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

I don't really see how anyone can be missing this long and be alive. I'm still wondering if she was on antidepressants because they DO give you suicidal thoughts. I have seen it happen first hand. Scary stuff, believe me.
After everything I have read on here, it is most likely that she did jump. But until a body is found, we don't know 100%. She had one trac phone, so who knows if she had another. That is the first thing everyone looks at when someone goes missing, what does their phone say, where did that phone go, what did she do, who did she talk to. But who was she talking to on her other phone and why did she need that, I know it has been said that her parents tracked it, but she could have simply cut off the tracker. How was she paying for that extra phone? Did she withdraw from Berkley and get a full refund? If she did that, her parents would most likely think she was still alive, she could be using one those cash cards or cash. How did she pay for the hotel the night before she disappeared, was it under her card or someone else's? <modsnip> Since she had been couch surfing, did she meet someone and run off with them? Did she decide to live on the streets, thinking that would be better than going home? Has anyone seen if they identified the third body that washed up on the beach?
 
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I don't really see how anyone can be missing this long and be alive. I'm still wondering if she was on antidepressants because they DO give you suicidal thoughts. I have seen it happen first hand. Scary stuff, believe me.

For the sake of education, I would like to clarify this statement (and by no means am I doubting what you have experienced! And it sounds like a terrible situation :().

The FDA Black Box Warning was added to antidepressants in 2007 due to an increased risk for suicidality specifically in children, adolescents, and adults less than or equal to 24 years old (so Sydney certainly did fall into this category). But I think it is important for people to know that in the 25-64 age group, the risk for suicide has not been found to increase suicide risk. And in people 65+, antidepressants have actually been found to decrease risk for suicidality.

There is a significant delay before clinically obvious improvements occur from antidepressants (anywhere from 4-12+ weeks). The increased risk for suicide in younger people is thought to be the greatest in the first few months of treatment and following dose adjustments. The thought is that during these times of “initial, partial recovery”, there may be an increase in suicidal impulses, as well as increased energy to act on them (based on their mechanism of action).

So my point being, I wouldn’t want anyone to be afraid to take an antidepressant if one is clinically indicated, based on that risk alone. Rather be sure they are being monitored closely by the appropriate people and involved/engaged in psychotherapy.

For me personally, just knowing if she was on an antidepressant or not wouldn’t really hold much value. How long she had been on it, dose, consistency of taking, which medication, etc. would be more helpful but probably not information we will never be privy to unfortunately.
 
For the sake of education, I would like to clarify this statement (and by no means am I doubting what you have experienced! And it sounds like a terrible situation :().

The FDA Black Box Warning was added to antidepressants in 2007 due to an increased risk for suicidality specifically in children, adolescents, and adults less than or equal to 24 years old (so Sydney certainly did fall into this category). But I think it is important for people to know that in the 25-64 age group, the risk for suicide has not been found to increase suicide risk. And in people 65+, antidepressants have actually been found to decrease risk for suicidality.

There is a significant delay before clinically obvious improvements occur from antidepressants (anywhere from 4-12+ weeks). The increased risk for suicide in younger people is thought to be the greatest in the first few months of treatment and following dose adjustments. The thought is that during these times of “initial, partial recovery”, there may be an increase in suicidal impulses, as well as increased energy to act on them (based on their mechanism of action).

So my point being, I wouldn’t want anyone to be afraid to take an antidepressant if one is clinically indicated, based on that risk alone. Rather be sure they are being monitored closely by the appropriate people and involved/engaged in psychotherapy.

For me personally, just knowing if she was on an antidepressant or not wouldn’t really hold much value. How long she had been on it, dose, consistency of taking, which medication, etc. would be more helpful but probably not information we will never be privy to unfortunately.
I agree, everyone responds to medication differently. For some, antidepressants are a lifesaver, to others they are not. It is so important to work with your doctor to find the right one. I don’t know how much research has been done on birth control, but I know of several people who have taken these pills, and the hormone changes have caused severe depression and suicidal thoughts.I have no idea if she was on that or not, just looking at her age, it was a thought. I am more inclined to believe her depression was caused more by that concussion. I wish her family would put more out there, I know this is a horrible time for them, and they were not prepared for this, no one is, but they need to not worry about appearances now. From what I have seen, they are a very well off, very intelligent, educated, and well thought of family, but they need to be more forthcoming. I know that isn’t easy, but this is their child. There has never been any mention of human trafficking, kidnapping, nothing. She was/ is a young blond female, which is always who gets the media attention, not looking for an argument in the least, but she fits that missing girl box, who the media focuses on. Instead the parents were begging her to come home, which is why I was very curious about that refund check. Putting up signs, hiring a private investigator, never even being concerned about her being kidnapped. As I have mentioned, I do think the signs do lead to her jumping, but if there is any chance she is still alive, I hope that her parents will let everything be known, that they can share. And I hope that their PI is being upfront with them, and not just looking for a check.
 
Sydney may have thought that if she withdrew from Berkeley that she could attend a community college and come back and re-enroll with in-state tuition. Two times in her reddit posts she mentioned wanting to attend a community college then transfer to a 4 year school and also referred to her unhappiness of losing California in-state status after the move to NC.

The Berkeley offer included no scholarship or financial aid (she said "No aid BRUH" in her reddit posts), but a potential full-ride scholarship two years from the offer (her junior and senior year) if she obtained a seat on the two fastest boats on the UC Berkeley rowing team. That would have possibly put her under tremendous stress to do well on the rowing team, i.e. become one of their star rowers even though she was a complete novice and a "walk on" on the team, in order to eventually get a scholarship two years from now. She also said she had advantages being a D1 athlete because she could get tutoring for her classes, access to special study spaces and other perks for being a D1 athlete.

In her reddit posts, you can tell that Sydney was under financial pressure because she stated that she was pressured to pick UNC Chapel Hill because her parents did not want to pay out of state tuition, but UNC would be practically free for her. Sydney stated in reddit that she did not like NC and did not want to go there.

Community college out-of-state fees in CA per credit are a hefty $353 per unit charge (in-state is $46), but even if she would have gone to the community college for two years in CA, that would not have allowed her to re-enroll into a UC as an in-state student getting in-state tuition.

Although staying in CA for two years might seem by common sense to get you in-state tuition, in CA that is not the case if you are under 24 years old with the parents being out-of-state. To pay in-state community college rates, Sydney would have had to declare financial independence from her parents and reside in the state of CA for a year and one day according to Residency Requirements (Las Positas College is the nearest community college to Pleasanton/Livermore). Or she would have had to live with someone other than her parents for two years or more just prior to enrolling as a community college student in CA to get the Two Year Care and Control exemption.

One of the parent videos stated Sydney withdrew from Berkeley "midway" but I am not sure what that means. The semester starts the third week of August and ends in December so by "midway" it sounds like it could not have been midway during the semester. At other times, they said Sydney requested a 1 year deferment from Berkeley. Then several months later they discussed Sydney having a concussion, having issues with COVID isolation, etc. but the circumstances regarding when and why Sydney left Berkeley remain uncertain.

The postings on Medium in Oct 2019 and reddit regarding her depression are far before the incident with Sydney jumping into the water from a high height (the roof of the boathouse) in early July 2020 somewhere around the 4th of July. Sydney's reddit posts never mentioned being on any sort of medication or seeing any sort of psychiatrist or planning to have a 504 in college or any questions in the A2C forum about disability services on college campuses for anxiety and depression, but she did mention the mindfulness coach and yoga.

It is unclear if she was being treated medically for her anxiety and depression. If she was, she never mentioned it that I can find. From a timing perspective, in mid-July the Tiktok video of her singing "I'm dying deep down, I'm not as happy as I seem" to Row Row Your Boat was the last thing I can see posted. This would have been a week or two after she jumped from the high height---the roof of the boathouse---into the lake in NC and injured herself. It also is unclear if after this incident where she received any sort of mental health counseling or medical treatment prior to flying to Berkeley the next month for classes.
 
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After everything I have read on here, it is most likely that she did jump. But until a body is found, we don't know 100%. She had one trac phone, so who knows if she had another. That is the first thing everyone looks at when someone goes missing, what does their phone say, where did that phone go, what did she do, who did she talk to. But who was she talking to on her other phone and why did she need that, I know it has been said that her parents tracked it, but she could have simply cut off the tracker. How was she paying for that extra phone? Did she withdraw from Berkley and get a full refund? If she did that, her parents would most likely think she was still alive, she could be using one those cash cards or cash. How did she pay for the hotel the night before she disappeared, was it under her card or someone else's? When did her parents find out about her previous suicide attempt, before or after she disappeared. Since she had been couch surfing, did she meet someone and run off with them? Did she decide to live on the streets, thinking that would be better than going home? Has anyone seen if they identified the third body that washed up on the beach?
Those are all good questions. I don't know the answers to any of them. I do know from living in the area that the time Sydney West first became missing, I did not see a lot of newspaper coverage or social media posts when Sydney was missing. The newspapers were covering a man last seen in Livermore in late Sept. 2020 named Mike Biondi who was last seen in downtown Livermore and his sister was sending out social media posts to help find her brother. He was the Assistant Superintendent of Educational Services in the Livermore school district and is the brother of Matt Biondi, the famous Olympic swimmer from UC Berkeley. The San Ramon Police dept was the lead agency in charge of the investigation. It was in all the media coverage locally and there were searches for him locally and throughout the region.

During this timeframe though, there were no searches that I can find that were organized for Sydney West, I didn't see any social media posts her from family looking for her in any of the Pleasanton/Livermore Facebook groups. I found that on one hand, I was seeing repeated coverage for the search for Mike Biondi, but almost nothing in regards to Sydney West even though they happened at nearly the same time. Sydney's mother has said that Sydney was living in Livermore with friends when she became missing.

Mike Biondi and Sydney West became missing within days of each other, but whereas from my perspective it seems the Biondi family was getting the word out to TV stations and newspapers and social media to help find him ASAP, I did not see information about Sydney West missing until several days after she was last seen. When this happened, initial reports said she was a UC Berkeley student and last seen at Crissy Field. The UC Berkeley police then sent out a Twitter posting saying she was a former student and no longer a current student. Then almost a full month later the family produced a video saying she was last seen on the Golden Gate Bridge at 6:45 AM in the morning on Sept 30th.

There was a lot of urgency to find Mike Biondi, who unfortunately was found deceased in Nevada Missing Livermore schools assistant superintendent dies in Nevada and Tri-Valley Mourns Loss Of Livermore Schools Official and coverage in the local newspapers and television, but in comparison, when Sydney West became missing for some reason this appeared to be a situation handled quite differently by her family who instead set up two vigils instead.
 
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Who exactly is offering the reward? Where is that money supposed to come from?
It is a bit confusing because the reward was verbally extended via Jay’s recent video, and then reported on in a news article using that video as a source. The entire verbal statement was “We still have the reward available.”

It was “extended” about 10 days after it had expired. Legally, you generally need to create new documentation (in writing) to continue offering a reward after it has lapsed, because you cannot technically “extend” a unilateral offer that has already expired. If the parents wanted to deny someone the reward at this point, they might have a decent legal argument that this “extension” is invalid. But I think there has been less urgency about following the right legal avenues for extension because they may be closer to accepting the sad and likely outcome.

Because you cannot piggyback off the terms of an expired offer ($25K), and things like the amount of the current reward were not stated in the short video, the terms of that new offer are arguably too indefinite for it to be valid. The news agency reporting on the reward just assumed it would remain at $25K - that was never stated.
 
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Police just announced that a body found in the SF Bay was 17yo Antoine Whittley who had been missing for 5 months after likely jumping from a bridge in that area. This is only miles from the GG Bridge and a good example of how a body can get snagged on debris, stay submerged, and then reappear to float around unseen in that area for months.

The currents under the GGB are different then where this body was found, but they can move a body great distances from its origin. After factoring in shipping traffic, sharks, and the vastness of the SF Bay and the Pacific Ocean, it’s not a surprise that someone can go undiscovered for an immense amount of time.

Body recovered near Point Pinole believed to be that of missing Bay Area teenager
 
About a week ago, On the Sydney West Missing from San Francisco facebook page, there is an interesting thread about the backpack. Two people that have had a personal relationship with her have commented. Not much has been said about this and it is one of the more interesting, baffling parts.
 
About a week ago, On the Sydney West Missing from San Francisco facebook page, there is an interesting thread about the backpack. Two people that have had a personal relationship with her have commented. Not much has been said about this and it is one of the more interesting, baffling parts.

Yes, the backpack is mysterious. No one mentioned that people leave backpacks behind when they jump, as a sign they were there. Given the heavy fog and smoke in the air, and the fact that no one was searching the waters for her the day of (or the day after) the possible jump, it is sadly possible no one saw the jump and any remains were swept out to sea, unfortunately. Especially since COVID was a factor in keeping people on semi-lock down at that time. Just mentioning it as a possibility. There is very little chance (and no evidence) there was an abduction on the bridge that would cause her to drop/lose her backpack - it seems highly unlikely. And that leaves the possibility that she left the backpack to stage a suicide in an effort to escape something or someone in her life and continues to stay away from them, nearly a year later. I can't imagine what would motivate a young, single woman to do that. No one who knows her is mentioning why/what/who she might be escaping. And I also don't understand why the private investigator told the public it is common for Sydney to go to the bridge alone, in the dark, before dawn, when no one has ever mentioned her ever doing that before in any media articles. It is all very mysterious. I wish those that knew her well, or the police, would give media interviews and help answer all the mystery around this. No one will even tell the public what time the uber driver picked her up. We just know it was still night time, not yet dawn. 3 am? 5 am? 6 am? We don't know, they are keeping this private, for some reason.
 
Why is everything kept so anonymous by her parents? It sounds like someone abducted her since her backpack was left there. Maybe someone knows something! Pray
I think she took off her backpack voluntarily, and had used it to carry her headphones and phone, which are missing. It (sadly) makes sense to me that those are the last things she wanted and needed given her potential plans that day, and listened to music from her phone while standing on the bridge. Given that possible scenario, it makes sense to me that her family is reluctant to say more about exactly where or how the backpack was found, and that police almost immediately ruled out foul play. MOO.
 
I think she took off her backpack voluntarily, and had used it to carry her headphones and phone, which are missing. It (sadly) makes sense to me that those are the last things she wanted and needed given her potential plans that day, and listened to music from her phone while standing on the bridge. Given that possible scenario, it makes sense to me that her family is reluctant to say more about exactly where or how the backpack was found, and that police almost immediately ruled out foul play. MOO.
I sadly agree. What other credible explanation could there be? Someone didn't have to see her jump to be true especially in all the fog and smoke. I can't imagine there were many people around due to Covid. In Boston it was a ghost town. Staying in a hotel the night before seems in line with someone carrying out a secretive plan. I'd love to know more about the 2-hour conversation with her Dad the day before. With no interviews, no massive searches, and law enforcement not involved there is much more to the story than is being shared. It's heartbreaking whatever happened. MOO
 
After everything I have read on here, it is most likely that she did jump. But until a body is found, we don't know 100%. She had one trac phone, so who knows if she had another. That is the first thing everyone looks at when someone goes missing, what does their phone say, where did that phone go, what did she do, who did she talk to. But who was she talking to on her other phone and why did she need that, I know it has been said that her parents tracked it, but she could have simply cut off the tracker. How was she paying for that extra phone? Did she withdraw from Berkley and get a full refund? If she did that, her parents would most likely think she was still alive, she could be using one those cash cards or cash. How did she pay for the hotel the night before she disappeared, was it under her card or someone else's? <modsnip> Since she had been couch surfing, did she meet someone and run off with them? Did she decide to live on the streets, thinking that would be better than going home? Has anyone seen if they identified the third body that washed up on the beach?

Because of recent and ongoing construction, as well as the 4.5 ft barrier that's already in place, it's not as easy to jump off the GGB as people think. Even if she managed to do it, if it was during the day, it's highly likely that someone would've seen her. There are construction workers and "flaggers" there that direct foot and bike traffic basically all day.
 
I sadly agree. What other credible explanation could there be? Someone didn't have to see her jump to be true especially in all the fog and smoke. I can't imagine there were many people around due to Covid. In Boston it was a ghost town. Staying in a hotel the night before seems in line with someone carrying out a secretive plan. I'd love to know more about the 2-hour conversation with her Dad the day before. With no interviews, no massive searches, and law enforcement not involved there is much more to the story than is being shared. It's heartbreaking whatever happened. MOO

I wanted so badly to believe that Sydney ran away, but I think this was just wishful thinking. She never once struck me as the scrappy type, thus I don't think she could have ran away for a month, yet alone over a year. I'd love to be proven wrong, but based on everything I've read I do believe she jumped. I live right across from the bridge and my heart aches for her often
All IMO
 
Heavy fog, wildfire smoke, the pandemic, and the time of day (early morning) means that this is NOT true for this particular day.
True, and people have actually jumped in clear conditions and were not seen - they were known to have jumped because of later camera footage and/or leaving a car or bike close by and/or leaving a note. E.g., Allison Bayliss. Missing teenager Allison Bayliss believed to have jumped to her death from Golden Gate Bridge | Daily Mail Online
 

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