GUILTY Turkey - Sarai Sierra, 33, NY woman murdered, Istanbul, 21 Jan 2013 - #1

[michellemarls]

Wow, great info and facts Lavy. Thankyou again.

 

[CMac2]

- Police asked for her gmail correspondence through interpol and they believe they will find some answers from there.

Can't wait for this bit of info. I have no doubt the Gmail correspondence will answer more than a few questions. Nothing about this crime says "random act of violence" to me.

 

[ToutCa]

Tidbits from another interesting Turkish-press article:

LINK

I won't post the exact translation, as we have learned that online translating tools suck. But what seems to be clearly stated here:

-- Police found her body by painstakingly tracking her movements through town by reviewing Jan. 21 video footage. The last sight of her was on the Sirkeci camera at 1:15pm walking toward Sarayburnu. They fanned out and searched by ground from that point in that direction and found the body.

My question: Was she killed at that spot then (1/21) or abducted and replaced there later (1/29)? Is the witness who saw a man moving a body there TUES evening correct?

-- Describes her injuries in detail, but the translation is too atrocious to really understand...lavy, can you help??

-- Says a small bag was found by the blanket. Does NOT say what was in bag...her electronics, perhaps? (Edit: According to LAVY upthread, Police Chief says NO, that iPad and phone are missing)

-- Says further police work will be done on her Gmail correspondence.

-- DEBUNKS DRUG MULE RUMORS: claims no large expenses occurred. Provides details that the translation sucks too much to state clearly (see LAVY'S work on this upthread).

 

[tardislass]

So the body was moved and her jewelry and headphones were found buried? Sorry but this doesn't sound like a random robbery. Yes her electronics are gone but why bury jewelry instead of pawning it or keeping it. Something tells me she met someone she thought was a friend. Things got out of hand. Plus, from crime shows, I've learned that killers dump their victims in areas they are familiar with. If witness is correct, wouldn't it have been better to dump it outside of town or someplace remote?

 

[Wanderlust]

I wonder if it is only the blanket that was apparently found close to Sarai's body and that one eye witness account that suggest she was murdered somewhere else and then dumped in Seraiburnu... Because if that really was the case then, because the last CCTV footage of her is from that area, it means she would've had to get in someone's car there. Then, something would've happened that resulted in Sarai's death. Some time after Sarai's death her killer/s would have then driven BACK to Seraiburnu to dump her body there.

I still don't understand why anyone, having killed/caused her death somewhere else, would drive back to Seraiburnu to dump the body there. Why in such a central, touristy area, next to a busy road? The only motive I can think of is that the person felt sorry for her family, having perhaps learned from the media that she was a mother (Turks respect mothers a lot), and so wanted her body to be found quickly.

If this is what happened then her killer probably wasn't a very seasoned criminal.

Anyway, to me it would seem more likely that she died on the spot. Unless it was this guy Taylan that came to pick her up, I don't think she would have got in car with anyone she didn't know.

Oh, by the way, if she died from a head wound, and not from being stabbed, then is it possible that her death was in fact an accident? Maybe she was with someone and fell hitting her head and that other person (Taylan?) fled, being too afraid to go to the police? Or maybe Sarai was all by herself at the time and just had an accident?

 

[lavy]

They suddenly started updating very quickly. Again from the same link.

Journalists interviewed a guy who live very nearby, he sells tea and lives in a small cottage nearby for the last 10 years. Please note that this is just the things the guy saying nothing to do with the police. I won't do a word to word translation.

He says: "There are drug addicts and peepers who live inside the city walls. They are in contact with each other and let each other know when there is a woman tourist. And the addicts take drugs in the city walls and bother women tourists. I believe this woman who was murdered in a terrible way was up there to take pictures or watch the view or she was convinced to go there. There is no way that she was forced, no women can be forced to go there, somebody would definitely notice and prevent that. I don't believe her body was carried there either it is very hard to carry a body around there. There used to be security there until few years ago and there was no peepers or drug addicts then. We need the security back for the safety of the tourists"

 

[Yellow]

Are we sure it is both stab wombs and blow to head? If blow to head only, could it be someone threw her down the wall? Is there a high wall in that area where someone literally could have picked her up and thrown her?

EXTREMELY unlikely, but if just a blow to head, could she have accidentally fallen off the wall while taking pictures? Perhaps not watch where she was going and trip and fall over the wall? This would be assuming stab wound is not there. If there is, this would be eliminated.

If body was only there for a week, does that mean someone had her for a few days? Or is the science on that just in exact

It does not seem we know what valuables she had on her. It does not appear to be much. It is extremely unlikely someone randomly kill someone in broad daylight for an ipad without someone hearing a scream, etc...She looked like a tall women too so I think she would have put up a big struggle...and been pretty good at that too.

 

[tardislass]

They suddenly started updating very quickly. Again from the same link.

Journalists interviewed a guy who live very nearby, he sells tea and lives in a small cottage nearby for the last 10 years. Please note that this is just the things the guy saying nothing to do with the police. I won't do a word to word translation.

He says: "There are drug addicts and peepers who live inside the city walls. They are in contact with each other and let each other know when there is a woman tourist. And the addicts take drugs in the city walls and bother women tourists. I believe this woman who was murdered in a terrible way was up there to take pictures or watch the view or she was convinced to go there. There is no way that she was forced, no women can be forced to go there, somebody would definitely notice and prevent that. I don't believe her body was carried there either it is very hard to carry a body around there. There used to be security there until few years ago and there was no peepers or drug addicts then. We need the security back for the safety of the tourists"

Hmm, the police say they were certain she was carried..not sure how they would know? They haven't said when she died but if a addicts did this, why wasn't her body discover til now. And wouldn't addicts want to sell the jewelry as well.

 

[belimom]

None of this footage has been released.

In the 12:10pm Galata Bridge footage she was said to be alone and walking toward Eminonu Pier (and the Sarayburnu area).

In the 1:15pm Sirkeci footage she was said to be walking toward the Sarayburnu area. Nothing was said about whether she was alone or not.

I swear earlier on there was a report of a man ages 30-35 following her on the other side of the bridge, around 1:15pm or so. I just cannot find the link now. But I recall that LE reportedly wouldn't release that video b/c they did not want to implicate a potentially innocent person. Now I can find nothing about that report of her being followed. Anyone else remember that?

 

[belimom]

http://www.haberler.com/sarai-sierra-nin-kupeleri-bulundu-iddiasi-4301623-haberi/

Now the above is courtesy of Google translate, so may mean something completely unrelated to what it seems to say.

I was just curious about the mention of a headset and the mention of it being buried.

Once again, i, as we all are aware of, know that the translation makes things unclear.

I do recall someone saying that she was wearing earphones around, which made her blend in and not stand out very much. I'll look for the link. I'm assuming that's what was found?

ETA:

Another video shows Sierra walking along a shopping street and wearing earphones, the Associated Press reported.

http://abcnews.go.com/International...-surveillance-video-missing/story?id=18345866

 

[lavy]

Tidbits from another interesting Turkish-press article:

LINK

I won't post the exact translation, as we have learned that online translating tools suck. But what seems to be clearly stated here:

-- Police found her body by painstakingly tracking her movements through town by reviewing Jan. 21 video footage. The last sight of her was on the Sirkeci camera at 1:15pm walking toward Sarayburnu. They fanned out and searched by ground from that point in that direction and found the body.

My question: Was she killed at that spot then (1/21) or abducted and replaced there later (1/29)? Is the witness who saw a man moving a body there TUES evening correct?

-- Describes her injuries in detail, but the translation is too atrocious to really understand...lavy, can you help??

-- Says a small bag was found by the blanket. Does NOT say what was in bag...her electronics, perhaps? (Edit: According to LAVY upthread, Police Chief says NO, that iPad and phone are missing)

It says that there was a scar on the left side of her head and her skull was fractured. No other scars, no stabbing wounds and no gun shot wounds.

This one says she her ring, earrings and a golden chain which was wrapped three times. There was also a small bag with her.

It also says that they still don't have any information on her Munich trip.

Her husband send her 500$ for travel expenses for her to return early.

 

[Yellow]

USA today article says she was still wearing her jewelry so police do not think she was a robbery. She had a blanket w her so they suspect she could have been transported.

Could the perp be a Woman? A blanket seems like an odd thing to give to someone just murdered, though it is often seen in murders by mothers who wrap the dead child in a blanket. I guess they use the blanket as a sick kind of gesture to show they "care" that the child is tucked in or whatever. Police see it as the person wrapped her in the blanket for transport, which I guess makes sense too. But could it also have been left by perp for the reasons I mentioned above?

Could one of the wife's of these men she met on Internet perhaps followed her, thinking there was an affair going on? Followed her to where she was photographing graffiti and then pounced from behind?

So sad when I read the husband identified the body, must be so hard for him...she died of head wound so it was probably very disturbing...

 

[Wanderlust]

They suddenly started updating very quickly. Again from the same link.

Journalists interviewed a guy who live very nearby, he sells tea and lives in a small cottage nearby for the last 10 years. Please note that this is just the things the guy saying nothing to do with the police. I won't do a word to word translation.

He says: "There are drug addicts and peepers who live inside the city walls. They are in contact with each other and let each other know when there is a woman tourist. And the addicts take drugs in the city walls and bother women tourists. I believe this woman who was murdered in a terrible way was up there to take pictures or watch the view or she was convinced to go there. There is no way that she was forced, no women can be forced to go there, somebody would definitely notice and prevent that. I don't believe her body was carried there either it is very hard to carry a body around there. There used to be security there until few years ago and there was no peepers or drug addicts then. We need the security back for the safety of the tourists"

Yes, the city wall has this kind of holes, sort of like caves. When I was walking around there two years ago there was clear evidence of people living in those "caves"... Luckily I was with a friend and we didn't come across any of the residents, but perhaps Sarai did? Regardless of what happened to her, it was not clearly a safe place to be walking in.

Not that I blame her. I blame the city for not cleaning up that area, next to all the major tourist attractions!

 

[tardislass]

In the footage of her on the 20th you can see she's wearing earphones. Perhaps that is the headset?

 

[Snoopster]

I've updated the map to include places where she was seen on video on Jan 21. (The markers with a dot in the middle.) I also added Galata Tower, as that is where Taylan said she had messaged him from while waiting for him (around 11:00 - 11:30).

http://goo.gl/maps/Abc1d

 

[lavy]

Anyway, to me it would seem more likely that she died on the spot. Unless it was this guy Taylan that came to pick her up, I don't think she would have got in car with anyone she didn't know.

Oh, by the way, if she died from a head wound, and not from being stabbed, then is it possible that her death was in fact an accident? Maybe she was with someone and fell hitting her head and that other person (Taylan?) fled, being too afraid to go to the police? Or maybe Sarai was all by herself at the time and just had an accident?

Sounds possible. I think this scenario was written before but: I started to believe that she was walking around and decided to take photos from the city walls and she was unlucky to meet with some bad people. Or maybe somebody convinced to go up there. She noticed something wasn't right so she wanted to go back and they hit to hear head to stop her. Either that was a fatal wound or she lost her balance and fell down. The people/person were scared just hide her body and run away.

I swear earlier on there was a report of a man ages 30-35 following her on the other side of the bridge, around 1:15pm or so. I just cannot find the link now. But I recall that LE reportedly wouldn't release that video b/c they did not want to implicate a potentially innocent person. Now I can find nothing about that report of her being followed. Anyone else remember that?

I remember that. I am searching for the link but all of them are saying it was on 20th not 21st which I think is wrong. I will post it if I find it.

 

[belimom]

Okay, I found a reference to her being followed but it's in the mall, not on the other side of the bridge. It was a previous post but I can't find any news articles. I'm going to keep looking.

- She stayed on AR's couch. Met his friends.
- She was followed by a man while in the Mall.
- Met Taylan twice before. One in Syrkeci? on Jan. 20th.

 

[tardislass]

I also think the druggies could have harrassed her, making her lose her balance and fall. Not wanting to get caught they hid her but stole her iPad and phone. I believe the small bag contained the second pair of shoes she was carrying.

 

[belimom]

Here is someone posting what Turkish newspapers were reporting - that the last video shows her being followed by a male, age 30-35. This is not the source that I read previously - it must have been a translation of a Turkish news article, maybe?

The latest security camera shows that she was followed by a man, aged 30-35. The man was trying not to be spotted by the camera and hiding his face. Police is also trying to find this man.

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/wor...ng-staten-island-mom-turkey-article-1.1250207

 

[tresptip]

I think its too much of a cooincidence that she disappeared the day before she was suppose to leave.