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

[FlamingoLady]

My guess is that she was caught by one of the bridge cameras, probably entering the bridge deck but none after that, which is why they have a description of what she was wearing.

If that's the case, wouldn't it be assumed that she committed suicide and there would be less focus on finding her? That would be the most concrete evidence they have in this case, if indeed they do. Not being argumentative, genuine question.

 

[elisimo]

If that's the case, wouldn't it be assumed that she committed suicide and there would be less focus on finding her? That would be the most concrete evidence they have in this case, if indeed they do. Not being argumentative, genuine question.

Since they haven’t recovered her body & maybe don’t have video of her leaving/exiting GGB, they can’t be 100% certain that she jumped. They must feel close to certain though, which is why we’ve seen such a subdued search response.

 

[RedMaple]

Since they haven’t recovered her body & maybe don’t have video of her leaving/exiting GGB, they can’t be 100% certain that she jumped. They must feel close to certain though, which is why we’ve seen such a subdued search response.

Sometimes I agree with your theory, and other times my gut tells me that she ran away.

I haven't had any luck in MSM finding reference to a cell phone ping. Maybe it was in the comments on facebook? But the clothing description makes me think it was a camera placing her at Crissy Field that morning, and any reference to a cell phone ping was someone throwing out a suggestion and nobody refuting it.

IF it was a cell phone ping, if my understanding is correct, that's done most often through cell tower triangulation. Again, if my understanding is correct, sometimes it is very accurate (a matter of several feet), but sometimes it can be a quarter mile or more. The 101 freeway is well within that margin of error. The optimist in me is hoping that she was fed up with this point in her life, paid for a bus ticket in cash, and headed north. For those of you who think of beaches, Hollywood, and San Francisco when you think of California, Northern California can be totally different. Think marijuana farms, remote forests, mountains, and beaches, and counter-culture communes, with a little bit of "Deliverance" thrown in for good measure (no offense to any Northern Californians reading this!). Much of the populace wants to secede from California and form the independent state of Jefferson. From reading her writings, I could totally see Syd having a romantic view of the hippie, off-grid life. If she wanted to get away and not be found for a while, she could have a lot of luck up there.

I've been having some guilt as to all of these postings. To my knowledge, I was the first to post of her Reddit account here. I thought it would be helpful at the time but now I feel like I found her diary and distributed it to the world. Syd, or your family, if you're reading this, I'm very sorry. I hope that you are safe and take the time you need. Feel free to send me a message and I'll gladly take down all of this. I might even do it on my own here shortly.

 

[ElizabethAnne]

Since they haven’t recovered her body & maybe don’t have video of her leaving/exiting GGB, they can’t be 100% certain that she jumped. They must feel close to certain though, which is why we’ve seen such a subdued search response.

The same thing happened with Jonathan Bandabaila who the parents say was driving to a soccer tournament in L.A. Some motorists on the San Mateo bridge reported seeing some standing or sitting on the guardrail, but there is no footage of him jumping...just his vehicle went on the San Mateo bridge and he never exited the bridge. He was attending college and involved in soccer, but his family says he never seemed depressed, so they refuse to accept that he jumped off the San Mateo bridge. There was very little law enforcement and press coverage.
In this situation, having a crisis like dropping out of college especially when the parents have such high expectations of: 1) being a stellar student at a pressure packed university and 2) being a Div 1 athlete getting up prior to dawn six days a week in a sport she never even did before (women's crew) must be devastating particularly because she seemed to be doing this not to follow her own path but to please the parents. After all one of the Reddit posts she said she just wanted to go to a community college for two years then transfer to a 4 year university. I hope she didn't jump. I hope she decided to enroll in a community college somewhere.

 

[Emi]

Attached is a poster of hers I saw on twitter

 

[ElizabethAnne]

For the cell phone ping at Crissy Field, I thought it was from the Find My iPhone feature, at least that is what I heard from the Pleasanton vigil (where there were many technical difficulties). I know as the battery goes dead, the cell phone sends out a 'last known location' so this is what I am assuming happened. Whether Sydney was with the phone or not is another question. There are muggings all the time in the Bay Area and rings of thieves sell the stolen phones around the 7th and Market area. These muggings happen in broad daylight, on BART, and basically everywhere.

The SFPD missing person post San Francisco Police Department says "She is last believed to have been in the area of Crissy Field on the morning of September 30th." They don't mention a visual or "seen", but just a "last believed." It is the news media that has inserted the word "seen" but LE from what I have read, never has said "seen." If they have, can someone point it out?

I don't think that they would have done cell phone triangulation because without probable cause that a crime had been committed, I don't think a judge would sign off on a search warrant and even if he/she did, it would take more time to obtain the data in response to the request, and then analyze the data.

She was reported missing 2 pm on 10/2 and the missing person alert went out 10/5. I don't think cell phone tower data from the area could have been obtained and analyzed in that short time frame.

 

[MsMB Dragon]

She probably lives in the dorms since she’s a freshman. I know some of the UC campuses are making the students live there even though they aren’t doing all of their classes in person. If I had to guess she probably took the BART into SF for the day.

Actually, UC Berkeley is encouraging as many students as possible, even freshmen, to live off-campus this year due to COVID. Since the classes are mostly online, it isn't unreasonable that a group of students found a place together in San Francisco, perhaps even near Crissy Fields, to live for the year. It would be helpful to know if this was true.

Also, it would be good to know if this was a normal thing for Syd to do it if it was out of the ordinary for her to be out before dawn. Do we know?

Ms. Dragon

 

[cvaldez1975]

Sad but potentially relevant questions:
- Do cameras cover every angle of the GGB? Is it possible that someone could jump and not be seen?
- How difficult is it to search the bay? I’ve heard about people who jumped and were never recovered. Is the bay routinely searched when people jump or are thought to have jumped?

It was apparently foggy the morning of the 30th, so my concern is that she might not have been seen by bridge cameras, and if she did jump, she would likely be out to sea by now.

the GG bridge spans the mouth of the bay where it goes to the ocan so ppl who jump sometimes are not recovered. some are recovered on the other side in Marin Co.

 

[cvaldez1975]

there have been many who may have jumped that were never found nor seen on camera. it is believed this poor guy jumped but he was not found and there is no footage. there is a possibility that he did not.

The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs)

 

[ElizabethAnne]

I live in San Francisco and know Chrissy Field, approach to bridge, and Ft Point pretty well.
people jump from the bridge unseen, and that their bodies are never found, regularly.

yes there are bridge cameras, but there are also literally thousands of pedestrians on the bridge daily (in normal times, don’t know numbers now)

Some are never found. In part of Aug and Sept, the smoke has filled the skies so that it barely looks like daytime. Here is a youtube video someone shot that shows what it looks like around the Golden Gate Bridge....and this was 11:30 am on Sept 9

and you can see how dark it looks and how poor the visibility is. Given the smoke and fog in the early morning hours before sunrise, I doubt the cameras would pick up everything.

 

[ocsalumni]

edit: realized this is against the rules, deleted comment on my own

 

[Mommy2411]

Police investigating reported human remains found in Fiesta Island fire pit on Thursday

 

[ocsalumni]

Police investigating reported human remains found in Fiesta Island fire pit on Thursday

Oh my gosh Praying that it isn't her.

 

[RubyMay]

Oh my gosh Praying that it isn't her.

 

[RubyMay]

Fiesta Island is in San Diego.

 

[cvaldez1975]

Police investigating reported human remains found in Fiesta Island fire pit on Thursday

this is approximately 8 hours south. anything is possible but not really likely to be her.

you can drive onto the island and it is a popular bonfire location, went there quite a bit as a college student. i am saddened and i hope they ID them quickly.

 

[NSamuelle]

Actually, UC Berkeley is encouraging as many students as possible, even freshmen, to live off-campus this year due to COVID. Since the classes are mostly online, it isn't unreasonable that a group of students found a place together in San Francisco, perhaps even near Crissy Fields, to live for the year. It would be helpful to know if this was true.

Also, it would be good to know if this was a normal thing for Syd to do it if it was out of the ordinary for her to be out before dawn. Do we know?

Ms. Dragon

Syd dropped out/deferred From Berkeley in August and was living with friends in SF.

 

[Mommy2411]

Vigil Held for Missing Pleasanton Resident

 

[Spartygirl]

I believe Syd's parents do not wish to speak as transparently as the public would like them to. But would any parent? If I were in their shoes, I wouldn't want to inform the public about every detail regarding my child (especially if they are informed of events by LE but cannot officially make a public report).

I guess I understand, a little, if there are family dynamics involved.
However, if my daughter was missing I would be screaming from the rooftops, I would be all over SM.
JMO

 

[ocsalumni]

I have a theory but I'm wondering if it would even be possible.

Complete speculation, but.. Could Sydney have told her dad on the phone call the day before she went missing that she was planning to disappear, and not to look for her? Would that explain why the police and the media aren't treating this like a missing person's case that would normally be all over the news given that Sydney fits the 'type' of person whose case would be highly publicized?

Or would the police be legally obligated to release info that it may be runaway case in that situation?

I feel like that scenario would explain why they are so focused on asking her to come home, why they aren't releasing a lot of details (because they don't want to push her away from coming home by airing out all the details of her personal life), and why they aren't doing more media interviews. Just a thought I had.