn't being followed when seen on Galata Bridge. What about on later camera sightings? Why won't they assert she wasn't being followed on them? Furthermore, if she wasn't followed/accompanied, she could have been on her way to a pre-arranged meeting (see possible reasons in my last paragraph).

 

[ToutCa]

One of our mappers can map out and post the last walk (pretty please??!!). It's interesting to ponder. But we already knew the general route from earlier stories, and argued and discussed it quite a lot. Let's see if the REAL hardened locals (Yashim, lavy, ThinkHard) can read anything into her specific route. To me, as an occasional tourist to Istanbul, it just sounds like an urban, savvy tourist walking through town, nothing unusual.

 

[Yellow]

Many on Websleuths have written probably hundreds of posts on these questions already.

Theories on why she went on Kennedy Caddesi: she heard the walls had graffiti to photograph, she heard the walls themselves were cool to photograph, she heard it was a good place to photograph RR tracks (an interest of hers), she had been there before to photograph, she was meeting a guy to hook up, she was meeting a pal to take photos, she was meeting a drug mule handler, she was meeting a drug dealer, she was taking photos of boats, she was on her way to a boat ride to the Asian side...just some of the many.

On not being followed: Note that they still only say she wasn't being followed when seen on Galata Bridge. What about on later camera sightings? Why won't they assert she wasn't being followed on them? Furthermore, if she wasn't followed/accompanied, she could have been on her way to a pre-arranged meeting (see possible reasons in my last paragraph).

After the bridge, how many camera sittings would there be? Just trying to get a sense of how long the walk is from the bridge to the last camera..

I would think by now they would have went through email and texts. Wouldn't they know if she was meeting someone else? Also, apparently she was going to meet Taylan that day and they were going to either take pictures or go to tourist sites. So why would she have arranged to meet up w someone else? She thought she was going to be w Taylan. She never mentioned to Taylan, hey, I might meet up w my friend so and so too... That is why I don't see a prearranged meeting

I guess she could have told someone, hey I will be taking pictures at so and so place..come find me..

But wouldn't there be some trace of her dealing w this mystery man?

 

[ToutCa]

After the bridge, how many camera sittings would there be? Just trying to get a sense of how long the walk is from the bridge to the last camera..

I would think by now they would have went through email and texts. Wouldn't they know if she was meeting someone else? Also, apparently she was going to meet Taylan that day and they were going to either take pictures or go to tourist sites. So why would she have arranged to meet up w someone else? She thought she was going to be w Taylan. She never mentioned to Taylan, hey, I might meet up w my friend so and so too... That is why I don't see a prearranged meeting

The article specifies her route immediately after the bridge, so they must have her on camera several times between there and the last sighting, which the DN says was at Sarayburnu road (1.2 km from the bridge).

LE has said ZERO about what was in the email and texts. I don't know what they know about that. A meeting may not have been set up by email or text, especially if it was for something illicit. Maybe it was arranged in person, verbally. Maybe it was over Skype. Or over the phone. Tons of ways are possible.

SS was an urban girl who was used to juggling family, friends, and maybe men. I don't find it a stretch she wanted to meet Taylan for tea and then would have said all right, my friend, I got to go and I know you have to work, want to meet up after work? Why not? People are capable of having multiple appointments in one day. You do. I do. She may have had all kinds of reasons for not mentioning the meeting to Taylan (it was another man, it was for something illegal, etc.).

If Taylan is uninvolved, I am leaning toward random, but I'm just saying, I still think there are possibilities out there, and not enough evidence to exclude anything very easily.

 

[Yellow]

Did she have phone access in turkey? There was talk in early days that she has America phone and Turkish phone. I imagine she would not use American phone bc that would be expensive.

Was it even possible for her to be calling or texting people if she did not have Turkish phone? It sees that perhaps she was communicating over wifi w people not text messages, but I am not sure,

If no Turkish phone, then that means she was dealing only over wifi, either email or Skype. Email would be traceable

One article mentioned Taylan was unemployed so he had all day I presume. It just seems like quite a tight timeline bc apparently she was going to blue mosque and Hagia Sophia w him. That seems like it would take all afternoon. So in her mind, suppose she met Taylan, she would have been w Taylan at whatever time she had this appointment w the other person...she would have been w Taylan all afternoon so why arrange meeting right in the middle of the time when you are w someone else.

Unless she somehow communicated w that person AFTER Taylan did now show. But then that only works if she had Turkish phone and called someone? OR else she got wifi and emailed or skyped (wouldn't there be records if that happened?)

 

[ToutCa]

Did she have phone access in turkey?

Yes. She had two phones (we are 99% certain, anyway). An "American phone" and a "Turkish" or "European" phone she used for local calls.

Email would be traceable

Unless, as everyone in NYC who has affairs does, she had secret email accounts and IM id's. We don't have her iPad, so no one may still know.

One article mentioned Taylan was unemployed

Link? Other reports have said the opposite. Either way, she could have met him for tea and then said Ok, bud, meet you for dinner. Why not? We all do that.

It just seems like quite a tight timeline bc apparently she was going to blue mosque and Hagia Sophia w him.

Taylan didn't seem overly concerned or surprised when these plans fell through. Maybe their plans were flexible. Maybe she always intended to take a break and see someone else. Maybe she intended to have Taylan tag along while she briefly met another. Options abound.

Unless she somehow communicated w that person AFTER Taylan did now show. But then that only works if she had Turkish phone and called someone? OR else she got wifi and emailed or skyped (wouldn't there be records if that happened?)

Good point. There should be Skype records for such an attempt -- BUT, maybe she used a separate Skype ID because it was something illicit. Then, without her iPad or her "American phone" LE still wouldn't have the records and they would be very hard to run down. It's at least possible.

Overall, I agree with you that if not Taylan, it is likeliest that it was random. But I can still see ways that something else could have been going on.

Quite a knot to unravel, for sure!!!!!!

 

[Munich]

Pardon my ignorance. I am serious and honest.

Could anyone tell me a bit about drug trafficking? I know, I know, I am just....

If, and I do mean IF, Seria delivered some drugs from point A to point B, when would she be paid for her services? Upon return to Istanbul? Upon her return to the US? Prior to making the delivery?

I am not joking. I don't know how it works and it might help in resolving this case.

Thanks.

The person would be paid upon completion of delivery. That way if they get caught there is no tie back to the trafficker, the trafficker is only out the cost of the drugs, and the mule ends up in a he said / she said scenario if caught. I always thought if (yes, pure speculation) she was trafficking then it was from IST to NYC. Not within Europe. I don't believe she stopped here in Munich long (layover at the airport) and Amsterdam is well, Amsterdam.

I think Ammer is innocent and a great cover if there was something more going on. They formed a friendship and she'd have the guise of going to meet friends. Ammer is a Red herring.

Taking drugs from IST which is closer to countries where drugs are manufactured and less expensive makes more sense to me. (It could also be gems, gold, etc. - something less "sinister seeming").

I know I've brought up the mule slant a few times and this is not to vilify her, because regardless of what she did, who she did or didn't sleep with, etc. she didn't deserve to die. I just want to answer who could be responsible for such evilness.

If her trip was paid, even in part, by any sort of trafficker they would get angry she was bailing out early. Having second thoughts and booking her ticket out of there ahead of schedule and thinking she could just go back home could make someone angry if they had a "deal". If a car picked her up and she disappeared taking her back to the place where she was to be supplied with the goods to transport before her flight. Oftentimes the plan is one thing and ends up something very different. A small package suddenly turns into 2 kilos.

Thus, this confrontation and tragic ending. Someone who murdered her was angry, violent, and heartless. The brutality makes me think this wasn't random and unlikely the first time they murdered (hence the reports saying this was professional... what types of industries are killers professionals in?). It's a bit suspect this happened the day she was planning to leave. The reason I think the courier/mule slant could fit is because who is capable of that kind of savage brutality? It wasn't a simple killing, she fought hard and this likely went on for a while. Reports use the word "bludgeoned". If she was killed on site wouldn't one of the homeless hear it? Even if they did would their credibility be questioned, because "that's where the sniffers live."

That package she received I just find interesting, because with electronics there's a trail and in this case there isn't. We'll likely never know what it enclosed.

Saying she is single yet wearing her wedding band is a bit odd to me. Here in Germany people wear their rings on the right hand, is it the same in Turkey? In the US it's on the left, so I can see how it could simply be seen as a ring if she said she was single. Again, a bit atypical. Sometimes women who are nervous about traveling abroad who are single will actually buy a cheap fake band.

If the drug slant had any truth to it then perhaps she wouldn't want people knowing about her family or coming after them, so she's claiming to be single. Pure speculation. When nothing is certain, anything is possible.

For the comments on why SS and Steven didn't divorce if they were really having issues I think it's against their religion, too. I get, it's virtually against all religions, but some are much more conservative.

OT, but there is a fascinating book about infidelity and various cultures called Lust in Translation. Each couple and culture has their own comfort zone. You can't judge the situation unless you live it.

One additional oddity. On the Today show the mother mentioned "It was the first time she was going overseas after getting into photography college.
'She wanted to go there and take pictures of bridges and the history of the city." Didn't her husband say she was going to study child psychology?

[LINK]

Regardless of any of this it was not her fault she died and I hope this case doesn't go cold so her family can have closure and the perp can get what's coming to them.

 

[Yellow]

The other DN article, not the one w the timeline, talks about Taylan being unemployed...

 

[ToutCa]

I always thought if (yes, pure speculation) she was trafficking then it was from IST to NYC. Not within Europe. I don't believe she stopped here in Munich long (layover at the airport) and Amsterdam is well, Amsterdam.

One additional oddity. On the Today show the mother mentioned "It was the first time she was going overseas after getting into photography college.
'She wanted to go there and take pictures of bridges and the history of the city." Didn't her husband say she was going to study child psychology?

Thank you, Munich. Your posts are very reflective and always make me re-think this baffling case.

On the drug mule angle: Agreed that IST to NYC is one possibility (she tries to back out and then violence). But I believe AMST or MUN to IST is still on the table. Ammer aside, say she meets someone else in AMST who proposes her an offer she can't refuse. She takes the package from AMST to MUN by train (no checks), then plane to IST.

So much would make sense then. She's suddenly aware of what she's done and the risk, and wants to move up her flight to come home. She's barely back in IST and already itching to get out of there. Then she goes to the final meeting to get paid and the dude tries to double-cross her, maybe he even shows up with no money at all. He sizes her up as a petite pushover who arrives at the meeting without her (perhaps unwitting) back-up, Taylan. But she fights, to his shock. He's unprepared for this, so kills her more sloppily than a pro usually would.

Just a theory.

As for the college stories, she probably initially went back to school for child psychology (some time back, months or years). Probably more recently she changed to photography, or even enrolled in a new college or photography program.

 

[Munich]

Thank you, Munich. Your posts are very reflective and always make me re-think this baffling case.

On the drug mule angle: Agreed that IST to NYC is one possibility (she tries to back out and then violence). But I believe AMST or MUN to IST is still on the table. Ammer aside, say she meets someone else in AMST who proposes her an offer she can't refuse. She takes the package from AMST to MUN by train (no checks), then plane to IST.

So much would make sense then. She's suddenly aware of what she's done and the risk, and wants to move up her flight to come home. She's barely back in IST and already itching to get out of there. Then she goes to the final meeting to get paid and the dude tries to double-cross her, maybe he even shows up with no money at all. He sizes her up as a petite pushover who arrives at the meeting without her (perhaps unwitting) back-up, Taylan. But she fights, to his shock. He's unprepared for this, so kills her more sloppily than a pro usually would.

Just a theory.

As for the college stories, she probably initially went back to school for child psychology (some time back, months or years). Probably more recently she changed to photography, or even enrolled in a new college or photography program.

Some posters mentioned she had changed her flight days after her arrival. I cannot find specific information on her travel or the ticketing changes. The flight change makes me feel she was fearful, because that is a chunk of money to pay and have someone wire for 4 days.

I'm curious if she commented to the AirBnB host that she'd be leaving early and at what point.

Someone else mentioned perhaps the package contained the cash to change the flight. Mailing cash sounds especially risky, but I'd also like to know how she received it. Changing a flight takes a lot of calling and wait time. It's not a simple task or inexpensive.

New corroborrated evidence sure would be nice.

Selfishly, I don't want to believe this could be random, because it scares me to no end that people like that exist out there, but we all know that they do.

 

[ToutCa]

Another question: If she was going out to sight-see for a good while, and to meet up with Taylan, why did she leave her "Turkish phone" in her apartment?

Drug mule angle explanation: She has been instructed not to bring the local phone so that no one can track her by pinging. Would explain Taylan's confusion and difficulty reaching her. Maybe she was trying to induce Taylan to come along to the walls and hang out nearby as unwitting security blanket. Because she changed to an inhabitual form of communication for Taylan and her, she got unlucky and couldn't find him. Maybe the contact at the city walls then sees her "American phone" by accident, freaks, thinks she has disobeyed, that she's a rat, and violence ensues.

Innocent explanation: She forgot to charge it the night before. Be honest, we've all done it!

 

[ToutCa]

Some posters mentioned she had changed her flight days after her arrival. I cannot find specific information on her travel or the ticketing changes.

It was reported in multiple mainstream media sources that her husband "wired" her $500 to change the ticket in two increments.

MOO the package is nothing. No one would bother to send cash in a package overseas unless it was tens of thousands of dollars. Where would her cash-strapped family get access to that kind of money? To do what? To buy drugs in IST to take to the USA? Why? There are plenty of drugs you can buy easily in NYC.

If she had access to that kind of money, she wouldn't need her husband to be wiring her small amounts to change the tickets.

Same questions apply to the 'package' being kilos and kilos of pure cocaine. Why take the risk of shipping cocaine overseas when you can sell it so much easier in NYC right out your front door?

She sent and received mail in Istanbul. I doubt she's the only one to do that.

 

[english]

Another question: If she was going out to sight-see for a good while, and to meet up with Taylan, why did she leave her "Turkish phone" in her apartment?

Where did we get the info that she had a turkish phone?

If it was bought legitimately in Istanbul she would have needed to use her passport to register it. A Turk needs their ID card to register. Unlike other countries, you can't just walk into a phone shop and walk out with a pay as you go phone with no record. The same if she bought a local sim card to use in a spare phone.

Why would she buy a turkish phone? Even second hand phones (which still have to be registered to the buyer if bought legitimately) are not cheap in Turkey. Even dismissing all the hassle that can be involved with the registration, unless she intended making a lot of calls it seems a very unnecessary expense to maybe make a few phone calls to see if fellow IGers are available to meet up.

 

[ToutCa]

Where did we get the info that she had a turkish phone?

If it was bought legitimately in Istanbul she would have needed to use her passport to register it. A Turk needs their ID card to register. Unlike other countries, you can't just walk into a phone shop and walk out with a pay as you go phone with no record. The same if she bought a local sim card to use in a spare phone.

Why would she buy a turkish phone? Even second hand phones (which still have to be registered to the buyer if bought legitimately) are not cheap in Turkey. Even dismissing all the hassle that can be involved with the registration, unless she intended making a lot of calls it seems a very unnecessary expense to maybe make a few phone calls to see if fellow IGers are available to meet up.

It's a little bit of a black hole.

Turkish LE said and repeated all through the early stages that they couldn't track her by cell phone because her "Turkish phone" was left in her AirBnb room...they said over and over the phone was found in the room.

You're right, we can't verify if she had one, what it was, and where she bought it. It's all pretty speculative.

But they also repeatedly referred to the missing phone as her "American phone" to distinguish it from the one allegedly found.

Your info is great, and raises many questions as to if this phone truly did exist, and where the heck she would have gotten it, and why...

 

[Elley Mae]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...tml?ITO=1490&ns_mchannel=rss&ns_campaign=1490

Mr Sierra asked Taylan to contact local authorities in a bid to help find the 33-year-old mother of his two children allegedly unknowing that the man had had sex with her in a bar's bathroom only the night before according to several local reports.

Yigit Yetmez, owner of the flat in the down-and-out neighborhood of Tarlabasi, told Hurriyet that Sarai had told him she was 'bekâr' meaning 'single' or 'a bachelorette.'