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

[alpmighty]

OMG NOW I understand what you are saying. It's funny a friend of mine wanted to start a company where you could rent a cell phone in a foreign country for your trip, I think it was Jamaica, because the roaming charges are so high.

Soooo maybe the package she received was a rented cell phone? Maybe this is part of the 95% that the cops aren't sharing with the public.

http://www.cellomobile.com/rent.aspx?gclid=COyM_e29r7UCFcef4Aod60gA3A

Besides, any such cell phone rental company would have to have it's Turkish stock already located in Turkey, as within the current law, there are no exemptions on the code regulating imports of cell phones.

And the particular company you pointed out works exclusively through FedEx. That's a smart business decision as you cannot rely on government postal service for safe and timely rental cell phone delivery and it was mentioned here that a 'postman' made some claims.

 

[Chewy]

Impossible, it's illegal to personally import cell phones from abroad in Turkey through parcel or mail delivery. As I wrote before, customs do actively look for cell phones among incoming parcels and when they find such a parcel, they just send it back to the point of origin.

There's only one way you can get a cell phone from abroad to Turkey: If you have the cell phone on you, or with your luggage at your point of arrival.

Otherwise, you have to have a licensed and established Turkish company to import cell phones.

Such controls are in place because until they were implemented, smuggling cell phones were big time and the gov decided they were losing too much tax revenue.

Ok now I understand what you were asking. So you were saying she either had to rent it there, or she had to bring it in with her or her phone had to be compatible.

Now, if she did rent the phone IN Turkey, would they send it to her hostel? Or would she have to come in to get it.

I'm curious about this because this might be a detail that they haven't released to the public, the perp might have the phone thinking that it was someone's in Turkey? Is that what you mean?

 

[Yellow]

OMG NOW I understand what you are saying. It's funny a friend of mine wanted to start a company where you could rent a cell phone in a foreign country for your trip, I think it was Jamaica, because the roaming charges are so high.

Soooo maybe the package she received was a rented cell phone? Maybe this is part of the 95% that the cops aren't sharing with the public.

http://www.cellomobile.com/rent.aspx?gclid=COyM_e29r7UCFcef4Aod60gA3A

Maybe too it was NOT imported, maybe it came from a Turkish company that rents cell phones.

How do we know this package comes from outside Turkey? Could have been internal parcel.

 

[english]

Besides, any such cell phone rental company would have to have it's Turkish stock already located in Turkey, as within the current law, there are no exemptions on the code regulating imports of cell phones.

And the particular company you pointed out works exclusively through FedEx. That's a smart business decision as you cannot rely on government postal service for safe and timely rental cell phone delivery and it was mentioned here that a 'postman' made some claims.

The report definitely said postman and even gave his name.

 

[Chewy]

Maybe too it was NOT imported, maybe it came from a Turkish company that rents cell phones.

How do we know this package comes from outside Turkey? Could have been internal parcel.

That's what's I'm thinking as well. I just asked the same question. :seeya:

 

[alpmighty]

Could someone who thinks of homelessness as a blight on their community, or who harbors a personal grudge against indigents have orchestrated this whole crime to “clean up” the area? Possibly someone had a good reason to want that area cleaned up.

Highly unlikely, if not outright impossible. Why would someone want to clean up the area? It's a historical site. You can't construct there, or develop the area. People that might actually live around the place wouldn't take such a risk and they if they had a grudge of some sorts against the homeless, they'd rather take the matters into their hands directly (beat them up) or inform the authorities and get something done about the cause of their grudge.

Such indirect vigilantism you imply is unheard of in Turkey.

 

[ThinkHard]

These are all good points, what I was trying to convey is that if she were involved in something illegal that he knew about, he wouldn't have gone over there and taken her brother, so it is obvious that she was innocent in that regard. This wasn't a drug deal from the US as some have said.

I don't think it was a drug deal, but if it was and her husband knew, I still think he would go and take a family member for support, or else people would wonder why he didn't go.

 

[citizenofworld]

yeah, i read people speculating that it could have been phone chargers or something. being a seasoned traveler, there is very little that you can't just replace when you get there. what was so important? and why haven't the US media gotten on that and reported something about it? i'm bothered by it. unless it was some sort of prescription meds -- but those are usually the first things packed. a care package? she was out of the states for a few weeks, this is not semester abroad. grrrrr:banghead:

She would have gone to a Turkish phone store immediately, and found out that charges in Turkey are CHEAP. Cheaper there than in the U.S.. I had to buy one when I went (because I forgot mine). Want to mail something to Turkey via mail? For a 1 lb. package from New York to Turkey is $50. Makes no sense.

 

[Chewy]

I don't. Who cares if people wonder why, if he knew something went afoul in a drug deal I doubt very much he'd head into a foreign country and leave his kids behind at home and drag his BIL into the mess. These people were not wealthy by any means. I don't think they were active participants in a drug deal.

 

[EncyclopediaBrown]

Back to Ammer. I went back to his IG account just to see what he was posting recently, since Sarai's death. He is joking, carrying on, etc. Yes, he did make a post or two about the FBI, etc. And had made some posts about Sarai being missing.

But I find it odd that in the past few days, he has acted like it's no big deal. I guess if I had played host/tour guide to a foreign tourist who I had known on IG for months and then they went missing and were found murdered, it would take me longer than a couple of days to bounce back.

Just an observation.

an interesting observation - i'd just go ahead and delete my account if something like that happened to me. i would be in shock.

 

[Yellow]

Still, even if a cell phone, why would you need a cell phone if only going to meet up w people for dinner, etc? Seems like she only had a few meet ups.

Phone had to cost, what $50 or more to rent? Why do that unless it is business? Why couldn't she have just relied on wifi? Remember she was staying in very cheap accommodations, why pay for cell phone just to meet up w friends? (And add to that she was away for 3 days.. So would not need phone).

Most people who do that do it when they need to do it for business. And business pays so you do not care they are charging a ridiculous amount...

If cell phone, adds suspicion that there was something more going on than just phot trip plus hookup w IG friends...

 

[alpmighty]

Ok now I understand what you were asking. So you were saying she either had to rent it there, or she had to bring it in with her or her phone had to be compatible.

Now, if she did rent the phone IN Turkey, would they send it to her hostel? Or would she have to come in to get it.

I'm curious about this because this might be a detail that they haven't released to the public, the perp might have the phone thinking that it was someone's in Turkey? Is that what you mean?

I don't know of any cell phone rental business in Turkey, I only know that a cell phone can be arranged through some concierge services.

And usually with those, you pick the phone up at the airport.

However, if there exists a business which rents cell phones in Turkey, dispatching to a certain address still doesn't make sense as surely there'd have to be paperwork you'd have to sign and provide proper ID against the possibility that you don't return the cell phone.

It could be argued that those can be taken care of during delivery, but Turkish Postal Service wouldn't do that. You'd have to make an arrangement and a deal with a private delivery or courier company to check ID, and get paperwork signed on delivery.

Besides, even if there was no necessity for ID checks or signing paperwork, from a business stand point, no local sane cell phone rental company would dispatch phones through Turkish Postal Service. You can't rely on them for timely delivery, even for express packages. Every private shipping company in Turkey guarantees next day delivery if the distance between the origin and the destination in Turkey isn't too far. In that case, they guarantee two days delivery.

 

[citizenofworld]

Maybe "stalled" is not the right word bc it may or may not be deliberate.. I did not say deliberately stalled, I meant stall as in delay....the Daily news article (there are 2) said that husband asked Taylan to call LE in Turkey, and he told them to call US authorities instead... So it seems like there was some delay in reporting it to Turkey bc Taylan was not going to do it. Maybe taylan ended up doing it, I am not sure, but according to that article, he told them to go to US authorities. I am sure it would have been more efficient for someone in turkey to report rather than husband call up from US and navigate a different language, unless they had US consulate do it.

It could have been Taylan did not know what to do, maybe he did not want to involve himself w Turkish police (for completely separate reasons, who knows). Maybe he just did not want to be involved bc he suspected something about SS

Isn't this bizarre, though? Wouldn't you at least check with the owner of the flat to make sure she's ok, if you haven't heard from her in days?

 

[EncyclopediaBrown]

Still, even if a cell phone, why would you need a cell phone if only going to meet up w people for dinner, etc? Seems like she only had a few meet ups.

Phone had to cost, what $50 or more to rent? Why do that unless it is business? Why couldn't she have just relied on wifi? Remember she was staying in very cheap accommodations, why pay for cell phone just to meet up w friends? (And add to that she was away for 3 days.. So would not need phone).

Most people who do that do it when they need to do it for business. And business pays so you do not care they are charging a ridiculous amount...

If cell phone, adds suspicion that there was something more going on than just phot trip plus hookup w IG friends...

looking for wifi is a huge hassle, having a cell phone provides some sense of safety. you can make international calls on them, if need be, too. and get in-coming calls from the states, (eats up your credit, but...if you need it, it's still cheaper than any roaming charge.

 

[alpmighty]

an interesting observation - i'd just go ahead and delete my account if something like that happened to me. i would be in shock.

But then again, that's highly subjective. We don't know Ammar or to best of my knowledge have anybody here who is at least acquinted with Ammar. Predicting individual behaviour is tricky business. Too many unknown variables.

 

[EncyclopediaBrown]

Isn't this bizarre, though? Wouldn't you at least check with the owner of the flat to make sure she's ok, if you haven't heard from her in days?

good thought.

 

[alpmighty]

She would have gone to a Turkish phone store immediately, and found out that charges in Turkey are CHEAP. Cheaper there than in the U.S.. I had to buy one when I went (because I forgot mine). Want to mail something to Turkey via mail? For a 1 lb. package from New York to Turkey is $50. Makes no sense.

Yeah, only that would have made sense. Let me explain why.

You see, I've been engaged to an American expat in Turkey for three years, and I personally do have an extensive network of expats, most American or British as they're a community of ESL teachers.

First thing I observed when a new ESL teacher comes in to Turkey, if they don't have a compatible cell phone, they then immediately get an el cheapo cell phone from a Turkish store. It makes sense because you can get them for as low as 20$ new, they'd be already registered in the central registry and being cheap, they are certainly expandable if they lose it for some reason.

 

[Yellow]

Isn't this bizarre, though? Wouldn't you at least check with the owner of the flat to make sure she's ok, if you haven't heard from her in days?

This whole case is bizarre. Maybe they did contact hostel but he had not seen her. He did not see her the Amsterdam days either and she was fine so maybe he figured she went somewhere else.

Maybe no one in Turkey wanted to get involved w going to police. After 7 days of no one seeing her and no contact, husband had no choice, they had to go..

I imagine too you have a feeling something is wrong... Her mother probably too had an instinct something is up....

And they were right to go, something WAS tragically wrong..

 

[Chewy]

I don't know about Turkey but I know that based on my experiences in Cyprus and Egypt, if I had an emergency in those countries and I was here in the states, I would go to the consulate way before I'd contact the police over there.

http://newyork.cg.mfa.gov.tr/

It's very simple to go the UN here.

 

[belimom]

Even if wife had affair it “doesn’t matter to me”: Steven Sierra

Even as the husband of murdered Staten Island mom Sarai Sierra fields questions about his wife’s overseas infidelity, he says, “I’d marry her all over again.”

(snipped)

We also visited with Sarai’s parents and sister in their Staten Island home. They are understandably devastated by their daughter’s murder, focusing on her upcoming wake on Valentine’s Day and Funeral on Friday. Dennis Jimenez generously invited anyone who wants to attend to come to pay their respects, “Stop by on Thursday. It’s open.”

Read more: http://pix11.com/2013/02/11/if-you-...nstagram-message-to-slain-wife/#ixzz2KdpLWYP2