GUILTY Turkey - Sarai Sierra, 33, NY woman murdered, Istanbul, 21 Jan 2013 - #4

[MURDERER_SERVANT]

1)SS bought a local phone in İST right? I wanna ask something ?How many of you bought a local phone when you went on a trip anywhere abroad ? She already used SKype with home, she travelled alone , with whom would she be interacted so much as far we only know one person and they could well corresponce on line , MSN , messages or so on. WHY did she buy one with her that limited budget? beacuse she NEEDED one but for what ? Its too strange to me. Is it a common thing buying one abroad? What you say abt that? I havent been to so many countries so ı really dont know but still comes odd if you are just a simple tourist .Maybe beacuse she was to do so .

2)Moreover KEY question comes ..where did she buy it? is there any camera , credit card or bill or invoice for that ? Maybe she was given that one in IST for private messaging.
I think tracing that phone will bring out some facts if there is any of course?

3)BTW she didnt use credit card as far as we know ? did she ?I wonder if she had one in US because if she had, she would have brought it to this long trip with her.. she might have used it / his husbands card number would even do that at least for paying the exhange of her tickets but she didnt use it instead husband sent it by wire. Another costly way to send funds ..Why didnt she do that on the net=? we dont know..

 

[NewYork625]

1)SS bought a local phone in İST right? I wanna ask something ?How many of you bought a local phone when you went on a trip anywhere abroad ? She already used SKype with home, she travelled alone , with whom would she be interacted so much as far we only know one person and they could well corresponce on line , MSN , messages or so on. WHY did she buy one with her that limited budget? beacuse she NEEDED one but for what ? Its too strange to me. Is it a common thing buying one abroad? What you say abt that? I havent been to so many countries so ı really dont know but still comes odd if you are just a simple tourist .Maybe beacuse she was to do so .

2)Moreover KEY question comes ..where did she buy it? is there any camera , credit card or bill or invoice for that ? Maybe she was given that one in IST for private messaging.
I think tracing that phone will bring out some facts if there is any of course?

3)BTW she didnt use credit card as far as we know ? did she ?I wonder if she had one in US because if she had, she would have brought it to this long trip with her.. she might have used it / his husbands card number would even do that at least for paying the exhange of her tickets but she didnt use it instead husband sent it by wire. Another costly way to send funds ..Why didnt she do that on the net=? we dont know..

Since they had declared bankruptcy, they may have had no credit cards.

 

[MURDERER_SERVANT]

I have just remembered that ..Thx Newyork625

 

[Yellow]

1)SS bought a local phone in İST right? I wanna ask something ?How many of you bought a local phone when you went on a trip anywhere abroad ? She already used SKype with home, she travelled alone , with whom would she be interacted so much as far we only know one person and they could well corresponce on line , MSN , messages or so on. WHY did she buy one with her that limited budget? beacuse she NEEDED one but for what ? Its too strange to me. Is it a common thing buying one abroad? What you say abt that? I havent been to so many countries so ı really dont know but still comes odd if you are just a simple tourist .Maybe beacuse she was to do so .

2)Moreover KEY question comes ..where did she buy it? is there any camera , credit card or bill or invoice for that ? Maybe she was given that one in IST for private messaging.
I think tracing that phone will bring out some facts if there is any of course?

3)BTW she didnt use credit card as far as we know ? did she ?I wonder if she had one in US because if she had, she would have brought it to this long trip with her.. she might have used it / his husbands card number would even do that at least for paying the exhange of her tickets but she didnt use it instead husband sent it by wire. Another costly way to send funds ..Why didnt she do that on the net=? we dont know..

There are some postings on this at the end of the 3rd thread, I asked the same question, I traveled to 60 plus countries and just call home for $1-2 a minute using my regular cell phone. I never have need to buy or rent a local cell phone. If for safety I use my regular phone. The most I have ever paid for cell phone is $5 a minute and that was in Russia and Antarctica. So yeah, US cell phones work everywhere I would say!

Only time I ever rented a cell phone was the company rented one for me once in Japan when I was there for business. But I would never rent it on my own. I would not be using it that much, and the few calls I make home I just suck it up and use my regular cell phone. The cost of renting one would not be worth it, unless I would do ALOT of texting. But why not just use wifi??

The only thing I would say is maybe her American phone was not set up international, it is not that hard to get set up, it is free, but certain carriers are not as good internationally, like verizon use to be not as good. Maybe she was wrongly under the impression her phone would not work,,,

It Was also hypothesized that the package she received was a Turkish cell phone in the mail. Not clear if that was the case.

 

[SophieRose]

If so, an educated fellow like Taylan/Tarkan would at best be conflicted about going to the LE. He'd know sooner or later LE would find about their correspondence and the best thing to do is going to the LE. But then again, if they had sex, he might have thought that somehow this would implicate him. But then again, he is an educated guy, and his decision making would revolve around "How can I avoid trouble best?"

I say, having a similar background in education to him:

If I knew nothing about her disappearence/murder, I'd just go to the LE.
Even if I knew about the disappearence/murder or even had a role in it myself, I'd have gone to the LE.

Not going to the LE arouses more suspicion and will cause more trouble. If he was smart, whether he had responsibility or not, he'd be crazy not to go to LE.

If he is dumb, perhaps he would delay going to the LE. But then again, having Internet correspondence that can be tracked easily, he would damn well know that LE would come for him.

Not that I believe in them, but do they use polygraphs in Turkey?

 

[SophieRose]

Wow, I"m about to break into tears again reading about this broken man. I must be oversentimental tonight.

I still find some of his behaviors odd. E.g., this article says "Mr. Sierra did not go inside..." the apartment where Sarai stayed and this was presumably before her body was found. If it were me, that'd be my very first place to look for my missing spouse, to see if she left any clues as to her whereabouts. Hmm...

I do understand though, that individual behaviors are different. But still, I find his odd.

It's a good thing he didn't go into the apartment if the room wasn't processed by LE until after her body was found.

 

[necco]

There are some postings on this at the end of the 3rd thread, I asked the same question, I traveled to 60 plus countries and just call home for $1-2 a minute using my regular cell phone. I never have need to buy or rent a local cell phone. If for safety I use my regular phone. The most I have ever paid for cell phone is $5 a minute and that was in Russia and Antarctica. So yeah, US cell phones work everywhere I would say!

Only time I ever rented a cell phone was the company rented one for me once in Japan when I was there for business. But I would never rent it on my own. I would not be using it that much, and the few calls I make home I just suck it up and use my regular cell phone. The cost of renting one would not be worth it, unless I would do ALOT of texting. But why not just use wifi??

The only thing I would say is maybe her American phone was not set up international, it is not that hard to get set up, it is free, but certain carriers are not as good internationally, like verizon use to be not as good. Maybe she was wrongly under the impression her phone would not work,,,

It Was also hypothesized that the package she received was a Turkish cell phone in the mail. Not clear if that was the case.

US cellphone do not necessarily work everywhere. There are two kinds of cellphones, GSM and CDMA. CDMA is the dominant network in North America, GSM is more international. A CDMA phone won't work in most of the rest of the world.

For instance, Verizon is CDMA. AT&T is GSM.

I have an unlocked cheap cell that I use abroad, just pop into a bodega and pick up a $10 (or equivalent) SIM for calls in the country.

If you're interested, here are some articles:
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2407896,00.asp
http://www.wisegeek.org/what-is-the-difference-between-gsm-and-cdma.htm

There are also frequency differences.
Cellular frequencies - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[Indy Anna]

It's a good thing he didn't go into the apartment if the room wasn't processed by LE until after her body was found.

And maybe he was told not to go inside because LE planned to go through her room for clues of her whereabouts. SS probably went there to interview the people who would have been among the last to see his wife before she disappeared.

I've followed the case in the media, but this is the first I've read about it here on WS so I don't know what was discussed on earlier threads. My first thought when I read about Sarai's murder was that she was taking pictures when she happened upon some people engaging in criminal behavior and they killed her because they thought she had photographed them. That would explain why her iPod/iPad are missing. If some of Sarai's IG contacts were criminals, then I think it's likely they were involved. She may have shown up early at the place where she was to meet Taylan and caught her acquaintances by surprise. I don't think their meeting place was far from the location her body was found, was it?

I also doubt Taylan's claim that he and Sarai had an affair. Wouldn't she have stayed with him rather than in a small hostel in an allegedly seedy neighborhood, or at the very least he would have picked her up at the hostel. Surveillance cameras also showed that Sarai ate and walked alone on Jan. 20. So, it doesn't seem her relationship with Taylan was that intimate. My impression was that Taylan was supplying a ready explanation as to why his DNA will be found on Sarai's body.

Also, Sarai's face had been so disfigured by her attacker(s) that she was unrecognizable when found. This would indicate that someone didn't want the body to be readily identified, suggesting that the perp(s) knew Sarai and feared being traced to her.

I also don't believe Sarai had time to have an affair during her trip. She was frequently in contact with family. I hope LE has collected all of the communications Sarai had with family and friends in the U.S. and are using them to construct a timeline.

 

[ToutCa]

Wild, I'd never heard of these before. I would totally fall for them, but then I would refuse to pay. I wouldn't believe they would actually kill me.

I know they target men but I read online that her father had to send her $500 twice? I wonder if she got mixed up in a scam like this?

It was $500 TOTAL, in two increments (350, then 150) and I believe the story is that it was "wired" by her husband, not by her father. It was supposedly to change her plane ticket to come back earlier.

There is no indication it was related to any kind of scam.

 

[Munich]

Did she receive a package? That was the first I'd heard of it and the only reference I can find of it on the internet is on WS.

There is a Turkish article stating she received a package, which originated from the US and perhaps contained documents.

Many people here don't think this package is of any importance and could contain things from home that she forgot, but it also mentioned it being during her first week she was there.

Getting packages from the US to Germany can take weeks, so I presume it would have been sent before she even left the US. Also, as alpmighty pointed out, there could be customs on it. Evidently the sender either urgently needed to get something to her (why not email it if it's just documents?), planned ahead and mailed it before she left (why not just give it to her to bring?) or chanced it and somehow successfully had a very fast delivery. Again, too, this would likely be signed for and sometimes they don't deliver things if the name on the post box doesn't match.

What was in it? We have no idea. Having papers are easier to dispose of than an email trail.

 

[yupikgirl]

US cell phones do not work everywhere. I moved to Thailand from the US in July. We have three iPhones with Verizon and none of them work. We couldn't pay any roaming fees or anything the first few days and were forced to buy a cell phone immediatly. I have lots of friends here that brought their phones from the US, but from AT&T and they had no issues getting them unlocked and popping in a new SIM card from here. They also were able to use them and pay the fees to ATT until a they were able to get it changed over.

Edited to add Necco explained above I didn't see that sorry! You don't know how many people I run into here from other countries that tell me I am not understanding how to get my phone unlocked....they don't understand how it works. I myself didn't understand at first either!

 

[ToutCa]

That was great sleuthing last night, everyone, once the drama calmed down!!!

I can clarify a couple things that came up:

Drivers' License: One of the more detailed press reports claimed SS carried 2 wallets in Istanbul. 1 was found in her room, 1 on/with her body. If true, it's very likely the license was in the wallet and in a jeans pocket or small bag. It would then become very likely the killer never saw it, handled it and knew or cared it was there. FWIW

Postman package: Package was "documents" from USA, said the local postman according to a story early on. No idea on timing and if it could be relevant in any way. If there was a package, whatever it was, I don't see any reason they would send her school documents in Istanbul. Too easy for them to get lost in transit, and they could just deal with the docs themselves in NYC.

4 online contact suspects: It's possible none of these came initially from the Gmail review. Turkish LE said from the very beginning of the missing person search they were looking at 4 Istanbul Instagram buddies. I wouldn't be surprised if the current focus is on the same 4, including Taylan -- which means he's almost certainly still on the table.

Amsterdam Ammer: MOO is that he's not a good guy at all, but a creepy online pick-up artist. Note how he's coldly and immediately back to his regular chilling, joking around on IG -- SS meant nothing more to him than a conquest who turned annoying (by dying). I think he at least tried to get it on with SS and most likely succeeded. All of that said, it really doesn't matter that much unless he set her up as a mule or connected her to someone who did. He may not like the LE attention, but they need to check him out just to see. Most likely, he's just a creepy guy who is soon to be in the clear. Just My Opinion!!!!!!

 

[english]

Timeline question:

Towards the end of last thread, the issue of the package SS allegedly received just before she went missing was being tossed around.

Does anyone know whether she changed her flight plans and cut her trip short before or after she received that package?

The articles about the mail are from around 28 January (google "sarai sierra postaci"). The postman says the mailing arrived 15-20 days earlier. He did not see Sarai but believes he left it with the landlord.

We do not know for certain when she changed her flight. I think I've read everything from the day after she arrived until her return from Munich.

 

[Munich]

That was great sleuthing last night, everyone, once the drama calmed down!!!

I can clarify a couple things that came up:

Drivers' License: One of the more detailed press reports claimed SS carried 2 wallets in Istanbul. 1 was found in her room, 1 on/with her body. If true, it's very likely the license was in the wallet and in a jeans pocket or small bag. It would then become very likely the killer never saw it, handled it and knew or cared it was there. FWIW

Postman package: Package was "documents" from USA, said the local postman according to a story early on. No idea on timing and if it could be relevant in any way. If there was a package, whatever it was, I don't see any reason they would send her school documents in Istanbul. Too easy for them to get lost in transit, and they could just deal with the docs themselves in NYC.

4 online contact suspects: It's possible none of these came initially from the Gmail review. Turkish LE said from the very beginning of the missing person search they were looking at 4 Istanbul Instagram buddies. I wouldn't be surprised if the current focus is on the same 4, including Taylan -- which means he's almost certainly still on the table.

Amsterdam Ammer: MOO is that he's not a good guy at all, but a creepy online pick-up artist. Note how he's coldly and immediately back to his regular chilling, joking around on IG -- SS meant nothing more to him than a conquest who turned annoying (by dying). I think he at least tried to get it on with SS and most likely succeeded. All of that said, it really doesn't matter that much unless he set her up as a mule or connected her to someone who did. He may not like the LE attention, but they need to check him out just to see. Most likely, he's just a creepy guy who is soon to be in the clear. Just My Opinion!!!!!!

Also, my opinion, but Ammer instigates a bit. There's no need for him to delete his IG account, but he could put it to private as some people do. Instead, he's posted offensive images of pigs and commented on LE who are just trying to solve what happened to SS and who was involved.

 

[MURDERER_SERVANT]

Just an opinion
If there exists a smuggling business between NYC , IST and AMS, at the same time having nice friends to meet in AMS and IST might be a coincidence but it may be
arranged as well.

 

[english]

1)SS bought a local phone in İST right? I wanna ask something ?How many of you bought a local phone when you went on a trip anywhere abroad ? She already used SKype with home, she travelled alone , with whom would she be interacted so much as far we only know one person and they could well corresponce on line , MSN , messages or so on. WHY did she buy one with her that limited budget? beacuse she NEEDED one but for what ? Its too strange to me. Is it a common thing buying one abroad? What you say abt that? I havent been to so many countries so ı really dont know but still comes odd if you are just a simple tourist .Maybe beacuse she was to do so .

2)Moreover KEY question comes ..where did she buy it? is there any camera , credit card or bill or invoice for that ? Maybe she was given that one in IST for private messaging.
I think tracing that phone will bring out some facts if there is any of course?

3)BTW she didnt use credit card as far as we know ? did she ?I wonder if she had one in US because if she had, she would have brought it to this long trip with her.. she might have used it / his husbands card number would even do that at least for paying the exhange of her tickets but she didnt use it instead husband sent it by wire. Another costly way to send funds ..Why didnt she do that on the net=? we dont know..

I tried, unsuccessfully, to explain that all phones sold in Turkey are registered to a central database so, if she had bought one, it would be very easy to trace. I think Alpmighty explained it much clearer than I had.

Like you, I questioned her need for a local phone. Surely an unnecessary expense unless she would be making a lot of calls or texts to local contacts. We know she didn't use a turkish phone to call Taylan/Tarkan.

I'm sure there are phones operating in Turkey which slip under the radar of the government. If she had one of these it would have to have been given to her by a specific contact but why if not for illegal purposes.

 

[ToutCa]

Like you, I questioned her need for a local phone. Surely an unnecessary expense unless she would be making a lot of calls or texts to local contacts. We know she didn't use a turkish phone to call Taylan/Tarkan.

I'm sure there are phones operating in Turkey which slip under the radar of the government. If she had one of these it would have to have been given to her by a specific contact but why if not for illegal purposes.

The good news is, Turkish LE found that phone in her room so they already know where it was obtained and everything it was ever used for. But they ain't telling us of course!

She may have bought it to more efficiently hook up with her Istanbul IG/flirt buddies. She may have used it to call Taylan. All we know is on the last day she didn't use it to call him or take it with her. Maybe she just forgot to charge it? Or of course we can fantasize suspicious explanations.

 

[Munich]

The articles about the mail are from around 28 January (google "sarai sierra postaci"). The postman says the mailing arrived 15-20 days earlier. He did not see Sarai but believes he left it with the landlord.

We do not know for certain when she changed her flight. I think I've read everything from the day after she arrived until her return from Munich.

Another thing with this ticket changing - if she felt she was in danger early on then wouldn't she change her ticket departure from IST to AMS back to NY? Instead, she changed the days, but not departure destination.

Here are some of the big oddities that stick out to me:
- She paid a substantial amount of money to change the flight. She even needed money wired to do so. (This insinuates it was very pressing.)
- She received mail. Getting something that important while traveling and not being sure if it would even arrive seems off. It's also untrackable if that evidence was destroyed, which would be easier to do than with email.
- She didn't have that green bag, which we saw was virtually always with her.
- She had internet to skype, but didn't upload hardly any of her IG photos on this "photo trip".
- She was going to be in contact with enough people to necessitate having a Turkish cell phone.

- So this last day she didn't take the green bag, didn't take the Turkish phone, and didn't make her flight. Very curious. Some may be coincidence, but I don't think all are.

Someone a bit further back commented if this was drug or trafficking of whatever kind related it could explain why all sides seem delayed on contacting the authorities about her missing.

 

[english]

Also, my opinion, but Ammer instigates a bit. There's no need for him to delete his IG account, but he could put it to private as some people do. Instead, he's posted offensive images of pigs and commented on LE who are just trying to solve what happened to SS and who was involved.

Which justifies ToutCa's opinon :

SS meant nothing more to him than a conquest who turned annoying (by dying)

 

[ToutCa]

Here are some of the big oddities that stick out to me:

It's still not enough definitive to point to drug trafficking or anything out of the ordinary. There could be innocent explanations for each item on that list. Her actions only seem weird because she died a violent death and we don't know why yet.

On any trip I've ever taken, you could probably analyze a day and find me doing all sorts of strange things. If you went through 24 hours of my life step by step, I'm sure you could compile dozens of things I do and don't do and make me out to be a drug trafficker, government spy, or gang leader.

One of us looks at the actions you list and sees an inexperienced international traveler off to try to flirt/hook up with guys undercover. Another sees drug trafficking. Pile it all together and we just don't know.

Turkish LE is sitting on all the keys to this case. And they aren't public. I hope they solve it soon!