GUILTY Turkey - Sarai Sierra, 33, NY woman murdered, Istanbul, 21 Jan 2013 - #1

[fringles]

Do people take their passports with them everywhere when travel abroad? So you wouldn't leave it in your room?

I don't. I always figure I'm more likely to be mugged than the room burgled - plus there's always the chance of accidental loss or damage if I'm wandering around with it. The only exception to this is when I'm in the states - y'all want to see ID all the time and it's the only one I have!

 

[Chewy]

Possible, I guess, but tbh, if she was into smoking pot she could do that in any major european city. The Netherlands did recently enact a law against 'pot tourism' - they're a little tired of the reputation, I think, so they've made a law that only residents can legally smoke. However, it's apparently not really being enforced, so probably everything's pretty much stayed the same.

As to why go there - without sounding like the Dutch Tourism Board, Amsterdam is an amazing city! It's beautiful, for starters - with some gorgeous museums - including Anne Franks house, a Van Gogh museum... the Dutch are incredibly friendly, it's a great town for tourists because it's small and everyone speaks english. It's a very safe place, too - out of the countries you mentioned I would feel safest in Amsterdam out of major cities in any of those. I personally think it's a shame it has the rep of girls and weed, because that's such a tiny part of it. But it's definitely a place a lot of tourists go, and would recommend - I'd say it's probably in the top 10, if not top 5, stops on the european tourism trail - and for someone who wants to speak English, it's there or London really.

I totally forgot about the Anne Frank house, that would be enough to get me there.


As far as passports go, when I've traveled abroad I've stored away the passport somewhere safe as soon as I got settled in. I'd always worry I'd lose it somewhere and not be able to get back home.

 

[Davia18]

This is a scary story and I feel for the family that has a missing loved one so far away. I can't imagine how helpless they must feel.
My thoughts are with her and her family and friends.

 

[ami]

Do people take their passports with them everywhere when travel abroad? So you wouldn't leave it in your room?

Nope. I make a color copy of my passport main/pic page and any relevant visas contained in it and carry those around instead, while leaving my passport in my room. This is standard advice to travelers, so the leaving of her passport in her room seems completely normal for a day spent wandering the city.

 

[ami]

This may seem entirely stereotypical but I wonder if she went to Amsterdam partly to enjoy smoking pot in a cafe type of thing? Even though travel is fairly cheap within Europe, what's the appeal of Amsterdam if you can do a jaunt to Italy, France, England or Spain? Seems strange to me why she'd go there.

Makes me wonder if the people she went with could have been druggies?

Oh, Amsterdam is way more than that. It's a great place to visit, safe, fun, very pretty architecture and canals if you're into photography, as she was, and a great hub to meet up in for European friends.

 

[jd3223]

http://www.foxnews.com/world/2013/0...-search-for-missing-ny-woman/?test=latestnews

Turkish police turn to camera footage in search for missing NY woman

 

[ami]

http://www.foxnews.com/world/2013/0...-search-for-missing-ny-woman/?test=latestnews

Turkish police turn to camera footage in search for missing NY woman

Hmmm, from the article quoted above:

...Turkey's private Dogan news agency meanwhile, reported that police had established that Sierra had traveled to Amsterdam, Netherlands, from Istanbul on Jan. 15 and then journeyed on to Munich, Germany, on Jan. 16, before returning to Istanbul on Jan. 19. Police were trying to determine the reason for her visit to the European cities, the report said....

That's a bit odd that they are "trying to determine the reason" - if she was in contact with her family every day, surely they know why she traveled there. She was completely open about her Europe visit in her Instagram account, which her family was actively replying to - so they knew full well where she was and (I'm assuming) why she went. It wasn't a secret. They make it sound like the police had to uncover this visit through detective work, when clearly it was just a regular part of her trip.

 

[TxJan1971]

Not sure if this has been posted:

Family heading to Turkey to seek missing NY woman
Her brother David Jimenez told The Associated Press that he and Sierra's husband, Steven, were planning to leave for Turkey on Sunday night. He said he had no return date planned.

"I don't want to come home without my sister," he said.


http://news.yahoo.com/family-heading-turkey-seek-missing-ny-woman-150614125.html

 

[Strawberry Fields]

This case is extremely troubling. I have not traveled out of the states very much at all, but have to think the family is pretty well-informed about traveling, to be able to just up and travel at such short notice to look for her. I have no idea how much such travel would cost, but sounds like that is not a problem, thankfully. It is concerning that she would be so trusting to be posting her plans of traveling to strangers or even consider meeting up with strangers (if I understand that correctly she was going to do?) I sure hope the police and/or her family find her. It is sad to think her children are not away their mommy is missing currently. Hope she is found before they even have to know, and she gets home safely to them.

 

[ami]

http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/ho...n-20-.aspx?pageID=238&nID=40002&NewsCatID=341

This article has a brief interview with and picture of the "house owner" of the place she was staying and a series of photos of the home and the neighborhood. Depending on how you define 'hostel' this may have been more of a home with rooms for rent. [eta: it also contains more of a timeline for her travel to Istanbul, Amsterdam, Munich and back to Turkey - don't know if it's accurate, but there are dates listed]

Quote from home owner from the article:

“There is nothing else in the room other than her passport, her chargers and her clothes. Thirteen days were booked and paid for online before she arrived,” he said, adding that he last saw Sierra “in the house” and that she was the only person staying in the room.

“She said she liked taking walks around Sultanahmet,” Yetmez said.......The house owner also said he was not a suspect in the case. ......

 

[belimom]

http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/ho...n-20-.aspx?pageID=238&nID=40002&NewsCatID=341

This article has a brief interview with and picture of the "house owner" of the place she was staying and a series of photos of the home and the neighborhood. Depending on how you define 'hostel' this may have been more of a home with rooms for rent. [eta: it also contains more of a timeline for her travel to Istanbul, Amsterdam, Munich and back to Turkey - don't know if it's accurate, but there are dates listed]

Quote from home owner from the article:

“There is nothing else in the room other than her passport, her chargers and her clothes. Thirteen days were booked and paid for online before she arrived,” he said, adding that he last saw Sierra “in the house” and that she was the only person staying in the room.

“She said she liked taking walks around Sultanahmet,” Yetmez said.......The house owner also said he was not a suspect in the case. ......

Interesting. I also saw in some article that LE was calling it an "apartment". I thought it was just bad reporting but I do wonder if that's a more accurate description?

So now I want to know: were other even staying there at the time? Or was this a one-room hostel, in someone's apartment? I don't like where this may be headed, at least in my own mind.

 

[belimom]

I wonder if this is related to the person(s) that commented on her IG pictures (is the one who commented so often the same one that someone warned the brother about?):

Police were also trying to find the identity of a person she had been chatting with on the Internet, Dogan reported.

from http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-202_162-57566176/istanbul-police-start-search-for-missing-nyc-mom/

And this - from the same link:

Crime in Turkey is generally low and Istanbul is a relatively safe city for travelers, though there are areas where women would be advised to avoid going alone at night. The Galata and the nearby Galata Bridge areas have been gentrified and are home to fish restaurants, chic cafes and boutiques.

 

[Hisimage]

Here's something else that I hadn't picked up on before, but I don't know if it's significant. Her iPhone and iPad were not in the room. How about her camera? I'm assuming she went off with it to take some pictures...

bbm

iphone and ipad could let us know where she is, no? don't they have tracking devices? Would it follow her in another Country, I would think.

 

[belimom]

iphone and ipad could let us know where she is, no? don't they have tracking devices? Would it follow her in another Country, I would think.

iPads can have tracking devices but only if you activate it. I'm not sure how it works, so if it's not the 3G version then I'm not sure if she would have to be near WiFi (and connected) for it to transmit a location anyway. That's generally how GPS tracking devices work but I'm not familiar with the iPad tracking service. Sorry - I guess this isn't much help, huh?

In the CBS article I quoted a post or two above, it says that her phone *was* in her room and that is why LE can't track pings on her phone. Not sure which account is correct. I'm sure the husband and brother will get more info once they get there.

I hope she is safe...but I'm worried.

 

[radiator]

Interesting. I also saw in some article that LE was calling it an "apartment". I thought it was just bad reporting but I do wonder if that's a more accurate description?

So now I want to know: were other even staying there at the time? Or was this a one-room hostel, in someone's apartment? I don't like where this may be headed, at least in my own mind.

it's possible (speculation only) that she rented through someplace like airbnb. that's what I did when I was in turkey--individuals rent out either whole apartments/houses or rooms in their homes.

 

[SurfieTX]

Don't know if this helps, but I shared the story with an ex-pat friend of mine who is currently in Paris. He has a lot of friends out and about who stay in hostels. Here's to hoping.

 

[ami]

it's possible (speculation only) that she rented through someplace like airbnb. that's what I did when I was in turkey--individuals rent out either whole apartments/houses or rooms in their homes.

I rent through them as well when I travel. I guess you *could* call a private room in a home a "hostel" if they had a few rooms going at a time.

Sounds like a lot of the details are still sketchy - some reports have her phone left in the room, some have it gone. The owner of the room she rented said "There is nothing else in the room other than her passport, her chargers and her clothes. "

 

[Hisimage]

I still find it so strange that whoever was going to travel with her "backed out at the last minute" The last minute really bothers me. You back out of a movie, picnic, even a weekend trip at the last minute. But a trip you've been planning for a long time at the last minute.... that is a lot of money and time/effort to change your mind.

If it was an emergency reason, wouldn't it be let out to us that way: " her traveling companion had an emergency right before it was time to go?"

Just wondering...
I think something happened to her but a small part of me really wonders about her and why she would go for the very first time alone. That takes a lot of guts.

 

[Chewy]

I hope they look for her around hiking places, she may have fainted from dehydration while hiking or have gotten lost. I know in Cyprus they have the mountains that people go to that would be a terrible place to get lost. I'm wondering if Turkey has the same.

 

[ami]

I still find it so strange that whoever was going to travel with her "backed out at the last minute" The last minute really bothers me. You back out of a movie, picnic, even a weekend trip at the last minute. But a trip you've been planning for a long time at the last minute.... that is a lot of money and time/effort to change your mind.

If it was an emergency reason, wouldn't it be let out to us that way: " her traveling companion had an emergency right before it was time to go?"

Just wondering...
I think something happened to her but a small part of me really wonders about her and why she would go for the very first time alone. That takes a lot of guts.

Some reports just say the friend "couldn't make it". There are way too many normal reasons a friend could have to back out of a 3 week trip for it to sound particularly odd to me.