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

[NewYork625]

Assesment of her lost electronics is imperative to understand whether if they can be traced through local networks and whether they present profitable targets for robbery. So far, and please do correct me if I'm wrong, we do know for sure she had an iPad which is missing and at least one other cell phone, which is (or are) also missing.

Now, this has been mentioned before, but every electronic device that are capable of connecting to mobile networks for data or voice transmissions have a unique IMEI number that's programmed into their chips at the production stage. Normally, this IMEI value is not supposed to be modified after production and any means to do that is strictly controlled by the manufacturer of the device. This is not to be mixed up with MAC ID numbers associated with wi-fi components of mobile devices. Tracing MAC ID numbers may or may not be feasible, I'll make another post for that possibility.

Focusing on her tablet and cell phone(s) is important as it is a promising lead which can make it clear if SS turned out to be murdered after an attempted robbery. Druggies or not, if her electronic devices were taken with the intent to profit off them, we can accurately predict where and how they might turn out.

Turkey has a centralized IMEI registry for preventation of mobile devices smuggled into the country being used, as importation of such devices are a good source of tax revenue. Mobile devices you can buy off the market and imported legally are already registered, as the distributors have legally imported them and paid taxes. However, any IMEI number that has not been recorded in the registry that pops up in any Turkish network is given around 30 days, in which the device can connect to mobile networks fully. It's a grace period mainly provided for the sake of convenience of tourists and travelers that spend a short period of time in the country. After this grace period, if unregistered, the device is added to the central blacklist and becomes incapable of connecting to Turkish operators' networks. Individual registration of the devices are only possible through a certain procedure. If you are a citizen, you need to claim to have bought the device abroad and brought the device to Turkey along with your luggage, provide your passport with stamps to prove that you have entered the country legally, which is then checked against border entry/departure records, which are again centralized. If you are a foreign permanent resident in Turkey, then you need to provide your residency permit/visa and you need to provide your passport to prove that you entered the country legally. Only after those documents and paying the registration fee/tax the device IMEI is whitelisted in the central registry.

Long term stays of the tourists are handled in the same way. You need to provide your tourist visa along with your passport.

However, in every scenario, you can only register a device every two years with a certain passport. Before the two year period is over, any following up attempts to register devices will be refused.

So, all this makes theft of mobile devices for resale in Turkey unattractive, as it will be blacklisted either through individual report of the theft or not being registered in the database. Thus, the prospect of stealing foreigners' devices for resale may not be considered attractive.

However, there are two more variables that must be considered. First, some mobile devices, depending on their make and model, are actually suspectible for IMEI modification, as their hardware is common enough to have been reverse engineered or the methods to modify those values were leaked from the manufacturer to the public. Second, even if we assume that IMEI modification is not possible, theft of mobile devices might still be considered profitable, as the device itself can be chopped off after the theft, and components can be individually sold with the exception of the motherboard, which has the IMEI programmed in, as spare parts. Or, they can be exported out of the country into any other country that does not have a whitelist based central IMEI registry. But such an operation needs to be organized, and if such operations do exist which export stolen devices are surely already have gone under LE scrutiny.

Now, we know that SS was seen in surveillance footage with what appears to be standard white Apple earbuds, listening to music on the go. It's reported widely and confirmed by the family that she had an iPad. However, carrying around an iPad to listen to music on the go is cumbersome, and I previously thought she most likely had an iPhone. There's no publicly available method to tamper any iPad model's IMEI number. Only Apple can do that. Same goes for every iPhone out there as well, except for iPhone 3G models with certain vulnurable outdated versions of the iOS installed, which provides a window of opportunity to not really modify the IMEI, but spoof it through software.

Considering there are photos of SS taken in a certain IG gathering some months ago in NY with a Samsung Galaxy SIII hanging out of her pocket, we can safely conclude that if she had a single cell phone, it was the Galaxy SIII. If she had two cell phones, at least one of them was that Galaxy SIII. (There might be an exception to that, I'll focus on it on the next paragraph)

Samsung Galaxy SIII comes in either an International variant, which I myself own that is marketed in EMEA and Europe mainly, or local country and network specific variants, which look exactly the same, but differ greatly with the internal hardware. International variant has the unique model code of GT-I9300.

GT-I9300 is not oficially marketed in the United States. It is either gray imported by trading companies or brought over from abroad by individuals. It's able to work on GSM networks, but not all CDMA networks, specifically Verizon and Sprint. Knowing that this was SS being abroad for the first time, I think we can dismiss SS having bought the SIII abroad quite safely. Any purchase from a gray import retailer would need upfront payment of the full device cost, which is around 700$ nowadays and considering SS family was not very well off, I don't think she'd have purchased it by paying upfront. We can assume she bought it through an operator contract through monthly payments.

I'm making this distinction, because we have a shot of understanding whether her device is suspectible for IMEI tampering and whether it was compatible with the Turkish networks, which are exclusively GSM. We don't have CDMA networks here and CDMA only devices cannot be used.

Here are the relevant variants of the Galaxy S3, with the added information whether they can operate on Turkish networks. I will research and add if they are suspectible to IMEI manipulation:

GT-I9300: International variant. Fully capable of operating in Turkish GSM networks. Suspectible to IMEI tampering. However, for the reasons I stated before, I don't think Sarai had this one.

SGH-T999[v]: North American variant. Mobilicity, T-Mobile, Wind and Videotron offer this variant through contracts. It's GSM capable and can work on Turkish operators. Suspectibility to IMEI tampering is currently unknown. Will be researched and updated.

SGH-I747[m]: North American variant. AT&T, Bell, Rogers, Telus, SaskTel and Virgin offers this through contracts. Fully GSM capable and can operate with Turkish networks. Suspectibility to IMEI tampering is currently unknown. Will be researched and updated.

SCH-R530: North American variant. Cricket Wireless, U.S. Cellular and MetroPCS offer it through contracts. Not GSM capable, cannot operate with Turkish networks. Therefore, suspectibility to IMEI tampering is completely irrelevant, unknown and will not be researched and added.

SCH-I535: North American variant. Exclusively offered by Verizon. CDMA only and lacks GSM compatibility, cannot operate in Turkish networks. Therefore suspectibility to IMEI tampering is completely irrelevant, unknown and will not be researched and added.

SPH-L710: North American variant. Exclusively offered by Sprint. CDMA only and lacks GSM compatibility, cannot operate in Turkish networks. Therefore suspectibility to IMEI tampering is completely irrelevant, unknown and will not be researched and added.

Americans, please do help me out here. Which of these operators mentioned above are prevalent in NY area? Perhaps some of you who might have contact with the family can inquest for relevant details? Can we know that she had a second mobile phone for certain, which she might have had before and brought over for GSM compatibility and operation in Turkey?

If we can be sure of the device variant, then we can look at robbery angle with more confidence (although all variants are indistinguishable from outside, we have a Skype connection made on 30th or 31st of January from either the iPad or cell phone(s), that's a promising lead) and we can certainly make good guesses about the prospects and possibility of tracing these devices.

I'm in the NY area and my son has a Samsung Galaxy S III through Verizon. What is the question? :waitasec:

 

[Yashim]

From personal experience in third-world countries, I have been approache more than once to bring back stuff to the US.

Turkey is not a third-world country. It is a first world country. You can access more information at Wikipedia or a real encyclopedia.

[ame="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Third_World"]Third World - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia[/ame]

In fact, there has been a Turkish state almost throughout the entire history, e.g. since 200 BC. BTW, neither is Iran.

But if you have experience in a first-world country, that might help because Turkey is a first-world country.

 

[Munich]

I've been researching the drug smuggling angle. I still think it's a long shot, but I was curious.

**Drug smugglers often have mules change plans abruptly, including dates of travel.

So maybe they told her to change it, and in fact even urged her to post a cover story about the date change on social media.

If the meeting was the final handoff of objects to be smuggled, it still doesn't seem quite right though:

--why would she show up without all her stuff for the airport? Normally they prep you right before you go and take you directly to the airport.
--why would she pay all the money for the trip (say $2000 minimum overall) only to make the paltry salary of a drug courier -- seems to be about $5000 tops?


If the meeting was to pay her for objects delivered:

--why would they wait a couple days after she was back in IST?

If she had been sent money by American parties to do a buy:

--where was she going to put the stuff and why go all the way back to her apartment and then leave later? Only increases the risks.

It looks possible, but still flimsy if you think it through.

If going with the drug / mule of sorts angle, the changing schedule would demonstrate control from the trafficker's side. Maybe they'd even know someone working at the airport. There are so many what if's in this scenario.

I think if she was trafficking it was to the US. People are hung up on AMS and MUC. I'm assuming you are referring to her going to AMS without all her stuff, although we don't really know what she took along. Usually the trip would be "fun" and the mule would be doing things they enjoyed. Then on the back end of the trip they are feeling indebted and perhaps threatened with violence to complete things.

If she was a first time traveler she might not have known how much it would all add up to and once she was in so deep she'd need to recoup the money, because she didn't have it to begin with.

The person she would get paid by would be in the US - not in IST. They'd pay upon completion / delivery. Someone in IST and someone in NY would be in cahoots. It wouldn't be her buying things and then having someone repay her.

I don't think it was coincidental she died hours before she was meant to get on a flight or that she died so violently.

 

[Chewy]

Me too, and a lot of others on the board. The reality is, a lot of what you base as assumptions below in the rest of your post are inaccurate. She wa sin Amsterdam longer than 1 day. She stated why she cut her trip short. Her and her husband do not have crominal histories, and are heavily involved in their church.

Again you are misunderstanding (I've only posted this three times in two pages) that I am saying she was involved with drug dealing knowingly.

I don't think she knew. I think she was a perfect mark because she didn't have a drug history and was a married woman with two kids who was traveling abroad. That's the last person you would think would risk being a drug mule.

She stated why she cut her trip short but that doesn't mean it was the real reason. It is very expensive to change travel plans so it should have been a good reason.

Also, you honestly think that because she was involved in her "church" this precludes her from being involved in criminal activity? Have you ever heard of the Mafia by any chance?

LOL

But I dont' think she was in the Mafia, don't worry.

 

[Yashim]

Oh I know we have been persecuted more than many other churches, Orthodoxy and Coptic specifically is one of the main churches as derived from the actual apostles. My family can trace direct descendancy to one of the first Coptic popes.

We are persecuted still today by the muslim population in Egypt, they come and burn down our monasteries just because they don't like the monks being there, even though all they do is help the poor in the region. I am fully aware of religious intolerance towards Christians in the area. I am fully aware of middle eastern history, and of the ethno cultural relations, as well as our history with Turkey...oh I know.

We have been pushed out globally because of this, and because of the persecution this is why in 20 years, the Christian/Muslim ratio in Egpyt has gone from 1/4 to less than 1/10. I am sorry to state the obvious, but the fact is Coptic Christians are true descendants of the Egyptians, the muslims came in mostly with the start of the Turkish invasion of the Ottomans. We never used to inter marry and really do not much to this day.

Here for you though, is the history of Christianity in Turkey, as you can see there is no mention of Coptics in Turkey. Maybe ironic for a few reasons. But yes we have Churches all over because we have left Egypt and settled all over the world, perhaps due to persecution or just because we have moved and established families elsewhere, and yes we do inter marry with other Christians, but we are Egyptian, this I am certain of.


-------------------------------

Turkey
------
Christianity has a long history in Anatolia (now part of the Republic of Turkey), which is the birthplace of numerous Christian Apostles and Saints, such as Paul of Tarsus, Timothy, Nicholas of Myra, Polycarp of Smyrna and many others. Two out of the five centers (Patriarchates) of the ancient Pentarchy are in Turkey: Constantinople (Istanbul) and Antioch (Antakya). Antioch was also the place where the followers of Jesus were called "Christians" for the first time in history, as well as being the site of one of the earliest and oldest surviving churches, established by Saint Peter himself. For a thousand years, the Hagia Sophia was the largest church in the world.

The Assyrian and Armenian peoples have an ancient history in south east Anatolia, dating back to 2000 BC and 600 BC respectively, both of these peoples were Christianized between the 1st and 3rd centuries AD. Similarly, the Greeks of western Anatolia and Georgians of the Black Sea region have histories dating from the 20th centuries and 10th centuries BC respectively, and were also Christianized during the first few centuries AD.

These ancient Christian ethnic groups were drastically reduced by Genocide during and after World War I (see Armenian Genocide, Assyrian Genocide and Greek Genocide) at the hands of the Ottoman army and their Kurdish allies.

Today the Christian population of Turkey includes an estimated 45,000 Armenians[2], 35,000 Assyrians, 3,000–4,000 Greek Orthodox[3], and smaller numbers of Bulgarians, Georgians, as well as Turkish and Kurdish Protestants.

That's a lot for this post. I believe we may now safely conclude that the perp is a Turk.

 

[delal]

Turkey is not a third-world country. It is a first world country. You can access more information at Wikipedia or a real encyclopedia.

But if you have experience in a first-world country, that might help because Turkey is a first-world country.

A matter of semantics, surely. As far as I'm aware, the terms 1st and 3rd world are no longer the used terms. Recently, when I had to teach a class of students the terms "developed" and "developing" countries, it was the students (Turkish) themselves that classified Turkey as a developing country.

Not really relevant to this though.

 

[KuriousKev]

One other thing that has bothered me:

Did she not have any IG friends in other architecturally notable places: Paris, London, Barcelona, Madrid, Rome, etc etc?

I would have thought other places would have been "easier" places for a newbie traveler and have also provided such exotic and compeling foreign sights and experiences.

I go back to the charm and attractiveness of Turkish men (glamour-boy TaylanK photo) as a factor in the Istanbul choice.

She had an emotional attachment to Turkey, someone drew her there. I don't remember the amount to time she was originally supposed to stay but she was there 3 weeks before she was suppose to return home. That's a long time to visit just one place for someone yearning to get out and explore. ok ok she visited Amsterdam ( to see Ammer) and Munich. There are so many other beautiful places in EU to capture and love during that time.

So much more to this story. This was not a random attack, the timing she was killed...someone ran out of time and decided to kill her before she could leave.

 

[Chewy]

If going with the drug / mule of sorts angle, the changing schedule would demonstrate control from the trafficker's side. Maybe they'd even know someone working at the airport. There are so many what if's in this scenario.

I think if she was trafficking it was to the US. People are hung up on AMS and MUC. I'm assuming you are referring to her going to AMS without all her stuff, although we don't really know what she took along. Usually the trip would be "fun" and the mule would be doing things they enjoyed. Then on the back end of the trip they are feeling indebted and perhaps threatened with violence to complete things.

If she was a first time traveler she might not have known how much it would all add up to and once she was in so deep she'd need to recoup the money, because she didn't have it to begin with.

The person she would get paid by would be in the US - not in IST. They'd pay upon completion / delivery. Someone in IST and someone in NY would be in cahoots. It wouldn't be her buying things and then having someone repay her.

I don't think it was coincidental she died hours before she was meant to get on a flight or that she died so violently.

Great post and interesting angle You could also argue that one of the reasons she changed her travel dates was to throw off any tracking?

 

[Chewy]

She had an emotional attachment to Turkey, someone drew her there. I don't remember the amount to time she was originally supposed to stay but she was there 3 weeks before she was suppose to return home. That's a long time to visit just one place for someone yearning to get out and explore. ok ok she visited Amsterdam ( to see Ammer) and Munich. There are so many other beautiful places in EU to capture and love during that time.

So much more to this story. This was not a random attack, the timing she was killed...someone ran out of time and decided to kill her before she could leave.

Wow awesome post, and as well this is a great summary. You've put into words what I couldn't quite. This is exactly what it looks like to me. In a nutshell.

 

[looking4answers]

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?

The problem with your statement, is that you suggest no existence of any other redeeming factors to both Turkey and Amsterdam, as if their only purpose to visit or live there is either to import or export drugs. This is a very simple thought, and the reality is there are actually whole societies and industries. There are criminals in all countries, there is drug trade in all countries. The %'s are probably not much different between many countries, and though the supply of heroin is mostly from Afghanistan, this is due to the monopoly on its growth there. Other drugs are grown and supplied from many different countries. This would mean you could state that billions of people who move between certain countries are all involved in drug trafficking, simply because of their movement. This is a waste of time, and you absolutely need to take into account profiling the individual, which shows her to be anything BUT a criminal. As well as all her activities, which have been proven by her itinerary to be that of a simple tourist.

I think she was abducted by aliens and I think you are the alien leader who is trying to dissuade us from the facts. Prove me wrong! Right, it is ridiculous, and a real detective would find many constant beatings of a dead horse to be the same.

 

[Munich]

Traveling as a single woman. You don't suddenly get divorced and become single because you step on an airplane. Instead of being at the ready with snark try reading what was actually stated.

I would not travel as a single woman. She planned to go with a friend, and she was married.

Hello?:waitasec:

Perhaps not in the culture you come from, however there are cultures that believe if you're drunk it's not cheating or if you are on vacation, it's not cheating.

Not only that, every couple has their own feelings as to what constitutes cheating, so making a blanket statement is presumptuous.

We all have our own social mores, including SS. She shouldn't be chastised for what people perceive her as doing or not doing. She was a human and did not deserve to die and especially like this.

 

[alpmighty]

Well, I won't summarily dismiss anything about this Taylan fellow unless I see/hear confirmation of what actually does for a living. Thus far, we know zilch about him except he's unemployed and holds a graduate degree of some sort which they never mention (science or engineering is my guess) from abroad (where? England? France? USA?)

I will do my best to learn those. But, what I can assure you of is simply this: If he was an Intel officer or even a low life asset, you wouldn't have heard about him at all unless LE tied him to murder with definitive and undisputable evidence. Even so, his affiliations would be suppressed and he wouldn't be allowed to reveal them. Besides, knowing people from Intel community, they are not, by regulation, allowed to have social networking accounts, nor would they take the risk of meddling with people over the Internet through IG and Facebook, especially foreigners.

 

[Chewy]

The problem with your statement, is that you suggest no existence of any other redeeming factors to both Turkey and Amsterdam, as if their only purpose to visit or live there is either to import or export drugs. This is a very simple thought, and the reality is there are actually whole sociaties and industries. There are criminals in all countries, there is drug trade in all countries, the %'s are probably not much different between many countries, and though the supply of heroin is mostly from Afghanistan, this is due to the monopoly on its growth there. Other drugs are grown and supplied from many different countries. This would mean you could state that billions of people who move between certain countries are all involved in drug trafficking, simply because of their movement. This is a waste of time, and you absolutely need to take into account profiling the individual, which shows her to be anything BUT a criminal. As well as all her activities, which have been proven by her itinerary to be that of a simple tourist.

I think she was abducted by aliens and I think you are the alien leader who is trying to dissuade us from the facts. Prove me wrong! Right, it is ridiculous, and a real detective would find many constant beatings of a dead horse to be the same.

You think comparing this to "abducted by aliens" is "on common ground"

Ok then. I have know idea how to respond to that.

And once again, she is the perfect mark. If you wanted someone to be able to smuggle drugs through an airport would you pick someone with a criminal background? Or would you pick someone innocent?

And it seems like you are making the presumption that I am "racially profiling" the area. Uh no. My husband is from Cyprus and I've been there many times as well as many other countries in the middle east.

I am not profiling. It is well known that Turkey is the hub of heroin smuggling into Europe.

And there's this teeny tiny clue that she may have been involved with something not so kosher....what was that detail...:waitasec:

Oh yeah, she's dead and they found her body hidden. That's right.

 

[necco]

Wow. This thread is getting vicious.

I'll be back when you kiddos have had a snack and a nap and aren't so snarky.

 

[looking4answers]

Yeah, don't travel as a single woman into countries that are known for drug smuggling. :twocents:

wt..? Stocks as in stock trading, etrade..etc..nm

 

[alpmighty]

She didn't have a laptop.

Not that we know of, but if she had, I think SS family would have mentioned it by now.

Smuggling through concealment in such devices are futile. They are always X-Rayed, and they are tested by the security to make sure they are operating. (turn on/turn off) Besides, concealing drugs in an iPad, which has already extremely crumped internals, wouldn't amount to much. You cannot hide a profitable amount of drugs in an iPad, and even if you did, you'd get busted in the airport.

 

[belimom]

Wow. This thread is getting vicious.

I'll be back when you kiddos have had a snack and a nap and aren't so snarky.

:goodpost:

I'll create a diversion. I've been scouring FB for all Tarkan K's in Turkey (are we certain the last initial is K?). All I can say is this: if things don't ever work out with me and my husband (whom I love dearly and we are fine), you can find me in Turkey... :blushing:

 

[Herat]

Turkey is not a third-world country. It is a first world country. You can access more information at Wikipedia or a real encyclopedia.

Third World - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

In fact, there has been a Turkish state almost throughout the entire history, e.g. since 200 BC. BTW, neither is Iran.

But if you have experience in a first-world country, that might help because Turkey is a first-world country.

I didn't mean to imply Turkey was a third-world country, I just intended to give readers other scenarios of why it can be difficult to deal with foreigners who actively strike up friendships- they can often have hidden agendas. This has occured to me in India as well as in Mali, Senegal, Morocco, Namibia, and Indonesia. One learns to be fairly wary of people that strike up aquaintances with you. If not the "come visit my brother's carpet shop" it's the "can't you please take this lovely (cheap) jewelry with you and sell it for me in the US".

My apologies if you feel I was trying to slight Turkey. I have some jewelry made by jewelers of Turkish origin and it is very very high quality and very beautiful. I can envision a "friend" accompanying Sarai to a market and helping her buy some nice jewelry (with a local's discount), and that being the jewelry she is found wearing.

I'm a bit perplexed as to why that jewelry wasn't shown in an attempt to document her whereabouts or contacts. Either LE felt it was totally insignficiant, or was massively significant to the case and don't want to tip their hand.

Sadly, I'm afraid it's the former.

 

[Munich]

There appears to be an update:

Turkish police told MailOnline they have only made public five per cent of what they know about her murder

Though authorities will not have results for two weeks, they have managed to narrow it down to a small group of Sarai Sierra's internet contacts as well as a homeless person who was at the scene when her body was found.
One person who is believed to be talking to investigators is Ammer Reduron, who Sarai connected with on Instagram in the months before her trip and stayed with while she was in Amsterdam.
Little is known about the 32-year-old Dutch national, but last year he posted on a site similar to Craigslist that he lives in an immigrant ghetto in Amsterdam called Zuidoost.
Though his Facebook page lists that he works for Cisco Systems, the company's international headquarters told MailOnline there was no information for him in the company directory.
Last week, Reduron claimed he was not a suspect and admitted Sarai stayed with him when she went to Amsterdam on a side trip - also saying her husband Steven knew this and was OK with it as the two were friends.
'Taking care of her,' he said last week. 'Meaning showing my city and being a good friend to her. She had a wonderful time here.'
On his Facebook, the 32-year-old 'checks in' at Amsterdam airport on January 15, which is purportedly when he went to pick up Sarai.
On January 23 - ten days before her body was found, Sarai's sister Christina Jiminez become Facebook friends with him.

Police however, are giving little away as to what they have uncovered in the investigation.

more at the link

[LINK]

 

[Yashim]

A matter of semantics, surely. As far as I'm aware, the terms 1st and 3rd world are no longer the used terms. Recently, when I had to teach a class of students the terms "developed" and "developing" countries, it was the students (Turkish) themselves that classified Turkey as a developing country.

Not really relevant to this though.

I am not saying that they are currently used. But when they were used, the term "third world country" wasn't used for Turkey.

And neither do we use the terms developed and developing. Turkey is identified as a newly industrialized country.

I don't think one class of school children (or university students) will provide a healthy representation of how Turkish people categorize Turkey. Even it did, these classifications are not for the people of the country. They are to be used by international organizations, such as IMF, World bank, UN, OECD, ILO, etc.