A nuclear arms race with Pakistan has left the populace pennyless. Robbed and stabbed to death.

An American woman traveling alone. Not even in this country do I advise it.

We've done the same in this country with military spending, and just printing more money to keep it hush for a few more yesrs.

You gotta love those nuclear weapons though. Can't get enough nuclear powered submarines with nuclear weapons. Never know when you'll need to blow up the world 20 or 30 times or so.

Education and housing are so droll, when power is so cool.

What a woman will not risk for a good sex. They would die for it, and she did just that. No pitty from here.

So sad for the family, but what on earth would possess someone to travel to a Middle Eastern Country by themselves? Americans do not understand the cultures of these places. There are alot of people that have such hatred for Americans, and they have very little regard for women in these areas too. She should have taken her family on a vacation to a place that is not so dangerous. I would NEVER let my wife do something like this!

These things can happen anywhere. There was a news story from a small town right down the road awhile back about a 20 something year old young lady who had stopped at a gas station to ask directions. A couple of the customers had said they would gladly show her and to follow them. They drove her out to the middle of nowhere and raped her. This was in a rural, nothing ever happens town..... You can't be that trusting anywhere. On the flip side, I had a family member that walked through a Turkish neighborhood in Germany and was mugged by a group of 9 and 10 year olds with knives. Not saying this is a Turkish thing because i'm sure it is perfectly safe to walk most places in Istanbul, however if this woman trusted the wrong people and was in the wrong area.....

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Turkey is a wonderful country, but traveling there alone, especially Istanbul, is just plain stupid! I was stationed in Izmir for 2 years, which is a pretty safe city compared to some, but was still mugged because I put myself in a stupid situation and walked home alone one night from a club. Does this happen in America and other places? Of course. But traveling in that part of the world, especially if you're an American woman by yourself is, again, STUPID! When I was making my travel plans even the Army told me to absolutely NOT fly into Istanbul because I am an American woman and I was traveling alone! And while some post-ers on here have traveled solo to many places, that region of the world is extremely volatile and traveling there SOLO is just a bad idea all the way around.

That being said, I do send out prayers to her family, especially her sweet children! RIP.

Istanbul, New York, Iran, Chicago they are all the same. You pretty much need to be armed and have somebody watching your back at all times. I am with NY Joe though, doesn't seem to make sense why a woman with children and a husband would travel to such a place alone. Seems like one hell of a risk and for what? Especially since Americans seemed to be despised all over the world, thanks to our government.

You know what's really sad here, for me anyway, is that I knew (not factually, just gut instinct) when I read the story, that she was probably dead. Who in their right mind goes to a third world country by themselves? I know she was supposed to go with a friend who backed out at the last minute, but she should have changed plans or something and NOT gone by herself. I can't believe that her husband let her go without somebody with her. I know that sounds wrong, but that was very risky behavior and it got her killed. I feel extreme sadness for this family. I asked my husband last night if he would have let me do something like that and he said no way!! Now, I have flown across the U.S. and driven several hundred miles by myself, but I made no unneccessary stops and I was meeting a friend in another state. I, myself, would never go anywhere outside of the U.S. by myself. It's too dangerous. Again, it breaks my heart that this woman died because she and her husband didn't think this through. Condolences to her family.

I wonder if while she may have been an American yet she may have been born there and she may have longed to go back on a tight budged, so she went back alone.

I realize that people have certain passions to travel to other countries to "see the world", but for a woman to travel to another country where she is in no way familiar with....alone.....just is not a wise choice no matter how you look at it. When the story first broke my comment was "Why is the world would a woman travel out of the country to an unfamiliar country ALONE ? I can not believe her husband was ok with that." When her friend backed out she should have also. At least postpone the trip. There is safety in numbers. Regardless....my heart goes out to her husband and children. I can not imagine their pain.......

Great, they found her. This is fantastic news. Are there any pictures she can share so that I don't have to go all the way to Turkey to see the sights.

A single woman traveling alone is risky. In a foreign country, it is downright foolish. Sadly, an all too-common story, with an all too-predictable ending.

Will people ever learn?

Excuse me folks, but I have traveled & worked extensively out of the USA including eastern europe. One needs to be vigilant of their surrounding & others constantly, does not matter what country, some are worse than others. If at all possible, you do not go roaming around alone, male or female, because you are asking for trouble which she found. I am familiar with the area were she was found and it is not an area where you go roaming around. I think there is more to this story than meets the eye, why did she make unscheduled trips to Germany, Austria, Italy? You just don't go trapesing off on the spare of the moment. Why would you leave your passport in a hostel room? Your required by law in Turkey to carry your passport at all times. You can be stopped at anytime and asked to show your passport by the military, police, and their secret services. If you don't have it, you automatically go to jail. Eastern europe is not the safest place to be at the present time or for about the past eight years. If you are an American you stick out like a sore thumb, your dress, mannerisms, when you speak, and just the way you act and conduct yourself. Most times you are calling attention to yourself without even knowing it. Far as I'm concerned, the authorities need to investigate her trips to Germany , Austria, and Italy. Need a passport & hotels/hostels require a passport before you can get a room and your presence at one is reported to the authorities everyday. Some countries the hotels/hostels hold your passport until you check out. The average American in a foreign countrie has absolutely no idea on how to conduct themself.

Actually, here's a word of advice. Stay away from that stink hole called the middle east. Or any where associated with it. You go there, you walk with predators. Pigs. Your choice. Why not try Rahm Emanuel's Chicago? No aholes there.

While this is very sad. She chose to go meet a guy from the internet. In a foreign country...Dumb ass got killed... I no longer have sympathy for morons....Or whores.

Why would a woman with 3 kids and a husband go to Turkey by herself??????

When will the liberals learn that not everyone thinks as they do. No American woman is safe in an islamist country. You just can't go over there and say I Am a friend as they will still kill you if you are not of their style of Islam. You can't cure stupid. I do feel sorry for her family though. What was her husband thinking by letting her go off without him to an islamist country.

One less "feminist" victimized by her stupid "wish-list" of a different world...

I feel for the kids, excluded the husband!

I won 2/3 of the office pool so far. I picked Yes they would find her and Stabbed. I am $200 richer.

An internet-arranged tryst gone bad?? She seemed to want to get to Turkey very badly; even at the risk of throwing caution to the wind. Condolences to the kids.

This woman's children are without a mother because she wanted to take pictures. Google Turkey Images, too many to mention. Photo journalists risk their lives to bring truth to all of us. Bless her family. Has she the right to do what she did, of course, but irresponsible. What a shame, her children will suffer greatly for her decision.

so sad. i had a feeling this was going to happen. i have a friend who travels alone all the time to india and i beg her to please be careful. she has a husband and he never goes. she has a lot of friends in india but i am afraid for her all the time.

The European/western woman traveling alone in an Islamic country, upon easy questioning, were repulsed by her western attitude !!!

Yep, stay here and get killed in a theater, school, school bus, or mall. You are not safe anywhere.

Every country has its good and its bad, including our good ol' US of A, and without knowing this poor young ladys travel experience we may never know what placed her in her final moments. Having had the opportunity to travel abroad when I was younger, I quickly learned there is one thing you don't stop doing when traveling is stop practicing safety. My condolences to her family ---God I hope they find who did this.