CA CA - Sydney “Syd” West, 19, Univ of CA student, San Francisco, 30 Sep 2020 #2

This thread seems to have reached the end of its usefulness, unless and until Syd is found, dead or alive. Sadly, I believe that, almost from the very beginning, her family and LE have felt she jumped from the bridge, or otherwise ended her life, and with almost no information released to indicate otherwise, I am resigned to believing the same. I do pray that her family will get the answers they need to move forward with their lives, one way or another. JMO
 
This thread seems to have reached the end of its usefulness, unless and until Syd is found, dead or alive. Sadly, I believe that, almost from the very beginning, her family and LE have felt she jumped from the bridge, or otherwise ended her life, and with almost no information released to indicate otherwise, I am resigned to believing the same. I do pray that her family will get the answers they need to move forward with their lives, one way or another. JMO

Maybe it has. But for any family members who stop by, it may be comforting to know that some of us will not give up hope until they get more answers.

If it's true that LE believed this from the beginning, then I wish they would push to have better cameras on the bridge, in this day and age. It would not be hard to have cameras just off the bridge, from below, especially on the pedestrian side, that could capture and store the entire set of events on that bridge in the cloud. SF is rich enough to afford it, and the technology is there.

Depression and suicide are issues close to my heart, having lived with a severely depressed person who was, at the time, in university and really struggled at disentangling his depression from what was really going on in the world. It must be even harder for young people today. When he spoke of suicide, it was usually "jumping off something."
 
Find Sydney West
Yesterday:
11/30.
Today has been a very hard day.
You have been missing exactly 2 months. 2 months!!!!!
Today your deferment app is due to secure your Fall 2021 deferral enrollment at Cal you’ve worked SO hard for! But, you aren’t here to complete it.
Your sisters 11th birthday is next week and her only wish is you make it home.
I miss you. I love you.
2764.png


From a post a few days ago:

128423463_131001965446967_115324344756001383_o.jpg


LOVE this picture of Syd
 
She and her dad made music together...
Syd Original - Underdog
Her voice is beautiful.

Her dad posted this recently.
A Message - Coldplay - for Syd

Lyrics:

My song is love
Love to the lovers shone
And it goes up
You don't have to be alone
Your heavy heart
Is made of stone
And it's so hard to see you, clearly
You don't have to be on your own
You don't have to be on your own
And I'm not gonna take it back
And I'm not gonna say I don't mean that
You're the target that I'm aiming at
And I'll get that message home
My song is love
My song is love I know
And I'm on fire for you, clearly
You don't have to be alone
You don't have to be on your own
And I'm not gonna take it back
And I'm not gonna say I don't mean that
You're the target that I'm aiming at
But I'm nothing on my own
Got to get that message home
And I'm not gonna stand and wait
Not gonna leave it until its much too late
On a platform I'm gonna stand and say
That I'm nothing on my own
And I love you, please come home
My song is love, is love I know
And I've got to get that message home
 
We may never know what happened to Syd. I do think that keeping her thread going does help in terms of keeping her, her struggles and the family on the minds of people who care about those missing/lost/killed. Where are you, Syd?
 
Just today, I started reviewing the number of cases of young people missing...that I've seen in the past year (since COVID). I have no absolute numbers, but I do see that their parents are turning to WS, to FB, to other SM for help. I totally get it.

Depression and anxiety in the college-age population is already high, COVID has made it worse. There's also good research on the peak in anxiety that current college-age students were feeling, before COVID, at leaving home and launching in a university environment (it's intense, especially someplace like CAL - Berkeley).

We need to be aware...all of us, of these issues.
 
Just today, I started reviewing the number of cases of young people missing...that I've seen in the past year (since COVID). I have no absolute numbers, but I do see that their parents are turning to WS, to FB, to other SM for help. I totally get it.

Depression and anxiety in the college-age population is already high, COVID has made it worse. There's also good research on the peak in anxiety that current college-age students were feeling, before COVID, at leaving home and launching in a university environment (it's intense, especially someplace like CAL - Berkeley).

We need to be aware...all of us, of these issues.

This is an article by Jill Halper, M.D., who wrote about her husband who had depression and died by suicide. It's worth a read. I've bolded some text at the end of the excerpt below that rings true to me.

When Depression Is Like a Cancer (Published 2019)

When Depression Is Like a Cancer

Excerpt:
Just as cancer may go into remission but still kill in the end, depression is a chronic disease that may ultimately prove fatal even with state-of-the-art care and resources. Not all cancers can be cured. Nor can all depressions. With the strong foundation of our love and his excellent care, my husband had almost 20 years of remission before succumbing to his disease.

I know that depression is not cancer, but both diseases can be insidious. With cancer we see uncontrolled cellular division and the spread of cancer cells throughout the body, and in depression we see the workings of neurotransmitters and how molecules affect mood. Researchers believe each is the result of genetic and environmental factors, and with my husband’s family background of mental illness and an abusive childhood, it’s not hard to see why he was sick.

Suicide is how my husband died, but depression was what killed him. His suicide was not a rational, intentional act, but a complication and fatal outcome of a very complex and difficult disease. Just as cancer invades the body, depression invades the psyche. And just as the surviving family members of patients with incurable cancers know that they were powerless to stop the progression of the disease, so are the survivors of a person with depression who dies by suicide.
 
This is an article by Jill Halper, M.D., who wrote about her husband who had depression and died by suicide. It's worth a read. I've bolded some text at the end of the excerpt below that rings true to me.

When Depression Is Like a Cancer (Published 2019)

When Depression Is Like a Cancer

Excerpt:
Just as cancer may go into remission but still kill in the end, depression is a chronic disease that may ultimately prove fatal even with state-of-the-art care and resources. Not all cancers can be cured. Nor can all depressions. With the strong foundation of our love and his excellent care, my husband had almost 20 years of remission before succumbing to his disease.

I know that depression is not cancer, but both diseases can be insidious. With cancer we see uncontrolled cellular division and the spread of cancer cells throughout the body, and in depression we see the workings of neurotransmitters and how molecules affect mood. Researchers believe each is the result of genetic and environmental factors, and with my husband’s family background of mental illness and an abusive childhood, it’s not hard to see why he was sick.

Suicide is how my husband died, but depression was what killed him. His suicide was not a rational, intentional act, but a complication and fatal outcome of a very complex and difficult disease. Just as cancer invades the body, depression invades the psyche. And just as the surviving family members of patients with incurable cancers know that they were powerless to stop the progression of the disease, so are the survivors of a person with depression who dies by suicide.

Thanks for that, @anneg
 
I still think abduction could be a possibility, there are some shady people who sometimes visit or hang around the bridge parking lots and break into cars and steal stuff there. Though I hope Sydney is still okay somewhere.
 
Last edited:
Just today, I started reviewing the number of cases of young people missing...that I've seen in the past year (since COVID). I have no absolute numbers, but I do see that their parents are turning to WS, to FB, to other SM for help. I totally get it.

Depression and anxiety in the college-age population is already high, COVID has made it worse. There's also good research on the peak in anxiety that current college-age students were feeling, before COVID, at leaving home and launching in a university environment (it's intense, especially someplace like CAL - Berkeley).

We need to be aware...all of us, of these issues.
I totally agree - it’s very sad
 
Disappearance of Chapel Hill Woman Reaches 2 Months; Search Ongoing in California - Chapelboro.com

128556856_131285922085238_6101763787458864753_n.jpg


While the San Francisco Police Department continues to open its tip line to any with information on West’s whereabouts, the West family has also hired a private investigator to help with the search. According to the department, Scott Dudek now is involved with the search for West, which included a visit by him to the Golden Gate Bridge around the same time of day as West was last seen.

“There is heavy foot traffic at that time – bikers, runners, walkers as well as car traffic,” said Dudek. “I urge anyone who may have seen Sydney to call with any details. No detail is too small or insignificant.”

Dudek can be reached at 925-705-8328 and the San Francisco Police Tip Line is 415-575-4444.
 
This is just so sad. I held out hope that she just needed a break but it’s been quite some time now. How is it that the cameras can see someone going on the bridge but not off? How many spots are blind spots? And why haven’t they fixed that yet? How awful for the families left not knowing.
 

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