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

[Tower]

Sydney stated on reddit that she had sent the AP scores from the College Board directly to schools she had applied to as well as had accidentally uploaded them and transmitted them including one of the Calc AP test scores that she had failed.
"**Coursework:**8 APs, 1 5 , 4 4s, and legit failed the rest lmao including calc twice idk how. accidentally uploaded one of them too. whoops." Source: reddit

During her postings on reddit, she also said she was attempting in February to re-take the ACT to get a higher score in order to send that score to some of the schools that take the February 2020 ACT test.

Yes, it would be her totally optional decision to send each one of them and sending the low scores is definitely a “whoops.”

 

[realanastasia]

Yes, it would be her totally optional decision to send each one of them and sending the low scores is definitely a “whoops.”

Funny enough, I am writing this post while I'm on a break from my summer job--scoring one of the Advanced Placement exams. I wanted to chime in to say that students have to have their AP scores sent directly to the schools to which they're applying--they can't do it themselves. And there is a charge to have these AP scores sent to each school--I believe it's $15 per score per school for "regular delivery" and $25 per score per school for "expedited delivery." So if she was sending 6 scores (five tests on which she scored 4 or 5, plus one that she got a 0,1,or 2 on) to each college to which she applied for admission, that's even more $$ the family devoted to trying to get her into a school that they felt was "right" (IMO, they meant "prestigious enough") for her.

 

[NSamuelle]

The Bay Area news outlets are reporting that an unidentified clothed female has been spotted in San Mateo County in the ocean near Pacifica and Pedro Point yesterday morning. They do not know who it is, but the news reports are saying that it appears that whoever it is has been in the ocean for quite some time. Here is the SFGate article Unidentifed body found floating off Pacifica coast They have not released any further details that I can find, but if you want to see more articles you can Google pacifica 21-1471 on a search engine. According to the articles, if they cannot identify who it is, they will be releasing more details.

Having seen this happen time and time again in the Bay Area, typically if they find a body floating in the Pacific Ocean, the initial article does not go into any details. Only if they cannot figure out who the person is, will there be a follow-up article describing articles of clothing like this one - Body found floating 10 miles off Santa Cruz coast

Sydney took 5 AP classes her junior year and 3 (I think) AP classes her senior year according to her reddit posts. She took Calculus her junior year and failed that AP exam according to reddit. She does not specify whether it was AB or BC, but her senior year she took the exam again. I am not sure if she re-took the course, but she said on reddit she failed that Calculus AP exam as well when she re-took the exam the following year. Again, she never specified whether it was AB then BC, or AB twice or BC twice. She said in total she took 8 AP classes, failed 3 of the AP exams and failed Calculus twice.

Based on her comments on Reddit, she stated that the AP classes in NC were easier than the AP classes at Foothill High in Pleasanton. She indicated on reddit that in order to take 5 AP classes at Foothill, a student would have had to have been a prodigy.

For Calculus AB or BC, many Pleasanton students received after school tutoring as well. Many teachers also tutor the students for pay after school as well, which is controversial in Pleasanton. There are dozens of tutoring centers, some that are staffed by Pleasanton Unified teachers. Many Pleasanton students spend hours a week in tutoring centers even as early as Algebra, Geometry, etc.

Other than AP Biology, Sydney in reddit did not disclose what other AP courses she took.

Her family is in SF walking the bridge for the first time since Sydney disappeared (source: official public Facebook page). That would be a big coincidence - first report of a female body followed by family’s first visit.

 

[ElizabethAnne]

Her family is in SF walking the bridge for the first time since Sydney disappeared (source: official public Facebook page). That would be a big coincidence - first report of a female body followed by family’s first visit.

The Pacifica police press release says that the unidentified female is fully clothed. In the last few months, at least 9 people have died in Nor Cal due to huge "sneaker waves" that are unexpectedly coming from out in the ocean due to unusual storm activity. They are like tidal waves, but instead of coming from earthquakes, it is because the waves generated by storms far off-shore are not buffered. These waves are so huge they take out people on the beach even if they are not near the water. The last person that I know of that was swept away by one of these sneaker waves was Arunay Pruthi, a 12 year old boy from Fremont, who was visiting Cowell Ranch State Beach in Half Moon Bay. His body has not been recovered in spite of a massive search effort, but I have not heard of a female body not recovered from one of these "sneaker wave" deaths.

The body in Pacifica was discovered Thursday morning with the press release stating that the body had been in the water for some time Body Washes Ashore At Pacifica Beach: Police

 

[ChatteringBirds]

@ElizabethAnne That is so scary and tragic. Maybe the Jane Doe at Pacifica Beach was just walking along the beach by herself when one of these waves came

 

[everybodhi]

@ElizabethAnne That is so scary and tragic. Maybe the Jane Doe at Pacifica Beach was just walking along the beach by herself when one of these waves came

These waves are 40-50 feet, it’s really scary to see, I would never walk on the beach when this is happening but I’m super cautious.
There’s an oceanfront restaurant in Pacifica that has had its windows broken out a few times by sneaker waves.
I moved because I was afraid of my apartment falling into the ocean which is also a thing that happens in Pacifica, many homes have been lost. The cliffs are eroding from being battered by the sea, when the waves hit the cliff it’s like a bomb plus an earthquake. Everytime. It’s beautiful there but sometimes you can’t sleep. The low lying neighborhoods are flooded by the ocean regularly Nov-Mar.
Several people die in the Northern California sea every year, even on a good day without giant waves, even the best swimmers need a wetsuit because if you get caught in there for too long for some reason, like an undertow or rip current, hypothermia will kill you, that water is very cold.
Drownings happen a lot at SF area beaches because tourists and city people often don’t realize what they are getting into, just a walk on the beach or a quick swim can turn deadly, sometimes they’re trying to save their dog. It’s nothing like an East Coast beach, the rip can quickly take you out to the ocean superhighway “California current” and down the coast.
There are some homeless people living along the coast too, there are actual grocery carts abandoned in Pacifica that they managed to get down the beach carrying their stuff. There’s good public transportation, buses go to the beaches even up in Sonoma Co, so it’s all accessible and I’ve seen people on buses with grocery carts filled with their possessions.
I always worry about them because people may not even know they are gone
ETA:

Most beaches in the Pacific Northwest and Northern California have signs warning beachgoers of sneaker waves. Credit: Daveynin, CC BY 2.0.

Since 2005, more than two dozen confirmed fatalities in California and Oregon have been caused by so-called sneaker waves
Taking the surprise out of sneaker waves

 

[flowingbrooks]

Her family is in SF walking the bridge for the first time since Sydney disappeared (source: official public Facebook page). That would be a big coincidence - first report of a female body followed by family’s first visit.

 

[flowingbrooks]

Does the mother and daughter walking closely together along the SF bridge suggest that they may be getting closer to the realization that their daughter and sister probably did jump?. Seeing Faith sitting on the rock looking out towards ocean in a reflecting way, missing her sister, is so heartbreakimg.

 

[everybodhi]

Snipped
I have not heard of a female body not recovered from one of these "sneaker wave" deaths.

The body in Pacifica was discovered Thursday morning with the press release stating that the body had been in the water for some time Body Washes Ashore At Pacifica Beach: Police

Yes. The one Asian woman we know of taken by a sneaker wave was recovered.
They didn’t identify her but I believe it was her. jmo


San Mateo County S.O
@SMCSheriff
Jan 11
Today at approximately 3:15PM a man & a woman were fishing at #PescaderoStateBeach when a large wave knocked them off the rock they were fishing from. The man made it to shore & was transported to a local hospital. A search for the woman is still taking place
https://mobile.twitter.com/SMCSheriff/status/1348437330009280513?ref_src=twsrc^tfw|twcamp^tweetembed|twterm^1348437330009280513|twgr^|twcon^s1_&ref_url=https://d-12205692182889159034.ampproject.net/2106030132000/frame.html

Posted Sat, Jan 23, 2021
A body, described as an Asian woman, was found around 9 a.m. at Tunitas Creek Beach, the San Mateo County Sheriff's office said.
The San Mateo County coroner is working to identify the woman, the sheriff's office tweeted.
Woman's Body Found On Beach Near Half Moon Bay

 

[everybodhi]

There is one other known female body still missing from the waves in January, 7 year old Anna Wyman and also her 4 year old brother John have not been recovered, but they’ve already been in the sea 5 months
Father drowns at California beach trying to save his kids

 

[ElizabethAnne]

There is one other known female body still missing from the waves in January, 7 year old Anna Wyman and also her 4 year old brother John have not been recovered, but they’ve already been in the sea 5 months
Father drowns at California beach trying to save his kids

I had thought that Anna's and her brother John's bodies had been recovered two weeks later after the wave hit. The SF Chronicle says that in their article here A boy was swept into the ocean. His story reveals the hidden danger of California’s sneaker waves that the bodies of the two children were recovered but maybe that statement is not accurate.

I know the 12 year old boy named Arunay Pruthi has never been found. The parents kept up the search for several weeks and I think looked as far south as the Big Sur area.

Typically it seems to me that when bodies sometimes wash up on shore in San Mateo and they are fully clothed, if they can't identify who it is, a few days later an article will appear in the SFGate or Mercury News like this one with a detailed description of the clothing
Mystery continues over dead girl

In this situation, a classmate of the girl described read the article and immediately thought of her missing classmate and notified a school administrator who then notified the authorities. The girl who they finally identified that washed up in San Mateo County had jumped from the Golden Gate Bridge, but video did not pick up the actual jump, but did detect that she was last seen on the bridge. She was a student athlete, honors student and standout tennis player and only 16 years old. Cathy Qiu was a student at Albany High School which is just north of Berkeley and reported missing Sept. 27. About a month later, she was found on San Gregorio beach. Girl's body on beach IDd as Cathy Qiu

If no one steps forward with any leads on who the woman could be who was found in Pacifica, I expect that there will be a more detailed article to follow describing the clothing in more detail.

 

[NSamuelle]

The Bay Area news outlets are reporting that an unidentified clothed female has been spotted in San Mateo County in the ocean near Pacifica and Pedro Point yesterday morning. They do not know who it is, but the news reports are saying that it appears that whoever it is has been in the ocean for quite some time. Here is the SFGate article Unidentifed body found floating off Pacifica coast They have not released any further details that I can find, but if you want to see more articles you can Google pacifica 21-1471 on a search engine. According to the articles, if they cannot identify who it is, they will be releasing more details.

Having seen this happen time and time again in the Bay Area, typically if they find a body floating in the Pacific Ocean, the initial article does not go into any details. Only if they cannot figure out who the person is, will there be a follow-up article describing articles of clothing like this one - Body found floating 10 miles off Santa Cruz coast

Sydney took 5 AP classes her junior year and 3 (I think) AP classes her senior year according to her reddit posts. She took Calculus her junior year and failed that AP exam according to reddit. She does not specify whether it was AB or BC, but her senior year she took the exam again. I am not sure if she re-took the course, but she said on reddit she failed that Calculus AP exam as well when she re-took the exam the following year. Again, she never specified whether it was AB then BC, or AB twice or BC twice. She said in total she took 8 AP classes, failed 3 of the AP exams and failed Calculus twice.

Based on her comments on Reddit, she stated that the AP classes in NC were easier than the AP classes at Foothill High in Pleasanton. She indicated on reddit that in order to take 5 AP classes at Foothill, a student would have had to have been a prodigy.

For Calculus AB or BC, many Pleasanton students received after school tutoring as well. Many teachers also tutor the students for pay after school as well, which is controversial in Pleasanton. There are dozens of tutoring centers, some that are staffed by Pleasanton Unified teachers. Many Pleasanton students spend hours a week in tutoring centers even as early as Algebra, Geometry, etc.

Other than AP Biology, Sydney in reddit did not disclose what other AP courses she took.

Her family is in SF walking the bridge for the first time since Sydney disappeared (source: official public Facebook page). That would be a big coincidence - first report of a female body followed by family’s first visit.

I had thought that Anna and her brother John's bodies had been recovered two weeks later after the wave hit. The SF Chronicle says that in their article here A boy was swept into the ocean. His story reveals the hidden danger of California’s sneaker waves that the bodies of the two children were recovered but maybe that statement is not accurate.

I know the 12 year old boy named Arunay Pruthi has never been found. The parents kept up the search for several weeks and I think looked as far south as the Big Sur area.

Typically it seems to me that when bodies sometimes wash up on shore in San Mateo and they are fully clothed, if they can't identify who it is, a few days later an article will appear in the SFGate or Mercury News like this one with a detailed description of the clothing
Mystery continues over dead girl

In this situation, a classmate of the girl described read the article and immediately thought of her missing classmate and notified a school administrator who then notified the authorities. The girl who they finally identified that washed up in San Mateo County had jumped from the Golden Gate Bridge, but video did not pick up the actual jump, but did detect that she was last seen on the bridge. She was a student athlete, honors student and standout tennis player and only 16 years old. Cathy Qiu was a student at Albany High School which is just north of Berkeley.

If no one steps forward with any leads on who the woman could be who was found in Pacifica, I expect that there will be a more detailed article to follow describing the clothing in more detail.

They said the body doesn’t match the description of any missing persons, but there was also a lot of confusion about what Sydney was wearing. I wonder if the family received a notification that it was potentially Sydney, prompting their visit.

 

[ElizabethAnne]

Her family is in SF walking the bridge for the first time since Sydney disappeared (source: official public Facebook page). That would be a big coincidence - first report of a female body followed by family’s first visit.

They said the body doesn’t match the description of any missing persons, but there was also a lot of confusion about what Sydney was wearing. I wonder if the family received a notification that it was potentially Sydney, prompting their visit.

I wonder the same thing.

There are data inconsistencies concerning the description of Sydney. The OAG missing person database for Sydney Sydney Kaitlyn West has always listed her hair color as blonde and the parents have never bothered to correct it. Not sure of the reason, but if my child was missing and I thought that there was a chance he/she was alive, I'd make absolutely sure the State database has the correct hair color listed. Why the parents and the PI have never corrected the hair color listed seems extremely odd to me.

I also found it somewhat strange that it was a member of the public that was posting on Facebook who was the one who initiated and found the close-up photo of the slip on shoes from the Vans brand that looked to be what she may have been wearing. It must have taken that person literally hours in data mining the internet to find the image of the turquoise palm tree print that they eventually found on the internet.

 

[everybodhi]

I had thought that Anna and her brother John's bodies had been recovered two weeks later after the wave hit. The SF Chronicle says that in their article here A boy was swept into the ocean. His story reveals the hidden danger of California’s sneaker waves that the bodies of the two children were recovered but maybe that statement is not accurate.

I know the 12 year old boy named Arunay Pruthi has never been found. The parents kept up the search for several weeks and I think looked as far south as the Big Sur area.

Typically it seems to me that when bodies sometimes wash up on shore in San Mateo and they are fully clothed, if they can't identify who it is, a few days later an article will appear in the SFGate or Mercury News like this one with a detailed description of the clothing
Mystery continues over dead girl

In this situation, a classmate of the girl described read the article and immediately thought of her missing classmate and notified a school administrator who then notified the authorities. The girl who they finally identified that washed up in San Mateo had jumped from the Golden Gate Bridge, but video did not pick up the actual jump, but did detect that she was last seen on the bridge. She was a student athlete, honors student and tennis player and only 16 years old. Cathy Qiu was a student at Albany High School which is just north of Berkeley.

If no one steps forward with any leads on who the woman could be who was found in Pacifica, I expect that there will be a more detailed article to follow describing the clothing in more detail.

I’m behind a paywall at SF Chronicle and had not seen in local news that the bodies of the children were recovered, that’s some small favor that they were properly laid to rest, their poor mother lost her husband and two children in an instant.

Qiu was missing less than a month but had been in the water 5 days or less, the period when decomposition gasses would cause her body to float. I think she probably jumped off the GG but can’t be sure, usually a coroner will say the recovered body of a jumper has high impact damage so it was kind of weird that he didn’t say. jmo
The sheriff’s investigation of her computer found she had been searching ways to commit suicide before she ran away.
Of course bodies wash up fully clothed, clothing doesn’t just disappear. It depends on conditions, for instance, layers of winter clothes or a string bikini will obviously show different results, and how long they are in the water, just to name a couple.

There is this phenomenon of sneakers with feet in them washing up on beaches.
How science solved the mystery of feet washing ashore in the Pacific Northwest

“Cathy was in the water for up to five days before she was spotted Oct. 21 in the surf off San Gregorio State Beach, which is about 11 miles south of Half Moon Bay.”

“However, because 16-year-old Cathy Qiu’s corpse was partially decomposed, investigators could not determine how she took her life, San Mateo County Coroner Robert Foucrault said.”

“Sheriff’s investigators concluded that she killed herself, Foucrault said. No information was immediately available on the basis for their conclusion.”

Albany High runaway killed herself, Peninsula coroner says

“Her organs were too decomposed to determine whether she drowned, died from the impact of a fall or died any other way, said San Mateo County Coroner Robert Foucrault.”
Qiu Death Investigation Ends Inconclusively

 

[ElizabethAnne]

I’m behind a paywall at SF Chronicle and had not seen in local news that the bodies of the children were recovered, that’s some small favor that they were properly laid to rest, their poor mother lost her husband and two children in an instant.

Qiu was missing less than a month but had been in the water 5 days or less, I think she probably jumped off the GG but can’t be sure, usually a coroner will say the recovered body of a jumper has high impact damage so it was kind of weird that he didn’t say. jmo
Of course bodies wash up fully clothed, clothing doesn’t just disappear. It depends on conditions, for instance, layers of winter clothes or a string bikini will obviously show different results, and how long they are in the water, just to name a couple.

There is this phenomenon of sneakers with feet in them washing up on beaches.
How science solved the mystery of feet washing ashore in the Pacific Northwest

“Cathy was in the water for up to five days before she was spotted Oct. 21 in the surf off San Gregorio State Beach, which is about 11 miles south of Half Moon Bay.”

“However, because 16-year-old Cathy Qiu’s corpse was partially decomposed, investigators could not determine how she took her life, San Mateo County Coroner Robert Foucrault said.”

“Sheriff’s investigators concluded that she killed herself, Foucrault said. No information was immediately available on the basis for their conclusion.”

Albany High runaway killed herself, Peninsula coroner says

“Her organs were too decomposed to determine whether she drowned, died from the impact of a fall or died any other way, said San Mateo County Coroner Robert Foucrault.”
Qiu Death Investigation Ends Inconclusively

The Half Moon Bay Review was the newspaper that reported the Golden Gate Bridge jump. They said:
"Two lifeless bodies that washed up on Coastside beaches around last month were caused by suicides off the Golden Gate Bridge, according to San Mateo County investigators....Sheriff’s Office obtained video footage from the bridge reportedly showing Qiu and Saczyk had both been at the bridge at separate times before they turned up dead....Qiu could not be seen leaping from the bridge, but other evidence found on her computer indicated she may have been contemplating suicide, according to the Coroner’s Office." Source: HMB Review Article: Two dead bodies found at beaches deemed suicides

The SF Chronicle used to regularly report on suicides off the Golden Gate Bridge and reporting counts of the total number of suicides and were criticized for it so they rarely mention it these days. The Marin County coroner asked the media to stop reporting counts. Suicides at the Golden Gate Bridge - Wikipedia

I am sure the larger newspapers had access to the same reports from investigators that the Half Moon Bay Review did and knew there was footage on the GGB, but their editors probably chose to not tell the whole story.

 

[everybodhi]

The Half Moon Bay Review was the newspaper that reported the Golden Gate Bridge jump. They said:
"....Sheriff’s Office obtained video footage from the bridge reportedly showing Qiu and Saczyk had both been at the bridge at separate times before they turned up dead....Qiu could not be seen leaping from the bridge, but other evidence found on her computer indicated she may have been contemplating suicide, according to the Coroner’s Office."

Two dead bodies found at beaches deemed suicides

The SF Chronicle used to regularly report on suicides off the Golden Gate Bridge and were criticized for it so they rarely mention it these days. I am sure they had access to the same reports from investigators that the Half Moon Bay Review did, but their editors probably chose to not tell the whole story.

Because she wasn’t on film jumping, unlike Saczyk, I think that’s why it’s inconclusive.
Jumping causes bones to break, maybe she didn’t show that kind of impact, or maybe any broken bones could be attributed to hitting rocks as the body moved along the sea floor, before decomp gasses made it float. Maybe 5 days or less being in the water seemed an unreasonable time to get from SF Bay to San Gregorio? I don’t know why.
There was a guy that used to hang around below the bridge with a camera to catch the jumpers, criticism stopped him too.
Some people jump for fame, I think that’s the issue.
There are sites online who keep up with jumps for those so inclined to follow, some photos and videos are included.

ETA: websleuths thread
Golden Gate Bridge Suicides

 

[ElizabethAnne]

Maybe 5 days or less being in the water seemed an unreasonable time to get from SF Bay to San Gregorio? I don’t know why.

I think the investigators can often underestimate the the amount of time a body has been in the water. After all, it is only a guess. I would think that it would be possible in the Cathy Qiu case it was much longer than that. A body floating out to the open sea and then coming eventually to San Gregorio Beach which is over 40 miles south could take a while depending on the season as well as the currents.

The latest article concerning the body found off the Pacifica coastline Death investigation underway for body found says the body has been in the water "for some time" without specifics concerning days or weeks. I think the authorities by using the open ended "for some time" perhaps realize that it is difficult to come up with an exact and specific time frame that is accurate.

 

[everybodhi]

I think the investigators can often underestimate the the amount of time a body has been in the water. After all, it is only a guess. I would think that it would be possible in the Cathy Qiu case it was much longer than that. A body floating out to the open sea and then coming eventually to San Gregorio Beach which is over 40 miles south could take a while depending on the season as well as the currents.

Forensic pathology is much more than only a guess.

 

[NSamuelle]

I wonder the same thing.

There are data inconsistencies concerning the description of Sydney. The OAG missing person database for Sydney Sydney Kaitlyn West has always listed her hair color as blonde and the parents have never bothered to correct it. Not sure of the reason, but if my child was missing and I thought that there was a chance he/she was alive, I'd make absolutely sure the State database has the correct hair color listed. Why the parents and the PI have never corrected the hair color listed seems extremely odd to me.

I also found it somewhat strange that it was a member of the public that was posting on Facebook who was the one who initiated and found the close-up photo of the slip on shoes from the Vans brand that looked to be what she may have been wearing. It must have taken that person literally hours in data mining the internet to find the image of the turquoise palm tree print that they eventually found on the internet.

Her mother also did not know the type of headphones she was wearing. A Facebook user pointed out a discrepancy between the missing description (Bose) and the appearance from photos (Beats) but it was never corrected. As you said, I would want to make sure every detail was correct!

 

[cvaldez1975]

These waves are 40-50 feet, it’s really scary to see, I would never walk on the beach when this is happening but I’m super cautious.
There’s an oceanfront restaurant in Pacifica that has had its windows broken out a few times by sneaker waves.
I moved because I was afraid of my apartment falling into the ocean which is also a thing that happens in Pacifica, many homes have been lost. The cliffs are eroding from being battered by the sea, when the waves hit the cliff it’s like a bomb plus an earthquake. Everytime. It’s beautiful there but sometimes you can’t sleep. The low lying neighborhoods are flooded by the ocean regularly Nov-Mar.
Several people die in the Northern California sea every year, even on a good day without giant waves, even the best swimmers need a wetsuit because if you get caught in there for too long for some reason, like an undertow or rip current, hypothermia will kill you, that water is very cold.
Drownings happen a lot at SF area beaches because tourists and city people often don’t realize what they are getting into, just a walk on the beach or a quick swim can turn deadly, sometimes they’re trying to save their dog. It’s nothing like an East Coast beach, the rip can quickly take you out to the ocean superhighway “California current” and down the coast.
There are some homeless people living along the coast too, there are actual grocery carts abandoned in Pacifica that they managed to get down the beach carrying their stuff. There’s good public transportation, buses go to the beaches even up in Sonoma Co, so it’s all accessible and I’ve seen people on buses with grocery carts filled with their possessions.
I always worry about them because people may not even know they are gone
ETA:

Most beaches in the Pacific Northwest and Northern California have signs warning beachgoers of sneaker waves. Credit: Daveynin, CC BY 2.0.

Since 2005, more than two dozen confirmed fatalities in California and Oregon have been caused by so-called sneaker waves
Taking the surprise out of sneaker waves

quick off topic question, was it the bowling alley restaurant?