GUILTY Turkey - Sarai Sierra, 33, NY woman murdered, Istanbul, 21 Jan 2013 - #5

[alpmighty]

Update: I've looked into the female body with the red t-shirt which was fished out of the Bosphorus around the time SS was discovered and there seems to be no solid indication suggesting resemblance to SS. LE is going over that as a probable suicide.

 

[alpmighty]

That Ziya guy does have mental issues. Just look at the pic. Who poses like that.

The ID pic looks more like a mugshot. Even worse criminals look nicer in mugshots.

I doubt he is the guy. If he was capable of doing such a thing, he would already have done it till now and ended up in prison.

He may have been involved in it but not committed the actual crime.

If he is involved, we may not find him alive. If he has nothing to do with it, he may show up somewhere.

Normally, I would not conclude that Ziya is an individual with mental issues judging only by a photograph. However, since Ziya's family already described him as mentally unstable and naive, and his irrational choice to live as a homeless scavanger, abandoning a regular job and a rented apartment, I have to say I do concur with your assessment.

Ziya's patterns of behaviour and his family's views on him establish him as a mentally disturbed individual.

 

[alpmighty]

I don't quite understand. Whose hair did they collect from his home in Karabuk? His or someone elses? For those of you who are more scientifically minded than I am, would hair from a sibling match a blood sample?

Either from Z's mother or brother, or his own remnants from the recent visit before he left Karabuk.

 

[alpmighty]

How can a homeless guy make such a professional escape? Sticking around in Istanbul for a few days. Then staying with his brother for some time. Then going to Hatay and letting his siblings know that. No cell phone, no credit card. What makes LE think that he is in Hatay? The tracked phone call?

Very very odd.

Previously, when Ziya's brother gave an interview to the press, he stated that one of Ziya's buddies from his time in service (conscript) was from Hatay, and Ziya told him that he would go to Hatay to get help from that particular buddy of his.

Hatay, as stated many times before, directly borders Syria. Ethnically, population there is mostly Arabic and Kurdish. Cross border smuggling is a common source of income. Add to that, Syria is currently boiling up with conflict and there's chaos all over the country.

 

[alpmighty]

Nobody's around?

Where is ToutCA, Lavy and Alpmighty?

I thought alpMighty was online 24/7? Is is possible that he's awake one week and sleeps throughout the other? Hope he comes back next week.

Seems like I'm having a discussion with myself.

Why type then? I'll eliminate the middleman.

Bye.

I took the liberty of grabbin' ma old shotgun and goin' over Syria to manhunt this Ziya myself! Took a week for myself to decide that I would get meself killed there by pro Assad folks. So I'm back here!

 

[alpmighty]

Wouldn't it be amazing if Sarai had iCloud and one day all the pics we never saw downloaded onto her mac in NYC? No, I don't know that she had a mac. Could happen, just saying. I wish it did, anyway...

iCloud doesn't come enabled by default with any Apple iDevice. It has to be turned on, and you need to have either a wireless or mobile data connection active for the material to be uploaded to Apple servers.

Besides, if the device has iCloud enabled, but the battery charge level is below a certain amount, all uploads are withheld until the time that the device is charged back up.

Almost certainly, either SS family or FBI must have checked into iCloud. Her husband had her passwords after all, and it wouldn't be too hard for FBI to request information from Apple.

 

[alpmighty]

I seriously believe that SS would even hesitate to approach Ziya, let alone take his pictures.

I mean just look at him. He looks like an assassin.

I am no ophthalmologist, but even I can tell his eyes are looking evil.

Untended eyebrows, sturdy facial skin and piercing eyes does make him look like an individual that you'd be uncomfortable around of. True.

 

[CMac2]

This is crazy. I keep alternating back and forth, arguing with myself (I'm becoming loony over this case). On the one hand, I keep thinking, "Ok, this is not some weird-*advertiser censored* creepy case like we all thought. It was a random killing- tragic, but not at all mysterious. They just need to locate Z, bring him home, try him and throw him in jail. Case closed." On the other hand, I keep thinking about all the bizarre circumstances surrounding and leading up to this case. Are they really all just coincidence? STILL, I have a hard time buying it. Maybe because acknowledging the seemingly random wrong-place-wrong-time circumstances that seem to have led to SS' demise means we're ALL as vulnerable as she was. I don't know. This sucks.

 

[alpmighty]

So this is not a Russian spy or a German assassin.

He is a Turkish homeless guy?

After spending decades trying to build a stereotype of Turkish men as over-friendly, hairy men with uni-brows, thick mustache and dark skin tone, this is what we get.

Ziya, the Laz appearing as the Turkish man who is the major suspect of a murder crime on all foreign media!

This is so unfair.

And I must say, his, ehm, distinctive nose certainly establishes him as Laz.

 

[alpmighty]

My current questions regarding Z :

Where was he between 21 January and 5 February when he showed up in Karabuk? I'm sure the homeless people have their own possessions as such in that they do not use another's blanket. He must have known it wouldn't take too long to trace the blanket to him, for the police to start looking for him, and where is the first place they would look? Why wait so long to go to family's homes if he was on the run from Istanbul? And why stay there for 3 days when the police could arrive at any time?

If he had clean clothes to put on why did he not do so immediately so that he was not seen with blood stained clothing? I can't believe he was wearing blood stained clothing on the bus to Karabuk. What happened to his blood stained clothes? Did his sister wash them?

I'm assuming he took a bus from Istanbul to Karabuk. Where did he get the money for the ticket? Did he have a few spare lira in his pocket? Or did he sell an i-pad and phone to a dodgy dealer to fund his escape? Did he have to wait until 5 February before he found a buyer and got some money? Did he sell them on 30 January and the buyer turned them on to check they were working (and again the next day when examining the purchases)?

If Z had the electrical items, would they have held charge long enough for him to operate them on 30 and 31 January? I'm assuming again that he had no access to electricity in his homeless state.

His family say he left for Hatay on 8 February. The police have examined the passenger records for all long distance buses leaving from both Karabuk and Safranbolu and not traced him. Could his family be giving false information?

I don't doubt that the hair and skin samples recovered from the bed and used for dna analysis belong to Z. But, as suggested previously, I'm surprised the sister left a dirty bed for the length of time between Z's departure and the arrival of the police, unless she was expecting him back to use the bed again.

For the record, I am completely 50/50 on Z being the killer or the scapegoat.

You can easily buy a long distance bus ticket avoiding providing your real ID information if you pay for it in cash. You can just make up a name. It's not air travel after all and there's no equal scrutiny on buses.

 

[alpmighty]

For our Turkish friends -- alpmighty- where are you?

How likely is it that a person easily recognized as of Laz origin is going to head for Syria?

Wouldn't that make him even more conspicuous? or conspicuously out of place?

Chances are he would look out of place in Syria. However, Syria has quite an ethnically diverse population as well, so answering that question would be easier if we could shortlist where in Syria he would be.

However, it's almost nil that Ziya would now Arabic or Kurdish. Arabic is the official language of Syria, and Kurdish is spoken widely in Northern areas of the country, in which the Kurdish ethnicity is dominant.

Let us not forget Ziya's brother said that Ziya told him he would be getting help from a buddy of his from his time in service (conscription) that also happens to be from Hatay. Such a friend would almost certainly be knowledgeable in discreetly passing the border as smuggling is prevalent in the area, and he would know some Arabic/Kurdish or would be connected with ethnic Arabs/Kurds on the both sides of the border.

 

[alpmighty]

Syria Border is not a natural border, i.e. there is no mountain or rivers dividing it. During peace time, such borders are easier to control, during times like this much harder.

There are even town that were divided into half by the border.

So going to Syria is the best option, not the safest but the easiest. And Turkey doesn't even recognize the current Syrian government and will not resume diplomatic relationship just to get Ziya back. Yet if that happens, that wouldn't surprise me eitherl.

We certainly don't have ongoing diplomatic relations with Assad regime in Syria, however we do have a strong undercover military and intelligence presence in there, along with our allies, including the United States. Question is, would such assets be tasked with trailing Ziya if he already crossed the border?

 

[alpmighty]

I have one theory why LE is giving out so few details.

I believe they are worried that someone else may take the fall.

Someone like Ziya. Running away, even indirectly telling LE where they can find him, and getting caught eventually.

Whoever LE catches, they'll see if his story holds with the details in the crime scene or where the body was found.

Of course, that's a well known investigative method. However, I do believe that Turkish LE's position on informing the public of the status of this investigation is 'keep them in dark and feed them... well, fertilizer.' Basic mushroom theory.

 

[diamond12]

This is crazy. I keep alternating back and forth, arguing with myself (I'm becoming loony over this case). On the one hand, I keep thinking, "Ok, this is not some weird-*advertiser censored* creepy case like we all thought. It was a random killing- tragic, but not at all mysterious. They just need to locate Z, bring him home, try him and throw him in jail. Case closed." On the other hand, I keep thinking about all the bizarre circumstances surrounding and leading up to this case. Are they really all just coincidence? STILL, I have a hard time buying it. Maybe because acknowledging the seemingly random wrong-place-wrong-time circumstances that seem to have led to SS' demise means we're ALL as vulnerable as she was. I don't know. This sucks.

I feel the same way. At the moment I'm leaning towards random act of violence (sexually motivated), perhaps cause it's the simplest explanation. Yet, I'm full of doubts.

 

[alpmighty]

Whaaaat? The CIA are looking for a homeless garbage man? The CIA? The CIA? Is that really true...I can't believe this.

CIA in the past is known to have assisted US or foreign LE in criminal investigations expanding abroad the United States. There's already a strong CIA presence in Syria nowadays, most of CIA assets in the region belong to Special Activities Division. They are 'operators', as they are called in military and intelligence circles, tasked with paramilitary operations. Basically, majority of SAD officers are ex-US military special forces. They are deployed in cases which require the United States to have plausible deniability of involvement of US military assets.

 

[alpmighty]

The idea that CIA will be chasing that homeless guy is even more ridiculous.

But it is happening.

If he already passed the border to Syria, it isn't ridiculous at all, as there are already CIA/SAD assets deployed in Syria.

 

[alpmighty]

When did the CIA get involved in this?

I thought it was the FBI involved. If only because a congressional representative for the district that Staten Island is in is ex-FBI.

Principal US LE agency having jurisdiction over this incident would be FBI, that is correct. However, FBI currently doesn't have any assets in Syria, as intelligence gathering and paramilitary operations are the responsibility of CIA. While FBI is definitely involved in some intelligence matters, these are strictly counter-intelligence cases and mostly relevant FBI activity takes places in CONUS.

 

[SANDOVAL]

There was discussion that SS had taken off her jacket.
Also a possibility that she had taken 'a picnic', or maybe bought something to eat.
I have no idea how vagrants in Istambul behave, but i had 2 experiences with food.
In Chicago, i had beenon a train, but it had some problem and we were put on a bus.I dived out of the bus station and grabbed a hamburger from a fast food place, i was going back in the bus station when a tall black guy materialized and said ''give that to me!'....i was too surprised to do anything other than tear the food in half and give half to him then dive back into the bus station.
In a small town in UK i had been travelling all day and after hours, it being cold and rainy i stood in a shop doorway to eat a takeout snack, but some young white guy appeared and said ''give me that food''......i was too tired to care and just said 'it's not that good anyway.....and shoved it at him. He said ''harhar, you must be crazy''.
Thinking now that these types probably operate in groups 'for fun and games' with travellers,i wonder if somebody approached SS as she was having her snack, but she didn't understand the language.
The coat she may have set down, and i recall vagrants sometimes saying 'that's nice, give it to me' so maybe somebody started fingering her jacket and she ran over and tried to grab it.
One time in a railway station in London i had my hat pulled right off my head and the thief disappeared into the crowds.
why do i bother to post this stuff?.....It's interesting that after a nerve shaking brutal murder the first thing Z is seen doing on surveillance is going up the rail lines to sell SS jacket in the bazaar.

 

[Herat]

...It's interesting that after a nerve shaking brutal murder the first thing Z is seen doing on surveillance is going up the rail lines to sell SS jacket in the bazaar.

I believe this was discredited as a creative journalism episode, and there was NOT LE confirmation of a Z sighting in the bazar, nor was her jacket identified or was it in custody.

 

[alabaster]

This is crazy. I keep alternating back and forth, arguing with myself (I'm becoming loony over this case). On the one hand, I keep thinking, "Ok, this is not some weird-*advertiser censored* creepy case like we all thought. It was a random killing- tragic, but not at all mysterious. They just need to locate Z, bring him home, try him and throw him in jail. Case closed." On the other hand, I keep thinking about all the bizarre circumstances surrounding and leading up to this case. Are they really all just coincidence? STILL, I have a hard time buying it. Maybe because acknowledging the seemingly random wrong-place-wrong-time circumstances that seem to have led to SS' demise means we're ALL as vulnerable as she was. I don't know. This sucks.

There are not so many odd coincidences, once you count out the unconfirmed tabloid "reportings" of "criminal element" encounters, stalking carpet hustlers, contradictory crime scene details and bathroom hanky-panky.

We need to go back to square one, in a way. Sarai died doing what she had set out to do, taking photographs. With just a little bit more luck she would now be alive and home. And that means, yes, with a bit more bad luck anyone of us could have become a random victim somewhere (women always more in danger, unfortunately).

This crime had less to do with her activities than with the dangers all of us face when we go out into the unknown. When travelling solo, you need to know what you're doing and we can't know that all of the time. Sure, Sarai clearly was on the reckless side, so there's some reason why it didn't happen to us. But it doesn't take us far. It also doesn't help to paint her as an imbecile now that "drug mule", "sex tourist", "CIA" etc. seem to have gone out the window. "9-going-on-33", as one description of her goes, has some truth to it, but doesn't define her completely (how about raising two kids?).