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

When you walk across the bridge, there is a parking lot for GGB on the Marin side and then it's about 3/4 mile downhill on the side of a road/highway (with no sidewalk) to Sausalito which is upscale residential and a touristy seaside village. It's a common ride for bikers but less friendly for walkers. You can, however, loop left through a tunnel to Cronkite Beach where there is also a youth hostel. Would be nice to think Syd went there and hooked up with some other travelers. Wonder if they have checked there.

 

Not sure if this is relevant again, but I noticed this week on her instagram an additional 3 accounts were removed or unfollowed since last week (a week or two ago 4 accounts were removed from her follows). Though I'm not sure if all of those users would have deleted their accounts.

 

They could've deleted their accounts, get their accounts suspended, etc. How many people does she follow?

 

Right now she's following 1,155 accounts, I think before it was at 1,162.

 

That's a lot, so it's pretty normal to see that change. If she was following like, 20 people that would be weird to me.

 

Yeah, I thought I'd point it out just in case.

 

I get it, thank you.

 

Another possibility is that random armchair detectives (present company excluded, I hope) have been contacting/sleuthing some of her follows and they'd just rather not deal with it. Imo

 

Very much possible too.

 

Good point! And I wouldn't blame them for removing themselves, it would probably feel extremely invasive having random strangers contacting them.

 

Easy to catch a ride in that parking lot as it serves as a bus stop (both directions) and a tourist lookout point. The hostel is a bit of a walk, but nothing for a young athlete - that definitely would be a place to check and leave a flyer (there’s also a hostel near Chrissy Field and travelers often go from one to the other when through-hiking).

However, this certainly begs the question of why the cameras at the north end of the bridge missed her. Yes, fog can be an issue, but those cameras at each end are pretty much directed right where the pedestrians walk. When jumpers are “missed” by the cameras it’s usually because they are a distance from them or in a blind spot which is NOT the case for each end.

 

Attached is a photo showing the camera (circled in yellow) as it faces the sidewalk she would have used at the north end of the bridge. Unless visibility was near-zero, it should have seen her.

 

I get the impression the family believes Syd disappeared of her own volition. I wish we knew what information they had that led them in this direction. Something she said? A note? Not believing that she may have harmed herself? If she had left a note or other evidence that directly stated “hey, I’m outta here. Don’t look for me,” would LE still entertain tips, leads, etc.? Seems doubtful to me, but I don’t know.

 

Was it ever explicitly stated that the cameras didn’t capture her exiting the bridge? Or have we speculated that because the announcement didn’t mention it specifically?

 

Her family said that she was last seen on the bridge itself, and “missing” notices indicate that she had changed clothes and ditched her backpack by the time she was on the bridge. They never said that she left the bridge going in X direction, etc. Surely there are storefronts or other surveillance that would have picked up an exit if she had left the bridge and was heading in a certain direction. I think, if there were evidence, they would have said “last seen leaving the bridge at [time] heading [direction].”

 

LE would look for anyone “at risk,” because self-harm supersedes adult status and the legal authority to voluntarily disappear. Her family said that she was at risk due to depression.

 

I keep revisiting the same meager details. I think someone must have reported seeing her on GGB vs camera surveillance. This detail became public nearly a month after her disappearance. Wouldn’t LE have viewed bridge surveillance video by that point, given that all we knew in the initial weeks was “near Crissy Field?”

If it was indeed a tip vs camera footage, then it would have had to be a pretty credible tip for the family to make it public. And I can’t imagine there were tons of people matching Syd’s description on the bridge at that time. But still, human recall is notoriously imperfect...

 

The places closest to the southern end of GGB are Crissy Field and the Presidio. From there, a person could walk anywhere in SF.

On the northern side of the bridge, it’s about a 7 mile walk to the nearest town - along a hill on the side of the bay and down into Sausalito.

AFAIK, there hasn’t been a general call out to merchants probably because the GGB info was slow in coming and most merchants would not keep their footage (if they have it - not sure how popular sidewalk facing cameras are in SF).

 

Find Sydney West: Search for missing teen continues | KRON4

 

Find Sydney West: Search for missing teen continues | KRON4