E-mail updates
Follow on Twitter
Subscribe to RSS
AP
A Turkish security official leaves a hostel with belongings of Sarai Sierra, 33, a New York City woman who has been missing since Jan. 21, when she was supposed to return from Istanbul.
Turkish police have released security camera footage of a New York City woman who went to Istanbul on a photography vacation and never returned home.
The Hurriyet newspaper reported the video of Sarai Sierra, 33, was taken Jan. 20, the day before the married mother of two missed her flight home to Staten Island.
It shows her walking along in a shopping mall food court and strolling in a shopping district while wearing headphones, The Associated Press reported.
Sierra, an amateur photographer, traveled to Istanbul on Jan. 7, and made side trips to Amsterdam and Munich. Her family said she was in regular contact with before she disappeared.
"You just want it to end," her husband, Steven, told NBCNewYork before he flew to Turkey earlier this week. "You just want it to be over with already so you can go on with your life and smile again and laugh and enjoy your kids."
He said his wife was originally supposed to travel with a friend, but when the pal dropped out of the trip, she went alone.
"When you've been married for as long as we've been ... you want to support your spouse," he said.
He said when his wife didn't come home, he called the airline and was told she never got on the plane.
He and his wife's brother arrived in Istanbul on Monday. On Tuesday, they were interviewed by police, the state-run Anadolu Agency said.
Leave a Comment:
I fear this will not end well. Istanbul can be dangerous.
You're so full of it.
Turkey doesn't have psychos with guns shooting little kids in the head. Just today an old man killed a doctor, another old man killed a driver that drove onto his driveway by mistake, and another man killed a bus driver to kidnap a child off the school bus.
there are psychos everywhere... when you travel somewhere alone... you better really know what you are doing... esp females
I suppose that you believe females are more vulnerable then males traveling alone. Must be that sexual desire thing.
A rise in the percentage of murdered women going up 1.4 percent may be a statistical anomaly.
A rise in the percentage of murdered women going up 14 percent may be a matter of concern.
A rise in the percentage of murdered women going up 140 percent would be a national crises.
A rise in the percentage of murdered women going up 1400 percent must be covered up, and never talked about.
Modern Turkey today.
http://archive.hurriyetdailynews.com/n.php?n=women-murder-victims-increase-snowballing-in-turkey-2011-02-20
You're making my point that Sarai is probably hiding from an abusive husband. In almost every case in the article, these women were murdered by their husbands or ex-husbands.
How's that different than in the US?
The homicide rate for women in Turkey is 1.2 per 100,000. In the US it's 2.2 per 100,000.
No, you may have an overactive imagination, and are making that up
You have an overactive imagination and just made that up as well. Both figures are higher.
(ps) all humans are not women. The rate of the murder of women in the nation of Turkey, has gone up 1400% acording to Turkish sources.
kpr37
Here's the link to the actual data on murder rates in all developed countries:
oecdbetterlifeindex.org/topics/safety/
Click on Turkey:
The homicide rate for women in Turkey is 1.2 per 100,000.
Click on US:
In the US it's 2.2 per 100,000.
I'm guessing that it has something to do with the number of guns in our society.
links work, they connect someplace
this is a working link. and it says in America it's 4.8 per 100,000 and Turkey is 3.3 per 100,000
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_intentional_homicide_rate
She is a beautiful woman, I wish her and the family a good outcome........
From ibb.gov
My first guess even before looking for the information on google is that any large Islamic city would be far safer than cities in non-Islamic nations. And I am an American.
That statistic is not only complete BS, is't not even copied and pasted accurately. *ANYONE* who has any remote level of intuitive perception and has traveled to each of those cities, as I have (with the exception of Belfast), will tell you that Istanbul is undoubtedly the most dangerous city of them all. To even compare Copenhagen or Brussels to it is such a joke. What a laughable quote.
Jesus Christ. You're much safer in Istanbul than Chicago, or LA. You're not even safe in a frigging movie theater in Colorado or a shopping mall in Clackamas, Oregon. I think that they have a law against rednecks with assault rifles in Turkey.
You wish! It is accurate. And it wouldn't be the case 50 years ago before liberals took over the justice system in America and Europe and watered down the penalties for serious and violent crimes.
The Islamic nations still have serious penalties for aggressive crimes. Hence, people respect those penalties.
Nicely put Buds and Suds. The accusatory paranoid comments are all reminiscent of "they're gonna rape our woman" mentality that was prevalent in the south in the 1800's ...
The Turks will find her. I hope she is safe and not hurt.
Travelling abroad alone is generally not a good idea. I hope that she's found safely.
Traveling abroad alone is generally not a good idea? REALLY? Walking down the street alone has risks. Where you do it (particularly in a country with a homicide rate half of ours) probably is not a determinative variable.
Travel agencies will even tell you not to travel alone in other countries that are not necessarily at peace. Yes, where you do it is very determinate. Would you travel alone in Syria right now? Or Iraq? Women in particular are often targets in other countries.
Oh B.S. Of course I would not go to (let alone walk alone in) Syria OR Iraq. However, she was not doing that. She was in Turkey, a country that has a stable government, that is a member of NATO, for heaven's sake. AND which has a homicide rate about one half of our own. I'm a sixties plus female who has traveled much of the globe safely, so I certainly do not need your condescending lectures about what is or is not safe for me to do! AND when I do travel, I plan my own travel and do not rely on travel agents for advice when I can get it directly from the U.S. Department of State.
A western woman, by herself, in and Islamic city? Not the best idea, even in Turkey. We can pray for a good result, but it is not promising.
Are you serious? Do you know how many young European girls travel to Turkey, overstay their visas, work illegally? Many of them go looking for a Turkish lover. Some get married and raise a family there.
usbworks: Do you work for Turkish tourism?
I have nothing against Turkey, I have always wanted to visit there, but a strange woman alone in any city is inherently dangerous. My favorite foreign destination is Morocco, but I would never allow my wife to travel to Casablanca by herself. Please be realistic.
My daughter just spent two months this past summer in Turkey by herself. She had a great time. She's 19 and can't speak Turkish. She made many friends, Turkish, French, English and German. She's invited to Istanbul. She traveled there alone and traveled by bus, train and plane back to Portland, Oregon. She told me that she felt very safe and no one harassed her. The first time that she felt any fear was when she arrived back in the states at JFK.
Yes, I agree on JFK, even worse, I hope she didn't have a layover in Chicago. Highest gun murder rate with the strictest gun control laws. A very scary place to visit.
danangel...
REALLY? Do you have any IDEA how ridiculous you sound???? You would not ALLOW your wife to go somewhere? You sound just like the chauvinistic Muslims you purport to condemn. The day my husband dictated my whereabouts to me would be the day he'd be my ex!
The fact is that she left her husband of 14 years and her children behind to travel alone to Istanbul in the middle of winter.
It's fact that she was in contact for 2 whole weeks while in Istanbul. After a last conversation with her husband on the morning of the day she was set to board her flight, she disappeared.
How convenient...
She left him and her kids. She wouldn't be the first married woman taking desperate measures to escape a bad marriage. She won't be the last.
I bet she eloped with a Turkish man.
I was in Istanbul with my wife this past summer. We had a great time. It was far safer than New York. So I doubt that this disappearance is associated with a rape or a robbery.
1] Istanbul is a beautiful city, but not as pretty in the winter.
2] The tour operator is based in Amsterdam.
3] Sarai made side trips to Amsterdam and Munich from Istanbul.
I doubt that she was a drug mule as some comments have speculated because this was apparently her first ever trip outside the US. I suspect that this is about her trying to escape an unhappy or abusive marriage. After all, she married very young at 19 years old and has been with her husband for 14 years. That's a long time with the same partner.
Sounds as if you are talking from experience. Not everyone is as unhappy with their lives as you seem to be.
Also, even the safest cities have some crime and it only takes one.
Not everyone disappears while traveling alone either. In fact far fewer women traveling alone disappear in Turkey then in the US. Last year 800,000 Americans were reported missing, that's 2,000 every hour. Most were found but thousands are not.
USB, you are talking through your ass. I will just say that not ALL ignorant fools like yourself and the subject victim (yes victim) go missing. Look up the term "human trafficing." I've lived overseas in places such as Turkey, and if your "hosts" know you are an American, it could be extremely detrimental.
Well clearly you've lived there far too long. You've forgotten how to spell human trafficking. Ibne. Look it up.
Clearly she was cheating on him, find her lover and you'll find her killer.
If she was cheating on her husband, then he has a pretty good alibi. He was clear across the Atlantic.
MikeyD34 - You've been watching too many made for TV movies....LOL
REALLY?? Just because a woman travels alone due to her friend not being able to go last minute DOES NOT MAKE HER A CHEATER...
No I was just hoping for the best. The alternatives are worse.
Yeah because it's perfectly normal for a married woman to vacation by herself and be in close contact with another man the entire time and make side trips she didn't tell her husband about. Totally normal, obviously she was cheating and when you find the man she rendevous'd with, you will find her killer.
/As a woman that has traveled all over the world solo (including Istanbul immediately after 9/11) I have never felt threatened abroad. I have walked the ghettos of Istanbul at 2am. I am more worried in an elevator at a US airport parking garage than anywhere else! To those spouting the "danger"... you obviously either have not traveled the world or buy in to the "the world is a dangerous place" being put out by in the U.S. Gov't and media to keep you lemmings in line! Grow a set and enjoy this wonderful planet. To the missing women's family.... I pray for her safe return...since NONE of us were there when she disappeared, how could we possibly offer anything more! GOD SPEED for a safe return....
Well said, karma2u ... very true for males and females alike! One thing she might have done differently ... walking around in a mall with headphones on ... but hey, no one's perfect. Wish her a safe return!
Karma... do you normally walk the ghetto's at 2:AM? I doubt you would last 10 minutes 2 miles north of the Miami VA hospital on a Sat at midnight..
Sorry, seems I'm not exactly overwrought over someone lacking some mental facilities that vacations in winter to a world hot spot, or was vacation the mission???. She can fool her husband perhaps, ................
Awwwwwww. What will they do with her tickets to Egypt and Syria later this year. Idiots....stupid is as stupid does.
I've been to Istanbul and Cairo MANY, MANY times traveling alone as a single female without any issue. I felt safer walking alone at night in both cities that I would in any major city in the USA. Savvy travelers, both male and female need to be alert, this would not include walking around wearing head phones! You have to be confident and street smart and most will leave you alone. There are the street urchins that will make cat calls towards women, you just ignore them and keep walking with your head up!
As a world traveler I can tell you that traveling alone especially if your a female is like playing russian roulette with a loaded gun. Even if you did it once and it worked out for you does not mean that it is safe.. On the video you can see she looks like a total tourist and sticks out like a sore thumb, those creepy guys were looking like they were waiting to kidnap a tourist. It only takes 1 second like in the movie "taken" for some guy to put you in the trunk. In the middle east they would take girls and steal them in cars. This world is not safe why play russian roulette with your life? Wake up!
The latest in the case. Saai Sierra arrived in Istanbul,Turkey Jan.12- renting a room in a hostel (house) paying 222 euros. On Jan.15 she depasrted for Amsterdam,Netherlands and Munich,Germany. She returned to Turkey Jan.19. Video surveillance tapes -she was in Sultanahmet and Taksim in Istanbul. The owner of the hostel saw her on Jan.20- as did the videotapes. Her husband Steven gave police her Facebook/Twitter accounts to track whom she knew in Turkey- the 4 Turks not id'ed are being questioned regarding Sarai Sierra. Of greater note- she spent so far in Europe in one (1) week over $10,000 dollars.
mimi - how do you know how much she spent in Europe?
mimi,
You sound like you are middle east expert.
I hope she is safe & sound. The only thing that bothers me is the Amsterdam trip. many people knows that Amsterdam is free market of hashis and its is transported there mostly via Turkey from Afghanistan , pakistan, iran etc.
Sultanahmed is a tourist district, largely Europeans with tight budgets.
A senior police official told The Associated Press that Sierra had exchanged messages with a person before she disappeared and police were now trying to trace the man or woman he described as a possible suspect in her disappearance.
The official said Sierra "presumably met" the person after she arrived in Istanbul. He spoke on condition of anonymity in line with government rules that bar civil servants from speaking to journalists without prior authorization.
The official, however, denied several Turkish media reports - that police were searching for an unknown man caught following Sierra on security camera footage; that Sierra had spent some US$12,000 during her stay in Istanbul; and that a narcotics team had searched her hostel room on suspicion that she might be a drug courier. "It's all made-up," he said.
Sarai Sierra spent $10,000 US dollars from January 12 - January 19,2013 in Istannbul<Turkey (222 Euros for hostel room rent + meals) then January 15 she traveled to Amsterdam,Netherlands and Munich,Germany returning to Turkey Jan.19... this is based on Interpol/ EU sec.police-charges/valuta exchanges.
USBWORKS IS A FU@KING AHMAK!!! I lived in Turkey for 2 years and parts of it are just as bad as Afghanistan.
I do hope they find this woman. And yes people are in danger any place at any time in this world we live in. It is just as dangerous in the U.S. but the difference is that in a foreign country could be more risky for a female especially traveling along. In many countries, females are not considered as important as males and are not treated with the same respect so yes as a woman myself I feel that traveling in foreign countries (especially some) could be more dangerous than here in the U.S. language, customs, even law enforcement makes a big difference. and you need to take in consideration when looking at statics that in many foreign countries crimes against women are not even reported because of the way that countries's society looks at females.
sorry, i meant when you look at statistics on crimes against women, in many countries these crimes are never reported by many women.