Those of us who have had to witness and experience our own family going through something like this likely have a little less enthusiasm for some of the media reporting. Almost 28 years now for members of our extended family.
I was just in Istanbul earlier this year. I've been to Istanbul several times. I'm pretty certain I know where they found her. I have photographed the walls too but sitting in a car. You couldn't pay me to go near them in broad daylight in places unless I had a police officer or two or three with me.
There is so much speculation here. None of it will see the light of validity because it likely didn't go down that way at all. No kidnapping, no body double, no international spy or drug business, just a murder in the afternoon on that day at the walls.
The DNA seems to come back to the suspect. As far as Sarai Sierra? Look at her profile picture on Instagram and her name MeMyselfSarai (a photo split down the middle the halves pointing opposite directions). Was the log in name a play on an old song title or her focusing on herself for a change trying to figure out who she really was in the world. Identity? That happens. She was 33, married early in a fairly conservative church and had two children. In her 30s she discovered photography, photography in the digital and online era where everyone can take interesting photos and blog about them. She had recruited a new audience and support network for herself online (we all know that all those Facebook friends we have friended through friends of friends are trustworthy and certainly good friends of ours). Hardly a life of living on the edge and messing up.
She sat out on an adventure, extremely uninformed about Istanbul. The very place she chose to stay was not the safest neighborhood.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/05/w...m05-turkey-tarlabasi.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0
I don't believe she was a drug dealer or that she knowingly hung out with a "criminal element" if at all. She wasn't tossed from a train. She wasn't being abducted and sold (though that could have had traction given the amount of human trafficking that goes on all over the world today including here in the US.) Likely not killed by a carpet salesman though she could have visited one.
What kind of person takes photos with a smartphone half a world away from home and edits them on a tablet to be posted on the internet? Someone who is fairly naive, perhaps in a strained relationship, and wondering what else (not necessarily looking for another relationship) is out there. A person needing a bit of time off to clear her head about what was going on in her world. Istanbul was certainly appealing no doubt especially if she was encouraged by people there to visit.
There is no big story waiting to be uncovered here but rather a straight-up tragic incident of a woman at the hands of an deeply disturbed individual right there at the city walls. It has stirred a lot of curiosity but alas it will be found to be a tragic tale of an ordinary individual who may have had a little bit brighter, rewarding future ahead of her had she been allowed to grow and develop as we all do across our life span. Her soul be blessed now and forever.
Who was that mysterious man at the mosque who resurfaced at Topkapi? Perhaps a tour guide or a carpet salesman. A number of people idling around during the off-season trying to sell or guide (he may have not been an actual guide but someone posing as a guide to earn money showing random tourists around . . . it happens). What about the bathroom rumors and the bar. A case of he says the police says? Or perhaps those just got made up along the way by other people. Look at the most outrageous stories advanced during this case and you'll see questionable news outlets doing what they do best speculating with rumors and hearsay. And how many comments has her story generated that are so negative toward her? How dare she get murdered?
Istanbul is a great city but it has places that aren't such great places to be night or day. Sultanahmet at night can get creepy at times. One wrong turn at Taksim Square and you're in Tarlabasi before you know it (where she stayed). I only wish she had done more research and erred on the side of safety and caution. There are great affordable hostels in Istanbul that aren't overflowing in the off-season and in way safer places. Fellow female travelers she might have linked up with. All of it too late for consideration now.
This is my first post and I apologize for being so direct in how I think this is going to shake out. Because I travel to Turkey fairly often I had people recently ask me what I thought about all of this and I gave them the scenarios of someone she met online doing it (I don't think the online possibility is still worthy of consideration given what the Polis went on to uncover), cautioning that Turkish Polis were on the case and time would bring things around and I noted that based on the location there was a high likelihood she was killed on site by someone living/occupying/squatting at the walls. Given similar scenarios that have happened there or nearby in recent years, I would say the present identified suspect may be asked a lot of questions once apprehended.
Istanbul is relatively safe but it has its moments. Talk of boycotting travel to Turkey is a bit absurd. I just read today about the body of a Canadian tourist discovered in a water tank at a hotel here in the US. Maybe Canadians should boycott travel to the US until further notice?
