At first I thought it strange that Sarai who has been described in the media as a “photographer” would only have a phone camera rather than a dedicated one, but on reading messages from her friends, it seems that her way of doing things was to meet up with fellow instagramers and go on photographic walks with her phone camera. So it would make sense that she would meet up with this mysterious Taylan and go on a walk between the Asian and Western side of Istanbul. It’s also possible that he either led her off track by foot, by claiming to know where she could take some good pictures, or more likely, offered to drive her to a place for picture taking. She would have no inkling that anything was amiss, because that’s what she was there for. Alternatively, he could have offered to take her to lunch and possibly offer to drive her to the airport – again, he could have got her into his car without arousing suspicion.
I really don’t think Sarai would be targetted by local men who prey on tourists. She didn’t stand out as being a tourist, she was covered with pants, jacket and hat pulled down, and didn’t have a camera slung over her shoulder, so would have looked like any other person, just walking around.
If this Taylan person did not come forward earlier to assist with police enquiries, but had to be tracked down, then it’s looking more likely that he had something to do with her disappearance.
