Sarai Sierra found dead: Body of missing NY mother found in Turkey/Update 3.17.2013' Ziya T' arrested for Sarai's killing

Have been meaning to post this is "Missing Adults" and just saw this. So SAD!

Posted on: 7:21 pm, February 2, 2013, by webstaff
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(CNN) — The family of an American woman who went missing in Istanbul nearly two weeks ago are in mourning after learning that Turkish police found her body Saturday.

Steven Sierra wept during a phone call with CNN, as he waited in Istanbul to go with police

Sarai Sierra’s family and friends became alarmed when she did not arrive on a return flight from Istanbul on January 22 (CNN) to identify the body of his wife, Sarai Sierra.

Turkish police found the New York woman’s body near ancient stone walls in Istanbul’s Sarayburnu district, the semi-official Anatolian Agency reported. Police suspected she had been killed at another location.

Police told CNN’s sister network CNN Turk that the body of the 33-year-old mother of two showed signs of stab wounds.

At least nine suspects had been detained in connection with Sierra’s disappearance and death, Anatolian reported.

Sierra’s family and friends first sounded the alarm last week after she did not arrive on a return flight from Istanbul on January 22.

“The last we heard from my wife was Monday morning on the 21st. She had spoken with her sister and the last thing she said was, ‘I’m coming home tomorrow,’ and she was excited and put a little smiley face at the end of her statement,” said Steven Sierra in an interview with CNN earlier this week.

Steven Sierra spoke to CNN in Istanbul on Wednesday, after he and Sarai Sierra’s brother, David Jimenez, traveled to Turkey to assist in the search.

The worried husband was periodically overwhelmed with emotion throughout the interview.

“You’re hoping that she’s OK wherever she’s at, that she’s not hurting, that she’s not cold, that she’s being fed,” Steven Sierra said, choking back tears.

“Its difficult what’s going through my mind, if our hopes and prayers are not answered. It is difficult when you have two children that look up to you, and you have to do your very best to stay strong regardless of what happens.”

Sarai Sierra flew alone to Istanbul on January 7 after a friend at the last minute canceled plans to accompany her. “She did a lot of researching about the area, about where she was going to stay, the safest places to go and the time of day to travel,” friend Magalena Rodriguez said. Sierrra was an amateur photographer who had massed more than 3,000 followers since she joined the photo sharing app Instagram last year. Some people she met through the service encouraged her to visit the ancient Turkish city, her husband said. They offered to act as tour guides. “You’re admiring pictures, but you’re getting acquainted with people that you’ve never met before,” Steven Sierra said.

Sarai’s brother said he had been worried about his sister’s solo trip. “We were nervous. Were just like ‘always be mindful of what you do, be aware of your surroundings. Don’t get too comfortable to the point where you drop your guard down,’” David Jimenez said. But Jimenez and Sierra’s husband said Sarai was determined to complete challenges that she set for herself.As an example, they described how she competed in a triathlon several years ago, despite being a weak swimmer, and despite the fact that she did not own a bicycle. Instead, Sarai completed the cycling leg of the competition by borrowing a mountain bike from her husband.

After arriving in Istanbul, Sierra’s photo feed displayed images of Istanbul’s beautiful skyline and historic landmarks. She also squeezed in an excursion to Amsterdam in the Netherlands and to Germany, starting January 15. “She chose to go to Amsterdam for the graffiti,” her husband said. “She informed me as far as how her time was out there. And she also had a tour guide that was helping her out there as well, who I know about and who I’ve spoken with personally.”

Sierra returned to Istanbul on January 19. Three days later, she went missing.

Sierra had rebooked her flight to arrive back early, on January 22, in part to surprise her two sons, 9 and 11. Days before her scheduled trip home, Sierra spoke with her father, Dennis Jimenez, via Skype to remind him of her flight number and arrival time. When Dennis Jimenez went to the Newark, New Jersey, airport to pick Sierra up, she didn’t show, he said. The airline told him she had never checked in for the flight.“S he kept in contact with us all the time,” Sierra’s mother, Betzaida Jimenez, said. “And then not to hear from her? It’s not like her.”
After the tourist went missing, Turkish police released a surveillance camera video of Sarai at a shopping mall in Istanbul, flipping through her iPad. The scenes from January 20 are the last known images of her.

The manager of the small private hotel where Sierra was staying reported last seeing her the day the surveillance video was shot. That was a Sunday. Her Skype account, which she avidly used, went silent a day later. A day after that was when she missed her flight home.

The time she last talked with her family, Sierra was planning on January 21 to see the Galata Bridge and visit the Asian side of Istanbul, her husband said.

The former capital of the Byzantine and East Roman empires straddles the continents of Europe and Asia.

After Sierra’s family raised the alarm that she was missing, some of her belongings — including her passport and medical cards — were found in her room in Istanbul, though her iPhone and iPad were not there, according to her husband.

Since Sierra’s disappearance, Turkish police detained a Turkish man she had been in contact with who was identified only by the first name Talan, according to CNN Turk.

Millions of foreign tourists visit Turkey every year.

While it is not unusual to hear about foreigners being targeted by pickpockets and bag snatchers, violent crime involving foreign tourists is relatively rare.

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This is such a sad story! I am in no way blaming the victim but surely it was so dangerous for her to take off alone to Turkey to shoot her photography! I sure wish she had not been alone! I sure hope they can find the person(s) responsible for this.

Raine. Love your new avatar!!

There is not enough money in this world to go to Turkey or any of those countries that are in the throes of possible war. It sounds like she was very independent. I just wonder if she met someone over there that befriended her and killed her. Can't imagine a motive at this point but I have a sneaking suspicion there is much more to this.

They have eight people in custody I just now heard on the news. Beyond horrible!

Re: avatar, thanks!

raine1953 wrote:They have eight people in custody I just now heard on the news. Beyond horrible!

Good!!Thanks!

By Eileen AJ Connelly, The Associated Press

The FBI is playing a significant role in the investigation into the death of a New York City woman in Istanbul while on a solo vacation, a U.S. congressman said Monday.
Rep. Michael Grimm, a former FBI agent, said U.S. investigators were invited by Turkish authorities to assist as they try to find out what happened to Sarai Sierra, a 33-year-old mother of two who disappeared Jan. 21. Her body was found 12 days later, near the remnants of the city's ancient walls. Police said she had suffered a fatal blow to the head.
Prosecutors in Istanbul got a court order Monday for authorities to take blood and DNA samples from 21 people already questioned in the death, according to Turkish state media.

Meanwhile, her family was working out how to return her body to the U.S.
"Our No. 1 priority right now is bringing Sarai home," said Grimm, who accompanied Sierra's parents, Betzaida and Dennis Jimenez, as they spoke to the media at the home of a family friend on New York's Staten Island.
Sierra's husband, Steven, is in Istanbul, where he traveled last week to help in the search. He intends to accompany her body back to New York, but the family is still determining how to fund the transport. Their church and friends are working to raise money to help defray the costs.
Turkish authorities finished an autopsy Monday on Sierra and gave DNA samples from it to a crime lab, the state-run Anadolu Agency reported. After that, Istanbul prosecutors got the court order but did not identify the possible suspects, the agency reported.
On Monday, police with sniffer dogs were scouring the area where the body was found for clues, it said. The Milliyet newspaper said the forensic lab will examine samples from Sierra's fingernails as well as hair and other samples from a blanket found near her body. It said some nail scrapings suggest she may have tried to fight off at least one attacker.
Sarai Sierra made her first trip overseas alone after her childhood friend, Magdalena Rodriguez, backed out. At Monday's news conference in New York, Rodriguez fought back tears as she said she wished she had not changed her plans.
"I wasn't working at the time and I didn't have the money to go," she explained.

Family and friends described Sierra as a devoted mother to her 9- and 11-year-old sons who volunteered at their school and worked part time so she would be available for them after school. "Every time I saw her, she was always with her family," said another longtime friend, Dulce Arroyo.
Arroyo ran across Sierra on a shopping trip two days before she left the U.S. and said traveling alone didn't appear to be a frightening prospect. Her friend was looking forward to an exciting adventure and spent most of their conversation talking about the murals and architecture she planned to photograph.
"She was perfectly OK with taking this trip on her own," Arroyo added. "She was thrilled."
Dennis Jimenez said Sierra tried to calm any fears by emphasizing that she'd be in regular contact via video calls and text messages.
"I didn't want her to go, but she wanted to go," he said. "Turkey was a land rich in architecture and ancient history, and she was very fascinated by that."
He added that she shared her photos online and checked in frequently. "You could tell that she was happy," he said.
Grimm said Turkish police still have hours of video footage to review as they piece together Sierra's last movements. A special unit of Turkish police set up to find Sierra have an image of her at Galata Bridge, which spans Istanbul's Golden Horn waterway and where she went on her last day to take photos.

The trip also included preplanned excursions to Amsterdam and Munich.
Betzaida Jimenez said her two grandsons do not know what had happened to their mother. They only know their father went to get her after her vacation.
"We're going to talk about that when he gets back," she said.
She recalled hugging her daughter before she departed and praying together for a safe journey.
"Just the thought that I'll never be able to hug her again," she said, pausing to compose herself. "We just didn't think a tragedy like this was going to happen."

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BY RICH SCHAPIRO / NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 2013, 9:15 AM

The body of the Staten Island woman bludgeoned to death in Istanbul was being prepared Wednesday for its journey home on Thursday.

Sarai Sierra's remains will be flown out of Turkey on Thursday, according to the funeral home handling her case.

The body of the 33-year-old mother of two is expected to be transferred to the Istanbul airport Wednesday afternoon and held there overnight, said Tekin Ceker of the Collaro International Funeral Home.

Early Wednesday, workers at the Armenian church in Istanbul where her body has been held were preparing the remains to be moved.

Sarai Sierra of Staten Island went missing on Jan. 21. Her body was discovered on Feb. 2. She was killed by a blow to the head.

Sierra’s body will return home in a wooden casket lined with zinc. Turkish Airlines is transporting the body for free, Ceker said.

Sierra went missing on Jan. 21, three weeks after she arrived in Istanbul and a day before she was expected to return home.

An amateur photographer, she traveled to the ancient city alone after a friend dropped out of the trip at the last minute.

Her body was discovered on Feb. 2 at the foot of crumbling walls along a busy highway.

Sierra was killed by a blow to the head with a hard object, authorities said.

Funeral home official Beytekin Cekar announces the body of slain Staten Island mom Sarai Sierra will be flown to New York.

She was wearing only a shirt and underwear, but still had on several pieces of gold jewelry.

Cops are hunting for a bag she was carrying, which contained her cell phone and iPad, and reviewing surveillance footage for clues about her killer.

A local paper reported that investigators are focusing on a group of unofficial tour guides she was seen with in the days before she vanished.

According to the Miliyet newspaper, a woman called the police on Jan. 31 and told a dispatcher she had seen Sierra with the guides, who are known to harass tourists, on two separate occasions.

The account could not be immediately verified.

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Police say the man, identified as Taylan K., is not a suspect in her murder. He was one of 24 interviewed by police and subjected to DNA and blood tests as police search for clues into Sierra’s death.

BY RICH SCHAPIRO IN ISTANBUL , JOE STEPANSKY AND LARRY MCSHANE / NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
PUBLISHED: THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 7, 2013, 9:01 AM
UPDATED: THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 7, 2013, 4:25 PM

The Turkish man who acknowledged bedding a Staten Island mom before her brutal murder is not a prime suspect in the shocking slaying, a top Turkish prosecutor said Thursday.

A lawyer for the man, identified only as Taylan K., acknowledged his client’s friendship with Sarai Sierra — and said the man feels “very bad” about the killing.

But lawyer Ozkan Polat insisted the pair shared no deep love connection after meeting four months ago on the Internet.

“They didn’t have an emotional relationship,” Polat told the Daily News. “They were just friends. They met on the Internet photo sharing website.”

Polat refused to answer when asked directly if Taylan slept with Sierra after the mother of two arrived in Turkey for a two-week solo getaway last month. But authorities said Taylan told cops he and Sierra were lovers.

The dead woman’s family gathered Thursday at a Staten Island funeral home to await the return of her battered body a full 18 days after Sierra’s scheduled Jan. 21 flight home.

Her husband, Steven, mother and brother David Jiminez arrived in a red van at the Matthew Funeral Home. The stone-faced group walked inside without a word.

A worker who viewed Sierra’s body before it was taken to the airport told The News she had severe bruises on her legs and scratches on her wrists.

Polat confirmed that Taylan and Sierra were scheduled to meet near the Galata Bridge in Istanbul before her disappearance and death.

“My client leaves from his house, and Ms. Sierra left from her house in order to meet,” he said. “But at this point, contact is broken.”

State Prosecutor Huseyin Kaplan, who confirmed that Taylan told cops about the affair with the murdered mom, insisted the man is not a prime suspect.

“We're not interested in whether she had a sexual relationship,” Kaplan told The News. “What's important for us is who killed her.” I think they Should be interested if she POSSIBLY had a sexual relationship as IF, and I repeat..IF this is the case, it could be why she was murdered. It IS possible she had sex w/men while in Turkey. Heck, anything is possible. Am NOT saying she did, Just Saying. MOO.

Kaplan refused to elaborate on Taylan's relationship with the 33-year-old Sierra, saying it was a "private matter" that was tangential to the murder probe.

Attorney Polat said the two met four months ago via the web, with Sierra telling Taylan about her plans to visit his country.

“My client did not invite Sierra here,” Polat told the News. “There’s nothing of the kind.”

The lawyer said his client, “a respectable person” from a good family, earned his masters degree while studying abroad.

Taylan was one of 24 people interviewed by cops and subjected to DNA and blood tests in the wake of Sierra's death.

They include people who met Sierra via Instagram and homeless people known to hang out near the ancient city walls where her body was found Feb. 2, Kaplan said.

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I agree with your opinion Wrap, they have to know if and who she could have slept with! Otherwise how in the world are they going to get the next clue? I sure hope they did a rape kit on her!

I sure hope that was part of the autopsy. I had a gut vibe about this early on. Didn't want to but I did.

Robert Stolarik for The New York Times
Published: February 7, 2013

In a zinc-plated coffin, Sarai Sierra’s body was flown back from Turkey on Thursday, a belated tragic return that brought a wife and mother home to Staten Island for burial, but left unanswered many questions about her death.

She was killed in Istanbul while traveling alone. It was her first trip abroad, and until recently, there was little in her life that would suggest that she would undertake such an adventurous endeavor or meet such a violent end.

When she was growing up, most of her trips were spent upstate with a youth group from a Christian Pentecostal church. Next Friday, funeral services will be held at that church, a place where she worshiped and came to know Steven Sierra, whom she married shortly after high school.

For her husband, the grim discovery of his wife’s body left open the mystery of her death. How did a tech-savvy young mother, whose growing passion for photography drew her overseas, end up dead by the ruins of Istanbul’s old city walls?

After Ms. Sierra’s death, Turkish authorities questioned and took DNA samples from nearly two dozen people. But so far, the tests have yielded no suspects and no formal arrests. The Turkish police said she died from severe head trauma.

For Ms. Sierra, 33, the trip had seemed so easy, booked on her iPad and previewed in gauzy digital photos by virtual friends: a room was reserved in Istanbul via Airbnb, the global apartment rental site; a side trip was arranged to meet a man in Amsterdam whom she had met online.

Even after a friend she was to travel with backed out, Ms. Sierra pressed on, departing on Jan. 7. She met digital friends for the first time on gritty Istanbul streets and in Amsterdam cafes, posting delicately crafted images taken with her phone to a cheerful band of social-media followers. And she stayed in constant contact with friends and relatives at home through Skype and instant messages. Friends said it was as if she had never left.

Such connectedness quite likely helped her feel secure in strange new surroundings, said Kathleen Cumiskey, a professor of psychology, gender and sexuality at the College of Staten Island, where Ms. Sierra was a part-time student.

“What it does is generate this sense that you’re not alone, which can really mess with your perception of risk,” she said, adding that social media “lulls you into this sense of security because it is a world of your own creation.”

Ms. Sierra used photo-based social networks to make new friends, including at least two men in Turkey and another in Amsterdam, with whom she stayed. In the absence of official updates on the investigation, Turkish news media reports have filled with suggestions that Ms. Sierra may have engaged in questionable behavior with some local residents.

One of the Turkish social media friends, identified only as Taylan K., said through a lawyer that their relationship was purely friendly and dismissed suggestions that Ms. Sierra had served as a drug courier, according to the semiofficial Anatolian News Agency. Ms. Sierra looked like an “ordinary tourist,” the lawyer, Ozkan Polat said, quoting his client.

The man she stayed with in Amsterdam, Ammer Reduron, also denied anything beyond a friendship, and said that Mr. Sierra was aware his wife would be staying in his apartment. “Taking care of her,” Mr. Reduron said, “meaning showing my city and being a good friend to her. She had a wonderful time here.”

Even before going abroad, Ms. Sierra began to engage offline with those she met on the photo-sharing site, Instagram.

A month before her trip, Ms. Sierra formed a bond with three amateur photographers in New York, meeting several weekends in unfamiliar areas of the city to shoot digital images on her Samsung phone. “She had, honestly, no fear wherever she went,” said Jay Pereira, 29, one member of the group. “Her mind was so adventurous.”

Mr. Pereira said he took her to Flushing, Queens, four days before her trip. She had never been there before, he said, but quickly took to photographing train tracks at a Long Island Rail Road stop. “She went down into the tracks, putting her phone literally on the rail,” he said. “Good thing no train came while she was down there.”

Ms. Pereira said they briefly discussed her impending trip. “She said, ‘I really do need a vacation,’ ” he remembered.

Born on Nov. 9, 1979, Ms. Sierra grew up in modest means, with deep religious beliefs and family ties. “She didn’t really think about getting into ballet or stuff like that,” her mother, Betsy Jimenez said. “I remember her saying she wanted to be a teacher.”

An average student, Ms. Sierra did not have plans for college, her mother said. She moved with Mr. Sierra to Grand Haven, Mich., to be close to his family, and worked as a receptionist in a doctor’s office. The couple returned to Staten Island after their two boys, now 9 and 11, were born, eventually settling in the Silver Lake neighborhood, Ms. Jimenez said.

Court records show Ms. Sierra filed for bankruptcy in 2005 under the weight of thousands of dollars in credit card debts. The records list her as unemployed and her marital status as separated. But her father, Dennis Jimenez, knew of no recent marital or financial troubles.

Friends said the couple appeared to be close, pointing out that Ms. Sierra shared passwords to her social media accounts with her husband.

Her mother said Ms. Sierra later took a part-time receptionist job at a local chiropractor’s office after the boys started school. She also took classes at the College of Staten Island; college officials said Ms. Sierra had been a part-time student off and on since 1998.

But it was a recent course in photography that grabbed her. Her early posts to social media were of the nails she painted, friends said. Ms. Jimenez remembered nails painted in bright colors or flower designs or with tiny dice and tinier dots.

Photography was a different kind of social and creative outlet for Ms. Sierra, one that exerted a seemingly natural pull. “It was like she had it in her all the time and then found out that she was good at it,” Ms. Jimenez said.

Soon her artistic frame of view broadened, from fingernails to cityscapes to sunsets over Istanbul and the canals of Amsterdam, where she took a side trip from Turkey. (She also made a brief layover in Munich, Mr. Reduron said.)

She posted her last picture on Jan. 20, a day before she went missing. Mr. Sierra and his wife’s brother, David Jimenez, would go to Istanbul to try to find Ms. Sierra. Their search ended when the authorities found her dead, her head bludgeoned.

On Thursday, Mr. Sierra was back on Staten Island, making funeral arrangements at Matthew Funeral Home. Another task, even more heartbreaking, had just been performed: telling his sons what they no doubt suspected, but had not yet been told.

“I told them,” he said, “Mommy got hurt and she died.”

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Another MUST-READ!! Wow!!

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By Ryan Lavis/Staten Island Advance

on February 13, 2013 at 9:32 PM, updated February 14, 2013 at 5:48

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Turkish officials probing the slaying of Sarai Sierra in Instanbul are looking to speak with a 46-year-old street paper collector known as 'Z."

Meanwhile, the family and friends of the 33-year-old mother of two will gather at Christian Pentecostal Church in Concord to say their final goodbyes.

A number of street people in Istanbul told investigators they saw "Z" loitering about the city's ancient walls on the day the Silver Lake mother went missing, according to a report from The Daily Mail.

The witnesses told investigators they saw "Z" near the spot where Ms. Sierra was eventually found dead. They told Turkish police that "Z" was covered in mud and dirt on Jan. 21, the day she went missing, when they saw him. When they ask him why he was covered in dirt he said, "I fell off the walls," according to The Daily Mail report.

The Daily Mail also reported that investigators believe "Z" may have tried to attack Ms. Sierra near the walls, and killed her when she resisted.

She was found dead in the same spot on Feb. 2 with extensive trauma to her head, torso and face.

The Turkish paper Haberturk, reported that "Z" had not been seen since the homeless people saw him and that investigators are trying to locate him.

This comes on the heels of a report, also from The Daily Mail, that investigators are focusing their search on five suspects, mostly a mix of homeless people on the scene and Ms. Sierra's Instagram and e-mail contacts.

Over the past few weeks, Ms. Sierra has been linked to two men she stayed with during her time abroad, including a man she had stayed with while in Amsterdam named Ammer Reduron. The two connected through Instagram, which Mrs. Sierra used to post pictures from her trip across Europe. She also stayed with a man known as Taylan K. Her husband had told the Advance he was aware his wife was staying with these men.

Several Turkish news sites have speculated that Ms. Sierra engaged in sexual intercourse with Taylan K., who has denied the rumors through his lawyer.

On Wednesday, Sierra would not comment on the investigation or the accusations of his wife's alleged infidelity.

"We're just trying to get through these next few days. It's been rough," he said, before hanging up the telephone to join his family.

Ms. Sierra's wake will take place on Valentine's Day, which would have been the couple's 15th wedding anniversary, at Christian Pentecostal Church, 900 Richmond Rd., Concord from 2 to 4 p.m. and 7 to 9 p.m. The funeral will take place the next day at Christian Pentecostal Church at 10 a.m. where the couple met and later married.

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Published February 15, 2013
Fox News Latino
Saying Goodbye to Sarai Sierra

The Puerto Rican mother who was killed during a solo trip to Turkey was put to rest in Staten Island.

Dozens gathered Friday to say their final farewell to a Latina mother from New York City who was killed during a solo trip to Turkey.

About 200 mourners attended Sarai Sierra’s funeral at Christian Pentecostal Church on Staten Island Friday morning. Following the service, Sierra, 33, was buried in a cemetery just steps away from the apartment building where she lived with her husband and children.

I have many questions for the Lord, but despite how tragically this came about, I know in my heart that my wife was in his presence.
- Steven Diaz-Sierra, Sarai's husband

In a service that featured several personal tributes, her husband, siblings and friends made clear they found solace in their faith.

"My mind is at peace," said her husband, Steven Diaz-Sierra.

The same day she was buried, Turkish investigators announced they had detained the siblings of a man wanted for questioning over her death.

Turkey's state-run agency said police briefly took the two brothers and a sister of the possible suspect into custody in the northern city of Karabuk. They were released after being questioned about their brother's whereabouts. The Anadolu agency says their DNA samples were taken.

Police in Karabuk refused to comment. Turkish news reports say police want to question a scrap paper collector who used to hang around Istanbul's ancient city walls, where Sierra's body was found on Feb. 2, 12 days after disappeared. Authorities say she sustained a fatal blow to the head.

Sierra had traveled to Turkey to explore her photography hobby. She went alone after a friend who was supposed to join her canceled for financial reasons.

That friend was among the mourners who gathered for her funeral.

Sierra’s service was at a church where he had been a member since she was a child, and was married there in 1998.

"Whatever the circumstances of her death, she's with God," and that belief provides comfort, said the Rev. John Rocco Carlo. The pastor said it was one of the most difficult funerals he performed in his two decades at the church, because he had watched Sierra grow up.

"It's not goodbye," said her brother, David Jimenez. "We'll see her again someday. Christ promised us that."
Still, while they spoke positively of their beliefs, the tributes also acknowledged the heartbreaking loss.

"There will always be that missing space in my life, and that missing space is you," said her sister, Christina Jimenez, as she struggled to hold back tears. "Nothing is the same now, and I doubt that will ever change."
Speaking directly to Sierra's sons — Silas, 9, and Sion, 11 — Carlo said: "As we grow older, we become our parents. We look like them, we act like them. We talk and walk like them.

"So when you miss your mom, look in the mirror. She's part of you."'

Based on reporting by The Associated Press.

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19 hours ago
by PIX11 Web Desk

Police have a suspect in the murder of Staten Island mom Sarai Sierra, who was killed in Turkey during a photography trip.

DNA from blood and skin found on her body have been matched to a homeless man identified as Ziya T., according to reports. A nationwide manhunt is now in progress, and detectives fear that the man may have fled across the Syrian border.

Police managed to pull the DNA samples from blood on her shirt, as well as skin cells found under her fingernails, according to the Dogan News Agency of Turkey.

Sarai Sierra, from Staten Island, New York, had been missing since January 22, when she was supposed to return to the United States. Her father, who had gone to the airport to pick her up, originally thought his daughter had been detained in customs, he said.

After a search that included her husband and brother traveling to Istanbul, Turkish police found Sierra’s body Saturday, near ancient stone walls in Istanbul’s Sarayburnu district, according to the semi-official Anatolian news agency.

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By Tracey Porpora/Staten Island Advance

on February 21, 2013 at 6:10 PM, updated February 22, 2013 at 5:41 AM Print

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Turkish police are actively seeking a man caught on video selling the brown leather jacket worn by Sarai Sierra on the day the 33-year-old Staten Island mom was found beaten to death in Istanbul.

The man, only known as Ziya T., has already been linked to the murder scene through DNA tests, according to Turkish media reports.

On Thursday, authorities revealed that Ziya T. was caught on video tape at a secondhand bazaar in Eminonu selling the brown leather jacket that Ms. Sierra is pictured wearing in photos that have been circulated around the world, according to a report in the Turkish newspaper Hurriyet.

She was wearing the jacket on the day she disappeared, according to the report.

On Wednesday, Turkish media outlets reported that forensics experts linked a hair sample collected from a pillow at the address of Ziya T., in the northwestern province of Karabuk, to blood samples found on Mrs. Sierra's T-shirt and under her nails.

New to the investigation is the revelation by police that Ms Sierra was beaten to death with a brick, not a rock, according to Turkish media reports.

Ziya T. was described by his relatives -- who aided authorities in collecting the DNA samples -- as "unstable,"according to the Daily Mail.

Various news reports say the suspect is still in Turkey but trying to flee to Syria, which shares a border at the southeast corner of Turkey, about 750 miles away from Karabuk.

Ziya T. also goes by the name "Laz Ziya," and makes a living collecting used paper, according to reports. He was reportedly spotted covered in mud, loitering about the ancient walls the day Mrs. Sierra went missing.
Mrs. Sierra went to Istanbul to explore her photography hobby, and made side trips to Amsterdam and to Munich, Germany. She was found beaten to death in Istanbul more than a week after she was first reported missing.

Mrs. Sierra was laid to rest on Friday, after a funeral service at Christian Pentecostal Church in Concord.

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By Ken Paulsen/Staten Island Advance

on February 24, 2013 at 8:55 AM, updated February 24, 2013 at 9:17 AM

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- The man suspected of killing Staten Island tourist Sarai Sierra in Turkey is a convicted thief who may ultimately seek refuge in Iran after heading for Syria, according to Turkish news reports.

The suspect, identified in published reports as Ziya T., has related different accounts of his intentions, all of which could serve as a smokescreen to his true hideout plans.

Sarai Sierra, a married mother of two from Silver Lake who took a solo vacation to Turkey, was found beaten to death in Istanbul on Feb. 2, more than a week after she was first reported missing. She had built a large following through her amateur photography both in New York and abroad.

Ziya T., also known as Laz Ziya, gave multiple reasons for fleeing, according to a report in the daily Haberturk, as cited by the Hurriyet Daily News.

"He reportedly told his family that he was fatally ill with a few months left to live, but also told a close friend that he was really headed for Iran, which he'll reach after passing through Syria," the report stated.

Ziya T. was last seen in his hometown of Karabuk, about 250 miles from Istanbul in the northwest section of Turkey. There, he reportedly connected with his brother. The brother related that Ziya T. planned to head to Syria, about 750 miles to the southeast.

It's unclear how an escape to Iran would work. Traveling through Syria would mean he would have to travel further east -- through Iraq -- to reach Iran. Turkey's southeast corner does share a border with Iran, so it's unclear why he would need to travel through Syria.

The Haberturk account said that Ziya T.'s father died when Ziya T. was a child, and he had been a street child since the age of 11, according to the Hurrityet Daily News report. At one point, he served seven years in prison for theft., the report said.

The governor of Istanbul confirmed that Turkish forces are scouting the country for Ziya T., Hurriyet reported. That has his brother fearing for Ziya T.'s life: "Police must find him and it must be revealed if he is guilty or not. I gave every kind of assistance to the police for them to find my brother. Our nerves are frayed as a family, especially mine. My psychology is upside down. I cannot walk out on the streets. Guilty or not, please call me, let us know where you are ... Surrender," said the brother, identified as Hamdi T., according to a separate Hurriyet Daily News report.

A friend of Ziya T. told the Daily Mail that the man was a petty thief who fled when he was told police were looking to pin the crime on him. "Forget killing a person, he can't even cut a chicken," said the friend, identified as Zafer Ozden. "Ziya was the same as always. There was nothing odd about him. We only know he went to prison for petty crimes in the winter because he doesn't have a place to stay."

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Posted: 02/25/2013 9:57 am EST

The homeless man wanted for the murder of a New York mom vacationing in Turkey might be making a run for Iran, according to reports published in Turkish media.

Police have chased the trail of used paper collector Ziya T. for 250 miles from Istanbul -- where Sarai Sierra's bludgeoned remains were found on Feb. 2 -- to Karabuk, where his family lives. Sources there allegedly told police that he revealed he was trying to get out of the country.

Newly discovered surveillance footage allegedly shows the suspect trying to sell Sierra's coat in the gritty part of Istanbul where her body was found, the Daily Mail reported.

That comes after authorities said blood on Sierra's shirt allegedly matched Ziya T.'s DNA. Eyewitnesses said they saw the suspect covered in dirt and with fresh scratches on his arm the day Sierra was killed and near where she was left.

The 33-year-old married mother of two was due to fly home to Staten Island on Jan. 22 after a two-week trip to Turkey, Amsterdam and Munich. She took the trip alone and was developing her hobby of photography.

A brick found near her body with blood on it is believed to be the murder weapon.

In his hometown days after police launched a huge search for Sierra, Ziya T. reportedly gave a variety of explanations of why he was there and where he was going.


Family members add he claimed to have a fatal illness with a few months to live. He allegedly told his brother he was en route to Syria, the Staten Island Advance reported.

Authorities responded by posting his photograph at border crossings in the south, USA Today wrote.

But a close friend in Ziya T.'s hometown had a different version. Over coffee, the friend said Ziya fled Istanbul because police would try to frame him for Sierra's murder, the Daily News said. His friend said Ziya divulged that he wanted to get into Iran, according to a report in Turkish media.

Details about the suspect's personal life circulated in Turksih press. The 46-year-old Ziya T. is also known as Laz Ziya, according to a report cited in the Hurriyet Daily News. When he was 11, shortly after the death of his father, he became homeless and once served seven years in prison for theft, the paper reported.

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ISTANBUL - Hürriyet Daily News

A forensic report has determined that Sarai Sierra, the female U.S. citizen murdered in Turkey in while travelling alone, died because of a blow to the head and no indications of rape or the presence of drugs were found, a Turkish daily reported today.

The Istanbul Forensic Medicine Institute is still in the process of finalizing the report, according to daily Akşam.

However, it has emerged that the report establishes the cause of the victim’s death as a blow to the head, with no other injuries found on her body aside from a few scratches likely to have resulted from being dragged or carried.

DNA samples taken from Sierra’s brother David Jimenez were also used for the examination.

The report said no sign of rape was discovered. The experts also did not find any traces of drugs in her blood, but further examinations will be held by the same institution’s Chemistry Specialization Department and will be sent to the prosecutor’s office in 20 days time.

U.S. citizen Sierra, who has two children, aged nine and 11, left the United States on Jan. 7, for the first time in her life, to take pictures of Istanbul, which is visited by millions of tourists every year. She went missing in the city on Jan. 21 and her dead body was found on Feb. 2. Dozens of people have been questioned in connection with the murder near the ancient city walls, which local authorities say have turned into a haven for drug users and criminal gangs. Police have been searching for suspects since then, but the number one suspect, Ziya T., remains yet to be found. Recent reports and sightings indicate he may have fled to the southern province of İskenderun.

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Istanbul (CNN) -- Turkish police on Sunday arrested a man suspected of killing American tourist Sarai Sierra, whose body was found last month, according to local authorities.
The suspect, who was identified in late February as "Ziya T.," was captured in the southern province of Hatay, where he has family, a provincial statement said.
Sierra, a mother and amateur photographer from Staten Island, New York, went missing January 22 while on a solo trip. Her body was found February 2 near ancient stone walls in Istanbul, according to the semi-official Anatolian news agency.
Police suspect the 33-year-old was killed at a different location from where she was found. Sierra went to Turkey on January 7 and was due to return home January 22.
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Finally!!!!!!

ANKARA, Turkey -- Istanbul's police chief says a man suspected of killing a New York City woman in Istanbul was caught in Syria in a joint operation by Syrian rebels and Turkish officials.

Huseyin Capkin contradicted a statement by the interior minister who had said the suspect was detained at the border as he entered Turkey.

Istanbul Governor Avni Mutlu says the suspect has confessed to killing Sarai Sierra, whose body was found in Istanbul on Feb. 2, days after she was reported missing during a solo vacation. Authorities say she died of a blow to the head.

A video reportedly recorded in Syria, and posted on Hurriyet newspaper's website, shows the purported suspect saying he was under the influence of paint thinner during the incident.

Turkish news reports have described him as a homeless scrap paper collector.
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Video at link

Sarai Sierra tried to fight off her killer in a 30-minute struggle

The man who allegedly killed a Staten Island mom while she was on vacation in Istanbul, Turkey, earlier this year made his confession to police on Monday and described his brutal actions in detail.

Sarai Sierra, 33, was taking pictures near railroad tracks on Jan. 21 when she encountered the accused killer, a vagrant known as Ziya T. The suspect tried to kiss Sierra, but she hit him with her cell phone and caused his nose to bleed, The New York Post reports. Angered by her action, Ziya T. then punched Sierra and sent her rolling down an embankment.

The Staten Island wife and mother of two tried to fight off her killer for 30 minutes. At one point, she hit him with a rock. Ziya T. then picked up a rock and hit her in the head multiple times. He left her to die.

The suspect returned the next day, covered her body and discarded her belongings. He later fled to Syria but recently decided to turn himself in because he knew cops were closing in.

Turkish investigators have linked DNA from Ziya T’s relatives to matter from under Sierra’s fingernails, the Post reports.

Sierra had left for Turkey on Jan. 7. Her body was found on Feb. 2.

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