CA CA - Sydney “Syd” West, 19, University of CA student, San Francisco, 30 Sept 2020

[Denniece]

Didn't she have that "trap phone" back in NC? I don't think the poster meant it as recently in Cal, as a 19-year-old?

I'm sorry, I must have misunderstood, I thought she still used it.

 

[ElizabethAnne]

I wish they’d release her address at the very least, so people in that area and along the route she would’ve taken could check security footage (probably erased by now). I don’t trust the SFPD to do a thorough canvassing.

From the UC Berkeley Police twitter https://twitter.com/UCPD_Cal it looks like she disappeared after she withdrew. If she had disappeared while enrolled, then I would have expected a missing persons alert would have been broadcast out via the UC Berkeley Police twitter like what happens when current students are missing. I'm not sure what town she was living in after she withdrew. Some reports say "San Francisco area" which is huge.

 

[NSamuelle]

How were you able to find the text only cashed version?

I just found it. Google “gap year blues” and click on the catched version. It’ll give you an option for text only.

Edit: try googling “tantalizingly close to an unbreakable scrutiny,” which will lead directly to it.

 

[overworkedcollegestudent]

Is it the unexpected gap year blues? The first google result?

 

[overworkedcollegestudent]

From the UC Berkeley Police twitter https://twitter.com/UCPD_Cal it looks like she disappeared after she withdrew. If she had disappeared while enrolled, then I would have expected a missing persons alert would have been broadcast out via the UC Berkeley Police twitter like what happens when current students are missing. I'm not sure what town she was living in after she withdrew. Some reports say "San Francisco area" which is huge.

So she withdrew after just starting at cal this semester?

 

[ElizabethAnne]

So she withdrew after just starting at cal this semester?

She left/canceled/withdrew sometimes after she was moved into the dorms by her uncle and father https://www.newsobserver.com/news/local/article246239320.html in August, but no one knows when...it has not been stated exactly when by the press.

 

[overworkedcollegestudent]

Oh thank you, are you by any chance able to find the catched text only version of gap year blues everyone is able to find, I can’t find it.

 

[SouthAussie]

Initially it was reported that Sydney was last seen wearing a sweatshirt, white athletic shorts, and blue Vans. There was no mention of who saw her last, or when, or where. The description was later updated to leggings and maybe added that she was wearing her hair in a bun.

I have seen three descriptions. First dark colour shorts, then white shorts, then black leggings. First blue Vans, then green and black Vans.


She was last seen wearing a sweatshirt, dark-colored shorts and blue Vans shoes.
19-year-old UC Berkeley student Sydney West reported missing

She was last seen wearing a sweatshirt, white athletic shorts and blue Vans shoes. She may have been carrying a black backpack.
Family searching for student Sydney West, 19, after she vanished last week

She is 5’10” and was wearing black leggings, a teal hoodie, her hair in bun on top of her head and Vans (dark green and black print).
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chapelboronews

 

[ElizabethAnne]

Yes. Her privacy and the family's privacy. They have another child, I can totally understand the parents not feeling great about certain private things being made public. I don't doubt they're suffering.

On the day she was notified of the Cal acceptance, she states that she was upset that time and time again she was unable to quit the internship even though she asked to quit repeatedly and that she cried about it. Several times she refers to wanting to do a "do over" of her gap year since it has been such a disaster for her.

 

[Blueprintblue]

Oh thank you, are you by any chance able to find the catched text only version of gap year blues everyone is able to find, I can’t find it.

Googling gap year blues pt 1 should land you there.

 

[SouthAussie]

On the day she was notified of the Cal acceptance, she states that she was upset that time and time again she was unable to quit the internship even though she asked to quit repeatedly and that she cried about it. Several times she refers to wanting to do a "do over" of her gap year since it has been such a disaster for her. Rather than have the parents/friends going around trying to delete this information, I would hope that they would provide clues to where she may have gone if she decided to disappear for a while.

Syd's Linked In profile was written while she was on her gap year (she states 'current').
It states that she was a research intern for 1 year and 5 months during the gap 'year'.
Then it goes on to say Berkeley 2020-2024 (evidently the next confirmed step in the plan).

 

[elisimo]

A cursory search shows that the last mainstream media story (other than a notice of tonight’s vigil in Pleasanton, CA) was published nearly a week ago.

 

[BirdieB]

Googling gap year blues pt 1 should land you there.

I think it has been deleted. Darn

 

[JudgeJoe]

Googling gap year blues pt 1 should land you there.

I couldn’t find it either. Seems like gap year would have been an awesome journey. Idk...

 

[ElizabethAnne]

Another thing regarding withdrawal from Berkeley is that athletes are only eligible for NCAA Div 1 and Div 2 sports perhaps after one gap year, not two. If they take two gap years, if I am reading this correctly Can I take a gap year before I start College? | College Scholarships USA this allows a student to participate in NCAA Div 1 and Div 2 sports if they take one gap year. If they take two gap years, the way I am reading it, they are no longer eligible to participate in athletics at NCAA Div 1 and Div 2 schools, but only at NCAA Div 3 schools. If I am reading this right, am I to assume if Sydney really was scheduled to come back to Berkeley in the Fall of 2021, she would not be able to particpate in Rowing (for women at least, a Div 1 sport at Berkeley)?

 

[JudgeJoe]

On the day she was notified of the Cal acceptance, she states that she was upset that time and time again she was unable to quit the internship even though she asked to quit repeatedly and that she cried about it. Several times she refers to wanting to do a "do over" of her gap year since it has been such a disaster for her.

I can’t access that post. Why was the internship so unpleasant she wanted to quit? Not judging, just trying to grasp the whole picture.

 

[10ofRods]

Ok, yes i saw that. It could be that LE is keeping the who when and where info close to the chest for whatever reason. *There is a reason they believe she disappeared before sunrise. IMO LE didn't pull that info out of thin air.

Also, I would think at 5'10" whatever she was wearing or however her hair was styled she would be noticed. JMO

ETA *

In San Francisco? Okay. But the city has emptied out so much, and the people remaining who are out and about before or near dawn are not, imo, likely to call police (if they ever even hear about this case).

I doubt that there are posters everywhere, and in that daily/nightly fog, any piece of paper posted anywhere in SF is going to lose crispness and detail quickly (if it's even still up there).

There's a guy on youtube who is skating around SF daily - and it's almost unbelievable how few cars and people are on the streets. The very few people who might have seen her near (closed) Crissy Field before dawn would have to remember her specifically, amidst all their other concerns and cares.

 

[SouthAussie]

I wonder if Syd did have her backpack with her. And if this is the reason why there are conflicting reports of what she was wearing. Perhaps she first had shorts on for whatever activity she had planned, then she stopped and put her leggings on because she was a little bit chilly.

Or perhaps the initial reports of what Syd was wearing are based on clothing that they could tell was missing from her collection of clothes, then they found footage of her wearing leggings later. Which could also support her having her backpack with her. Shorts in the backpack, leggings being worn. Perhaps a spare pair of Vans in the backpack as well.

 

[10ofRods]

I wish they’d release her address at the very least, so people in that area and along the route she would’ve taken could check security footage (probably erased by now). I don’t trust the SFPD to do a thorough canvassing.

This is a really important thing to do, and yet, of course, SFPD hasn't done this. It's as if they are so certain there's no point to gathering footage that they haven't used media to get that footage.

I'm sorry, I must have misunderstood, I thought she still used it.

You're not alone. This case is very confusing. If ever a family with a missing uni student wants to do good for the world, they'd try to get laws enacted for better services on college campus, to include a one-click link on the college's homepage for students who need help (of any kind). We have an epidemic of young suicides and other issues, it needs the attention we give to other big healthcare problems.

At any rate, each of us posting here helps keep this issue out front. I still hold out hope that Syd is voluntarily missing, but each day that gets harder.

 

[ElizabethAnne]

I can’t access that post. Why was the internship so unpleasant she wanted to quit? Not judging, just trying to grasp the whole picture.

She did not specify. You can find her posts using this link -https://www.reddit.com/user/insyderator and it is the one under the topic about USC. You'll have to scroll down to find it.