GUILTY Turkey - Sarai Sierra, 33, NY woman murdered, Istanbul, 21 Jan 2013 - #3

[ToutCa]

Are you "offended" that I am confident in my theory? I am usually right in the way I interpret things, so maybe it comes off arrogant. We'll see

Your theory is as good as any other.

When you refuse to consider any other theory that just as easily fits the evidence, assert yours as the only one possible, and say that you are "usually right" one post after you suggest drugs were planted in a laptop that she doesn't own...

well, you've just undercut yourself and illustrated my point very nicely.

 

[ThinkHard]

Are you "offended" that I am confident in my theory? I am usually right in the way I interpret things, so maybe it comes off arrogant. We'll see

Not in the least offended, but you make a lot of assumptions, so when you base a theory on a lot of assumption it's quite contradictory to call it crystal clear.

 

[CMac2]

Are you "offended" that I am confident in my theory? I am usually right in the way I interpret things, so maybe it comes off arrogant. We'll see

Rest assured, Toutca doesn't get offended.

It's just that none of us know what happened, and it's tough to put an idea out there as fact, when really there are no facts to base anything on, let alone motive.

That said, we welcome everyone- each of us regulars on this thread have been 100% certain of our own theories at least once or twice during this case.

If nothing else, it is humbling.

 

[delal]

Yes, surely if she wanted to get out asap, she wouldn't linger, going for walks in the touristy area? There are hundreds of flights/buses, even trains out of Istanbul that she could get on just to escape.

 

[ThinkHard]

I just don't think that if this all about drugs and nothing personal, her manner of death would have been quite so violent and aggressive. I think if someone planned to take her out, they would have brought a weapon.

I think manner of death is indicative of someone who became very upset with her.

And I think the only thing that people are basing the drug mule theory on, is that she went to Amsterdam .

 

[Herat]

It's also possible she was lured to Sayanbunu by an IG aquaintance or friend of a friend and there was another person there who was the intimidator/enforcer who ended up killing her.

Which brings up another question of mine: What is the status of guns in Turkey? Does one find guns to be the cause of death or is their availability so limited that knifings, strangulation, brute force, etc are more common?

So I go back to contradict myself and think that an experienced drug snuff out would be more professionally handled and her body would not be found until they dredge the Bosphorus.

Thinkhard- I'm agreeing with you. Something very unplanned and unprofessional about this murder, yet enough contact after death to move the body, and somewhat stage the scene. Which is not to say that the murderer didn't go back and re-alter the scene some time before it was discovered.

Which also goes along with why she is wearing jewelry for this vist when in other photographic explorations in the US, she only wears the ring. Jewelry is a personal thing. I think this is related to the perp, somehow.

 

[ThinkHard]

Yes, surely if she wanted to get out asap, she wouldn't linger, going for walks in the touristy area? There are hundreds of flights/buses, even trains out of Istanbul that she could get on just to escape.

Exactly, if she was scared of someone, why would she have gone to an isolated place on the walls, alone.

 

[Chewy]

Maybe I'm just faster at getting rid of what doesn't add up.

What other possibilities are there? She was mugged, but she was violently beaten and as others have said, why? A mugger would not try to hide her body, the risk of getting caught with a dead body is huge.

A lover? The guys Takar? He's got his picture everywhere and would certainly have known he'd get caught. What motive?

Her story doesn't add up. Obviously there is more to the story. What makes the most sense to me is that she found herself involved with something that was much steeper than she realized.

She's entering her trip at the depot for heroin smuggling into Europe, Turkey. Then she's traveling to the country with the most lax drug laws in the entire world. Amsterdam. She's there for a day and then leaves and finally comes back to Turkey.

She finds she's mixed up in something that movies tell her could wind herself up in a foreign prison for life. So she decides to cut her trip short.

She doesn't say anything to anyone, including Takar, but when she is confronted about leaving early she chokes and they can tell she knows something. So she's offed.

 

[CMac2]

I just keep coming back to the theory that this was not drug related, was not random, but was not planned. I think a planned attack would have been a lot less sloppy. At the same time, it simply doesn't have the feel of a random, stranger-based murder. I just can't see it.

 

[ToutCa]

And I think the only thing that people are basing the drug mule theory on, is that she went to Amsterdam .

It's not just that. There's also the general weirdness of the whole trip: the family's money problems, the state of her marriage, her travel inexperience, the sudden change of her return date for unclear reasons, the somewhat rose-colored glasses through which the family described it all, her evident desire for exotic adventure abroad...

None of it proves anything. But it does lend itself to speculation!

 

[Chewy]

I just don't think that if this all about drugs and nothing personal, her manner of death would have been quite so violent and aggressive. I think if someone planned to take her out, they would have brought a weapon.

I think manner of death is indicative of someone who became very upset with her.

And I think the only thing that people are basing the drug mule theory on, is that she went to Amsterdam .

I agree with this, I don't think it was a "hit" I think it was done in a moment of aggression. But the fact that her body was hidden makes it seem like the person who killed her was "thinking" if that makes any sense.

I'm not basing it on that she went to Amsterdam alone, I'm basing on that she went from Turkey which is the depot for smuggling heroin to Amsterdam.

If the same thing happened in Greece or Egypt, I would not think this.

I also think her story about a "photography trip" makes no sense at all. Who in the world does that without a real camera?

 

[Herat]

It is possible she was taking something INTO Turkey from the US to go to Am/Munich and Jan 21 was just the payoff date?

What would you want to smuggle into Turkey that isn't easily detected by airport security and screening?

Soft fluffy toilet paper is the only thing that occurs to me.

 

[ToutCa]

What other possibilities are there? The guys Takar?
She finds she's mixed up in something that movies tell her could wind herself up in a foreign prison for life. So she decides to cut her trip short.

Assume you mean Taylan. If you want to read the dozens of possible non-drug scenarios that fit the evidence, many written by native Turks and voyagers familiar with the area, we got three threads full of them. Enjoy!

She doesn't say anything to anyone, including Takar, but when she is confronted about leaving early she chokes and they can tell she knows something. So she's offed.

Hold on the the movie rights for your story. True or not, it would make a good film!

 

[ToutCa]

I also think her story about a "photography trip" makes no sense at all. Who in the world does that without a real camera?

Suggest you familiarize yourself with the Instagram community. It's a different world, one in which even award-winning documentary films and features are sometimes shot in part or entirely on smartphones.

 

[bourne]

I have some forensics experience.

Material under the fingernails is removed with a sharp, sterile instrument that is essentially a pointed instrument that scrapes all loose tissue out. The nail is also clipped to catch any material that would be clining to the undersurface of the nail. You just can't get this material off by wiping with alcohol and it would take considerable time to do it completely on all 10 nails.

It can take weeks if you have to exclude multiple suspects. It gets very complicated if there are possibly multiple DNA profiles present on the same victim, of whatever the source (blood, saliva, semen, fingernail scrapings, oral/vaginal/rectal swabs).

The toxicology is also extended testing as anything found has to be accurately identified.

However, usually a pattern is starting to develop by two weeks of intensive work and the comment about narrowing investigation from 51 to 5 people makes some sense. 51 samples of DNA is a huge workload and I'm sure it's consuming massive amounts of LE Lab time and money.

Thanks, I'm aware of some of the techniques as I've worked in microbiology labs before, though I'm no forensic scientist (yet).

I should have been more specific, what I was referring to with regards to chemical agents is something like RNase AWAY.

"These surface decontaminants quickly and effectively remove unwanted RNase and DNA contamination from laboratory glassware, plastics, and stainless steel. They are also ideal for cleaning pipettor barrels, gel boxes, benchtops, work station hoods, and labware that cannot be autoclaved...Non-abrasive and non-biohazardous."

http://vwrlabshop.com/rnase-away-an...contaminants-molecular-bioproducts/p/0011124/

Which gives way to another thought. How cold was it that day she was killed? From the videos, it looks like she was bundled up with hat and scarf. Was she wearing gloves? Perhaps the perp was also wearing heavy clothing and gloves, so his DNA/prints would not have imprinted upon her as easily either. If she was wearing gloves, she certainly couldn't scratch or scrape the perp's skin off. So whatever DNA was found under her fingernails were planted there afterwards by the perp to divert attention away from himself.

It could also simply be the perp got lucky. A lot of murderers escape detection out of sheer dumb luck. Perhaps there was insufficient DNA under her nails for any thorough identification purposes.

 

[ToutCa]

It is possible she was taking something INTO Turkey from the US to go to Am/Munich and Jan 21 was just the payoff date?

Wouldn't payoff be on delivery? And wouldn't delivery be immediately?

Doesn't make any sense to wander around holding hot stuff at any point in the itinerary. Not for her, not for any handlers.

 

[Meri]

I think that photo may have been taken during a photowalk across the Brooklyn Bridge with an IG group.

http://statigr.am/p/378498179431921140_782812
http://statigr.am/p/383136338914787860_2450975

Again - articles from the beginning stated her brother took the photo. I guess that could have included an IG group.

 

[bourne]

Assume you mean Taylan. If you want to read the dozens of possible non-drug scenarios that fit the evidence, many written by native Turks and voyagers familiar with the area, we got three threads full of them. Enjoy!



Hold on the the movie rights for your story. True or not, it would make a good film!

Some excellent theories written by non-Turks and non-voyagers too. Let's not discount the efforts of those we don't agree with.

 

[ToutCa]

Some excellent theories written by non-Turks and non-voyagers too. Let's not discount the efforts of those we don't agree with.

Agreed -- didn't mean to leave any of our community out. We really do cover all ground and every poster here has contributed valuable info and analysis...

 

[bourne]

It is possible she was taking something INTO Turkey from the US to go to Am/Munich and Jan 21 was just the payoff date?

What would you want to smuggle into Turkey that isn't easily detected by airport security and screening?

Soft fluffy toilet paper is the only thing that occurs to me.

I don't believe she was smuggling anything. Nothing in her history or online interchanges indicate she was into smuggling or money schemes. IMO she was not a drug mule. She was a simple, naive tourist. She went to visit Turkey, met up with Taylan and whoever else she met on IG. Then she shot off to visit another IG friend in Amsterdam. She likely had a long connecting flight in Munich at one point. Perhaps she simply stayed inside the airport, Skyping her family/friends and didn't take any pics in Munich and hence the absence of photos there. Then she returned to Turkey to finish her pleasure trip and unfortunately met up with the Grim Reaper.