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

[elisimo]

I don't see her on the FBI Missing/Kidnapped webpage Kidnappings & Missing Persons — FBI

Where is the FBI saying they are involved? I googled the FBI San Francisco website and don't see anything. Maybe I am missing it.

This article indicates that her info was entered into the FBI’s database, but I’m not sure if that’s the same as the FBI being involved in her case...
Family, friends worry as San Francisco, NC police search for missing Berkeley student

 

[SouthAussie]

This article indicates that her info was entered into the FBI’s database, but I’m not sure if that’s the same as the FBI being involved in her case...
Family, friends worry as San Francisco, NC police search for missing Berkeley student

There are several databases within the FBI for missing persons.

One seems to try to line up unidentified remains with missing persons.
One seems to try to line up known fingerprints with fingerprints found.
One is simply a tool to assist all criminal justice agencies.
The last one is a federal database (doesn't state specifically FBI - but certainly could be, with the FBI being a federal bureau) and is used to collate information with regard to kidnappings, homicides, sexual assaults, and missing persons.



https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/jr000256a.pdf

 

[Kaligirl]

The Presidio is a federal jurisdiction and not under the state or city.

 

[ElizabethAnne]

The Presidio is a federal jurisdiction and not under the state or city.

Hi, I think that the law enforcement agency there is the U.S. Park Police under the National Park Service (under the Dept. of Interior). San Francisco Field Office - United States Park Police (U.S. National Park Service) is the web page for the field office that includes the Golden Gate Recreation Area as well as the Presidio.

 

[Suglo]

Bumping for Sydney.

 

[overworkedcollegestudent]

Oh, really? Because it's going to be a month since this girl has been missing and I keep seeing people saying the same thing and demanding private, personal information that, to be honest, we don't need because we already know that she was depressed, sad, lonely, a bit lost, from her own words. Like, what is the need for more personal details? We get it, suicide is a big possibility here, so is her taking off and needing to be on her own because she didn't like Cal. So, seriously, why do we need more details about her mental health, her relationship with her parents, or whatever else? We have enough details, TO ME, this sounds like a need for gossip to pass the time and it's not cool. Are we really trying to find Sydney, or are we trying to know more than we need to just because we feel like we have any right over her personal and private life? This girl has a family and they have all the right in the world to say "that's enough, you don't get to ask that". These people are suffering, their child is missing.
I wish I saw more posts like "if suicide is a big option, these are the most likely spots besides the bridge" or, if she took off and is trying to stay off-the-grid, these are known spots for that, and so on. But what I see the most is people demanding, not asking, straight up demanding, to know even more details that, to be quite honest, are not even necessary. We have the whole picture from her own Reddit posts and other social media interactions, her last known location even gives off the suspicion that she might have commited suicide, soooooo do we need even more information about her mental health? Sorry if my posts come off as rude, but I can't help but not only feel terrible for her parents, but for Sydney too. What if she doesn't want this information out? Even if she's not alive anymore, some things are just... personal. Her family might of not known certain details that were uncovered here and other places, and they're probably getting a whole different prespective of who their daughter is and it's hard.


Because people seem to have the need to have a full report on her mental health, on either if she was still a student at Cal or not and a bunch of other stuff that we already have clues on. It's a bit cruel to be demanding certain details from her parents. If she really dropped out or took a break from school and her parents didn't know and just found out, I can't imagine how they're feeling. Because their kid was clearly strugling and maybe they didn't know, what do we want them to do? I feel terrible for them. I haven't seen this behavior before in other similar cases. The fact that we have access to personal stuff from her Reddit makes it even worse because now, people want to know even more and feel like the parents are keeping things quiet because they're not saying "yeah, she was depressed" "yeah, she was upset about school", we don't need them to say that, we already know that.

I completely agree, that’s why I was unsure if I was missing something I understand the parents response completely.

 

[10ofRods]

@Lusitana

I think you're generalizing a bit from where the thread has gone recently. I agree that most of the questions people are asking about Syd are unanswerable (and none of our business), but it happens in nearly every missing persons case and I'm glad people are thinking about Syd.

I have suggested that Crissy Field itself can be a spot where a person can get into the water, and therefore, get themselves into trouble. I have also suggested that the Presidio is an unlikely place for her to be found, for many reasons - it is federal property, has few places to hide, buildings are not broken into by homeless the way they are in South SF.

I studied homeless people in SF and LA for a while in the 80's, and then did a bit of work again in the early 2000's. SF is not an easy place to be homeless, but there are tons of resources for a woman who is homeless who wants to get off the streets (if not using drugs). Thing is, there are also tent cities. Photo below is from May:

City report shows 285-percent rise in homeless tents in SF Tenderloin

My friends in SF say it's even worse now. These tent cities are in multiple places. The one I know is underneath the approach to the Bay Bridge. So there are communities of homeless people, and some of the tent cities are safer (the one under the Bay Bridge now has a police station next to it and every time I've been there in the past 3 years, after midnight the place has patrol cars in place, watching - it's probably the safest of the tent cities).

However, aside from her height, Syd would just be another young homeless woman. By now, she wouldn't look quite the same, if she's living rough. I'd prefer to think she may be couch surfing or similar.

I can't think of any place in SF where it would be easy to conceal oneself to, say, take a drug overdose - the Bay, otoh, does not yield up all its victims.

She was seen in her usual clothes, it seems, very early in the morning - at Crissy Field. No tent city there. Not sure where nearest homeless encampment is, but it would be more than a 15 minute walk because the Marina/Wharf area is kept clear of such encampments, as it is an expensive area and highly touristed (as is the adjoining Presidio).

So I don't think she's near there any more. And I am now confused on the details of how we know what she was wearing. I thought we knew that her phone pinged there at around 5:30 am and then, no more phone record of where she might be.

She either threw her phone into the Bay or turned it off after that. Or something like that. The possibility of meeting up with a bad actor is also on my mind. But if her phone last pinged at Crissy, and she left with her phone turned off, she hasn't turned it back on - which is very concerning.

 

[10ofRods]

I'm going to add that the sheer number of people who have visited and roamed around the Presidio during the past month must be very large. I can't imagine that every inch hasn't been covered, picnicked upon, hiked over, run past...already. There are some buildings that may have remained closed up, but I bet they've also been entered by various people over the past month, to check that everything is still okay.

I am puzzled about no ground searches. Since Matthew Wilson was able to subsist on leftover campus food at UC Berkeley and live undetected there for 8 months, if I were the parents, I would organize a UC Berkeley search (see article Missing Texas student wanted to 'disappear' ) as well as a search at the college campuses Sydney wanted to attend. Back when Matthew Wilson, an Oklahoma student that was missing from Texas's Rice University, the Oakland Tribune (sorry I don't have a link because the Oakland Tribune does not exist anymore), I recall them speculating that Wilson disappeared and ended up turning up at UC Berkeley because that was the college he regretted not attending in the first place.

Hopefully the posters and news about Syd are out there. Berkeley is huge and it too has large communities of homeless/quasi-homeless. Stanford is even bigger in terms of acres, but there are few homeless on campus or in Palo Alto. There are, however, a ton of communal residences on campus where friends of residents live for free (and sometimes, complete strangers live there too, as everyone assumes the person is someone's friend - plenty of food around).

Syd could have hitchhiked out of the area, as well. If she had friends in SF or Stanford or Berkeley, hopefully they've all contacted LE. Of course it's possible that with her glasses on, people aren't recognizing her, especially if she's on the margins of student housing for whatever reason.

 

[elisimo]

And I am now confused on the details of how we know what she was wearing. I thought we knew that her phone pinged there at around 5:30 am and then, no more phone record of where she might be.

I’m also confused about those details, especially since they changed from the initial news that she was missing. Possibly someone (initially, I thought it was a family member, but now I’m not sure if that’s correct) reported, “I saw her wearing this at X time,” and then maybe there was video footage of her at Crissy Field wearing something else at a later time. I think, in the case of an abduction, these details (who saw her last, where, when, etc) would be exceedingly important because they could lead to more tips, etc. Of course, if LE already has a viable suspect, those details would carry less weight. But still.

 

[katydid23]

I am wondering why she went to that area so early in the morning. She wasn't doing any serious running or exercising in her comfy old Vann shoes. JMO

Besides, why go work out at 5:30 am if you don't work or go to school at the moment. You have all day to do so.

It also seems a very odd time to meet up with someone. I can imagine her meeting someone for coffee or breakfast, but why so early? And it wouldn't be at Crissy Field.

It's the early hour and the remote place that worries me about her intentions.

Maybe she was just going to watch the sunrise and met a bad actor? That is still on the table for me.

 

[elisimo]

It's the early hour and the remote place that worries me about her intentions.

Same. And I hate, hate, hate the idea. But if they are quite certain Syd harmed herself but her body hasn’t been recovered, that could explain why there isn’t more manpower behind a search AND why we haven’t seen the mega-publicity one might expect in a case like this (i.e., young, beautiful, loving, privileged woman goes missing - that’s typically a recipe for a media frenzy).

 

[BuySellTrade]

Surely LE has identified where Syd was living (or sleeping anyway) after she left Cal. There would be someone or several individuals that can attest to Syd's mindset immediately prior to Syd gone missing. Also the belongings that Syd took to the dorm at Cal must be somewhere as well even if abandoned by Syd.

Could be that there was friction between Syd and her parents and she went out of their range and is now in hiding because of the publicity. Probably this is the best situation.

If Syd met with foul play, her body could be stashed just about anywhere (simple case a dumpster). Maybe Syd did not even disappear from San Francisco?

Looks likely that Syd is somewhere in water unfortunately. Lot of pressure, some self-induced, on the young woman. Times are tough.

 

[IHAVENOCLUE]

Welcome to Ws BirdieB and Birdie1212, glad you both chose to perch here!!

 

[SFDukie]

Does any local person know .... are all/most cases that end up in the water found at some point in time?

With the ocean on one side and the bay on the other side, just wondering which way the prevalent tide flows during the early morning. If that bears any relevance.

I live in San Francisco and know Chrissy Field, approach to bridge, and Ft Point pretty well.
people jump from the bridge unseen, and that their bodies are never found, regularly.

yes there are bridge cameras, but there are also literally thousands of pedestrians on the bridge daily (in normal times, don’t know numbers now)

 

[SFDukie]

I am dumbfounded that this young woman hasn't been found. Her social media seems fairly normal for her age and she was actively seeking out ways to cope, exercise, mindfulness, yoga, etc. I can't believe she simply walked away -- she seems way too sensitive not to at least reach out and let her family know she is ok. If she self-harmed, wouldn't she have been found or wouldn't there be video evidence? There are cameras that tape 24/7 on both entrance sides of the bridge?

Plenty of people jump, and are never found. See the New Yorker piece on bridge suicide upthread, or the article about the man’s body found off Monterey bay. not saying that’s what happened here- just that many jump, unseen and unnoticed

 

[NSamuelle]

Plenty of people jump, and are never found. See the New Yorker piece on bridge suicide upthread, or the article about the man’s body found off Monterey bay. not saying that’s what happened here- just that many jump, unseen and unnoticed

Yes, a teenager jumped from GGB (others will recall her name) but her body was never found. Her mother accepted that she was dead and gives speeches now about suicide awareness, but she’s still listed as a “missing person.” They may have had a video of her jumping, but sometimes the best LE has is a video of someone entering the bridge and not exiting. If it was dark and foggy, the chances of being identified would be reduced, and I wouldn’t judge or blame any families for holding out hope for as long as possible. Unfortunately, if she jumped, it’s very unlikely at this point that she will be found.

Living With a Terrible Grief

 

[amethystcrystal]

I was hospitalized once. I was "missing" briefly since I didn't contact anyone in beginning and was embarrassed and didn't want my family or anyone to know I was in a mental health facility (home environment was toxic and not understanding of mental health). Though I ended up having to contact my family since I didn't want them to worry and the facility would've had me stay longer or refused to release me if I didn't (though I'm not sure if different facilities have different rules). But if I had been living with roommates instead of family when it happened I definitely wouldn't have told anyone except maybe a friend about the hospitalization. At first I wondered if she was stopped and hospitalized by the patrols (if she did go there) though the officers would've been witnesses. Or if she did check herself into a facility on her own, I think I've also heard of 30 day inpatient mental health programs (I'm unsure of how those work, but do have friends who've stayed that long). Though if she was last seen wearing a black backpack (that early in the morning) I'm not sure if she would've been heading to the bridge since she wouldn't have needed to pack anything (unless she was hiking to Sausalito or Marin).

 

[Curious_in_NC]

I still have optimism about Syd. Her history and prior internet writings suggest she has the intelligence and resilience to go off the grid, plus she possibly has contacts from Berkeley or Pleasanton that could help her with that (just a guess, we don't know who the friends were that she was staying with in SF). Also it was noted earlier on WS by one of her high school friends that she has an understanding of tracking by cell phones and using SIM cards, at least enough so that if she wanted to leave a last intentional "ping" at Crissy Field for whatever her reasons, she could have done so. This is just my hunch. She's an adult now and these are strange times for everyone to navigate.

 

[distracted]

My guess is that she was caught by one of the bridge cameras, probably entering the bridge deck but none after that, which is why they have a description of what she was wearing.

The air was thick and smoky due to the high temperatures and the fires burning nearby, which may have made visibility difficult. I'm not saying she didn't walk off the bridge but that it's not uncommon for the bridge's cameras to miss people coming and going. Fog, smog and smoke are all possible factors.

The link is a report of the conditions on Sept. 30.
Bay Area weather: Triple digit temperatures expected in some areas

ETA: I have scoured this thread for a link or statement about a phone ping. I haven't been able to find one. There have been questions posed by WS members about whether her phone pinged but I do not believe that question has been answered.

That said, if someone has a link to that information, I'd love to be wrong.

 

[Curious_in_NC]

My guess is that she was caught by one of the bridge cameras, probably entering the bridge deck but none after that, which is why they have a description of what she was wearing.

The air was thick and smoky due to the high temperatures and the fires burning nearby, which may have made visibility difficult. I'm not saying she didn't walk off the bridge but that it's not uncommon for the bridge's cameras to miss people coming and going. Fog, smog and smoke are all possible factors.

The link is a report of the conditions on Sept. 30.
Bay Area weather: Triple digit temperatures expected in some areas

ETA: I have scoured this thread for a link or statement about a phone ping. I haven't been able to find one. There have been questions posed by WS members about whether her phone pinged but I do not believe that question has been answered.

That said, if someone has a link to that information, I'd love to be wrong.

You're right. It is just conjecture at this point if indeed there was ever a phone ping and/or a camera image of her. We don't know. All we know is there was a strong reason to believe she was at Crissy Field that morning and there was some reason for suggesting how she was dressed.