GUILTY Turkey - Sarai Sierra, 33, NY woman murdered, Istanbul, 21 Jan 2013 - #4

[Herat]

Sierra's flight from Turkey on United Airlines landed Tuesday night at 4:55 p.m. in Newark, I believe this would mean her probably flying out of Istanbul at around midday on Tuesday.

Her husband mentions waiting for the United flight

UAL 905 departs IST 12:05 Tuesdays and arr EWR 4:35 pm. This is a direct (non-connecting flight)

Of note: UAL scheduling has a EWR-IST flight that connects through *cough cough* Munich, for a fairly good fare. Not saying this is the flight she departed on, but it's possibly a feeble, tiny thread to follow.

I also can't tell if the direct flight was going to be the cheapest to re-book. It would certainly be the preferable one if UAL gave several options. I assume LE has spoken to UAL, too.

 

[Yashim]

I was hoping to come back to this case and learn something new!! We're all still chasing our tails, I see.

I can't help but think we're missing something. I think there's something, somewhere we've all just kind of missed/glossed over- and it's making me crazy. :banghead:

Yes, we are missing the fact that sometimes things are just what they seem and nothing more.


For those who have Awareness,
a hint is quite enough.
For the multitudes of heedless,
mere knowledge is useless.

Haji Bektash Veli

 

[Herat]

Yes, we are missing the fact that sometimes things are just what they seem and nothing more.


For those who have Awareness,
a hint is quite enough.
For the multitudes of heedless,
mere knowledge is useless.

Haji Bektash Veli

But Yasim, this doesn't sound like anything coherent at this point......

 

[ThinkHard]

Can I just add to the phone/phones debate with this article

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/01/26/new-york-woman-missing-turkey/1867125/

Rodriguez says Sierra texted, e-mailed or spoke by Skype to at least one person in her family every day during her three-week trip. and Her family has tried calling her cell phone, but it goes straight to voice mail.

Would her American phone go to voicemail if it didn't work in Turkey?

The article also gives a few other points of interest (notice how I've not said fact as I'm not sure how much in print we should believe).

eating the local food, which included delicacies such as sheep's liver I believe ties in with a report I read of TK saying they had drunk tea and eaten korkorec (not quite sheep's liver but still a turkish delicacy).

Sierra's flight from Turkey on United Airlines landed Tuesday night at 4:55 p.m. in Newark, I believe this would mean her probably flying out of Istanbul at around midday on Tuesday.

The last time anyone had talked with her was on Monday at 9:20 a.m., when she spoke with her older sister does this timing make sense?

I'm not sure this has been addressed, but some of your highlighted information is incorrect.

She did not speak to her sister on Monday, the time difference would have made this impossible, rather her sister received a txt message from her that morning before she went missing. If her sister had spoken to her at 920am NY time, it would have been 420pm in Istanbul. If it had been 920am Istanbul Tim it would have been 220am ny time. But regardless it was a txt. No family actually spoke to her that day.

Her American phone would go to voicemail, just FYI.

Also one last thing, I always thought it was weird that it was reported her and Taylan supposedly split the bill....any well raised Turkish man even just as friends would pay for a women's meal.

 

[ThinkHard]

Her husband mentions waiting for the United flight

UAL 905 departs IST 12:05 Tuesdays and arr EWR 4:35 pm. This is a direct (non-connecting flight)

Of note: UAL scheduling has a EWR-IST flight that connects through *cough cough* Munich, for a fairly good fare. Not saying this is the flight she departed on, but it's possibly a feeble, tiny thread to follow.

I also can't tell if the direct flight was going to be the cheapest to re-book. It would certainly be the preferable one if UAL gave several options. I assume LE has spoken to UAL, too.

But her husband was not the one picking her up, it was her father.

 

[Herat]

Jan 21 has that abberrant pattern of dress that I keep harping on with her meeting someone, possibly spending the day and evening together, not planning to return to the apt and change before evening.

Hence the different bag, the heels, the jewelry.

Big night out?

 

[alpmighty]

Fellas, I already attempted to explain why SS having a second Turkish phone is not off the norm, or suspicious.

Other armchair detectives here supported and recounted my analysis.

However, since the question is still asked again, I'm going to make another post and sum up the reasons for a second Turkish phone.

 

[ThinkHard]

Jan 21 has that abberrant pattern of dress that I keep harping on with her meeting someone, possibly spending the day and evening together, not planning to return to the apt and change before evening.

Hence the different bag, the heels, the jewelry.

Big night out?

Those are a lot of assumptions though, those are not facts.

We do not KNOW she had heels.

We do not KNOW she was wearing different jewelry.

We only know she wasnt carrying that green bag....perhaps she had already pack it up as her carry-on. Perhaps she bought a new bag in Istanbul? It wouldn't be weird to want to use a new bag.

You do keep harping on it, I'm just not sure this stuff is based on anything at all.

 

[alpmighty]

But her husband was not the one picking her up, it was her father.

Husband is a working man, may or may not have had the time to pick her up. SS father picking her up doesn't mean anything unless there's more insight available about husband's habits, schedule etc.

 

[ThinkHard]

Husband is a working man, may or may not have had the time to pick her up. SS father picking her up doesn't mean anything unless there's more insight available about husband's habits, schedule etc.

I agree. The post before claimed the husband was picking her up, it has been reported many times he was not, that it was the father, just to clarify. Not to insinuate this was suscpicious.

 

[vtmeme]

This probably means nothing, but use names often mean something. TK changed him IG name to sahhrudd. This popped out to me for some reason
s or sa = Sarai
h =
h =
r = are
u = you
dd = dead
or maybe its Turkish. Just a thought.

 

[Yashim]

But Yasim, this doesn't sound like anything coherent at this point......

Coherence is in the eye of the beholder.

Just Kidding. In fact, you said it right.

Coherence has been one of our least concerns so far, IMHO. At least for some of us. We got so high sleuthing, we've begun to make inconsistent deductions.

 

[Yashim]

This probably means nothing, but use names often mean something. TK changed him IG name to sahhrudd. This popped out to me for some reason
s or sa = Sarai
h =
h =
r = are
u = you
dd = dead
or maybe its Turkish. Just a thought.

h = ha
h = ha

not likely.

Şahrut is s city in Iran. Also the name of a singer or someone. Mostly written as Şahrud to be authentic. However there is no ş in English alphabet. And the SH that gives the ş sound looks like a dollar sign. So people don't use it. And use "S" instead.

Perhaps he wanted "Sahrud", but it was taken. So he kinda symmetrically doubled the last letter of the each syllable. Coming up with "Sahhrudd". Me thinks.

 

[alpmighty]

First, we know for sure SS owned a Samsung Galaxy SIII, as it's clearly seen hanging out of her pocket in some of her NY photographs.

Second Turkish phone makes sense based on the analysis of these variables:

a) Was her Galaxy SIII compatible with Turkish mobile networks? If yes, then she could have used roaming by default. Again, if yes, she could have even obtained a prepaid Turkish line, hooked it up to the phone and used it that way. If no, then a second phone is a must.

b) Even with a compatible device, do operators and mobile network regulations in Turkey allow using any phone you may have brought from abroad for extended durations of time? Answer is no. Any foreign device, not successfuly registered on the central registery will be blacklisted 3-4 weeks after the initial moment of connection to any Turkish mobile network.

c) SS and family's financial status. We know that they weren't exactly very well off. This is important, as roaming in Turkey is extremely cost prohibitive, which makes obtaining a Turkish prepaid SIM card and using it with either your primary cell phone, or even with a secondary cheap cell phone you can obtain from Turkey.

Now, let's go back to SS primary cell phone that we know she had for sure. It's a Samsung Galaxy SIII, and it has many variants. They all look the same from the outside, but hardware is completely different to maintain compatibility with different mobile network standards.

SS may have obtained her Galaxy SIII in US from either T-Mobile, AT&T, Cricket Wireless, U.S. Cellular, MetroPCS, Verizon or Sprint.

If SS got it from Sprint, Verizon, Cricket Wireless, U.S. Cellular, or MetroPCS, her Galaxy SIII wouldn't work in Turkey at all except for the ability to make connections to wi-fi hotspots, as all those US networks are based on CDMA technology. In Turkey, there aren't any CDMA networks, only GSM.

If SS got it from AT&T or T-Mobile, then her Galaxy SIII would work in Turkey, either with roaming or by obtaining a Turkish SIM card. However, as there's a central device registry in Turkey, she would only be able to use her device up to 3-4 weeks. Besides, she would have needed to have her Galaxy SIII unlocked to other operators in the US, as AT&T and T-Mobile lock the phones up they subsidize the cost of. I've already said roaming is cost prohibitive.

So, a second cheap Turkish phone with a prepaid Turkish line makes absolute sense. It would have allowed her to make calls to Turkish numbers cheaply. Also, it would be cheaper for her to contact US numbers through the same Turkish line, as there'd be no roaming involved.

Now, I don't take any press report that doesn't recite a credible GOV or LE source seriously. So, I don't care what the press wrote about a second phone.

But she would have a second phone for all the reasons mentioned above. Any informed traveller on a budget would.

 

[alpmighty]

h = ha
h = ha

not likely.

Şahrut is s city in Iran. Also the name of a singer or someone. Mostly written as Şahrud to be authentic. However there is no ş in English alphabet. And the SH that gives the ş sound looks like a dollar sign. So people don't use it. And use "S" instead.

Perhaps he wanted "Sahrud", but it was taken. So he kinda symmetrically doubled the last letter of the each syllable. Coming up with "Sahhrudd". Me thinks.

This reminded me of Taman Shud case.

 

[Munich]

Fellas, I already attempted to explain why SS having a second Turkish phone is not off the norm, or suspicious.

Other armchair detectives here supported and recounted my analysis.

However, since the question is still asked again, I'm going to make another post and sum up the reasons for a second Turkish phone.

I appreciate all of the work you've put forth in explaining this and wasn't questioning any of that... more the fact that a first time traveler would have made the effort to get one or leave it behind when she needed it the most.

Someone would have likely tipped her off on how to to go about this, because even many seasoned travelers here have not considered obtaining a second phone while abroad.

 

[Munich]

Her husband mentions waiting for the United flight

UAL 905 departs IST 12:05 Tuesdays and arr EWR 4:35 pm. This is a direct (non-connecting flight)

Of note: UAL scheduling has a EWR-IST flight that connects through *cough cough* Munich, for a fairly good fare. Not saying this is the flight she departed on, but it's possibly a feeble, tiny thread to follow.

I also can't tell if the direct flight was going to be the cheapest to re-book. It would certainly be the preferable one if UAL gave several options. I assume LE has spoken to UAL, too.

Usually they wouldn't add layovers if you change a flight. It involves more taxes, landing fees, and a bigger headache to organize. That's not to say it could never and would never happen, but it's likely the same flight, but different day that was rebooked.

 

[CMac2]

This reminded me of Taman Shud case.

That's another case that will make you lose your mind. We have a pretty extensive thread on it here on this site. Whew. Madness, that one.

 

[Morag]

I don't find it odd that a casual first-time traveler would be aware of the advantages of a local phone. The first time we traveled abroad after cell phones became ubiquitous, our travel agent suggested that we get a cheap European phone. As I recall, I ordered it online and we picked it up at Zurich Airport when we arrived. And Rick Steve's website has long suggested purchasing one abroad. So even though Sarai was a novice traveler, she was a cost-conscious one, and information about cheap phones abroad is widely available.

 

[Yellow]

You know what is strange? I do not think, if it did happen, SS really wanted to cheat in her husband, she lives in a city of 8 million people, if she wanted to cheat in NYC she could cheat. She could even travel to a dfferent state to cheat.

I think she just wanted to flirt, get attention...if she really wanted a boyfriend, she did not have to go to turkey..plus it would never work out...you could never have a relationship w someone 5000 miles away especially if you do not have money..

It was a fantasy, sort of like The Bachelor is a fantasy falling in love in foreign lands