Sarai Sierra, Staten Island mom missing in Turkey, was to meet man she knew online day she vanished: reports
33-year-old mother of two disappeared on Jan. 21. Special task force in Istanbul is looking through ‘thousands of hours’ of video captures on hundreds of security cameras to determine what happened to her.
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Thursday, January 31, 2013, 12:29 PM
AP
Sarai Sierra, a 33 year-old mother of two, has been missing since Jan. 21, when she was due to return home.
ANKARA, Turkey — A special Turkish police task force looking for a
missing New York City woman was sifting through “thousands of hours” of
video recovered from about 500 security cameras in downtown Istanbul,
Turkey’s state-run agency reported Thursday.
Sarai Sierra, a 33-year old mother of two, who was vacationing alone in Istanbul, has been missing since Jan. 21, when she was due to board her flight back home.
RELATED: TURKISH COPS HUNT MISSING S.I. WOMAN'S INTERNET PAL
A police official told The Associated Press that police were still
trying to locate a man who had exchanged online messages with Sierra in
Istanbul. Turkish news reports say Sierra had made arrangements to meet
the man on a bridge she planned to take photographs of, on the day she
disappeared, but it was not known if the meeting had taken place.
The state-run Anadolu said 28 police officers were assigned to scan security camera images from around the Taksim neighborhood, where she stayed in a hostel and around the nearby Galata Bridge she planned to visit.
RELATED: VIDEO RELEASED OF MISSING STATEN ISLAND MOM IN TURKEY
Sierra left for Istanbul on Jan. 7 to explore her photography hobby and
made a side trip to Amsterdam, Netherlands, and Munich, Germany.
Anadolu said Turkish authorities had also requested information from Germany and the Netherlands on her trips there. They were also seeking information from the U.S. about her bank account activities and mobile phone calls, it said.
On Thursday, a Turkish missing persons association joined the search,
handing out flyers with photos of Sierra and urging anyone with
information to call police. The group was driving a bus covered in
posters of her through areas she had gone to, including Galata Bridge, a
tourist destination she last told her family she would visit.
Sierra’s husband, Steven, and brother, David Jimemez, travelled to Istanbul to help in the search. Sierra’s children are 9 and 11.
RELATED: STATEN ISLAND WOMAN GOES MISSING IN TURKEY
In New York, Sierra’s sister told the AP that Steven Sierra and Jimenez were “still getting information” on her disappearance.
“We’re just praying and hoping for her return,” Christina Jimenez said. “We love her and we thank everyone for their prayers that has supported us.”
Jimenez said she could not speak about the investigation.
Sierra had planned to go on the trip with a friend, but ended up going by herself when the friend couldn’t make it.
Police on Thursday released new security camera footage of Sierra going through security checks at Istanbul’s Ataturk Airport on her way to Amsterdam. She is seen alone, wearing jeans, a gray top and a gray hat.
Sarai Sierra, a 33-year old mother of two, who was vacationing alone in Istanbul, has been missing since Jan. 21, when she was due to board her flight back home.
RELATED: TURKISH COPS HUNT MISSING S.I. WOMAN'S INTERNET PAL
Video captured via CCTV shows Sarai Sierra eating alone at restaurant in the Beyoglu district of Istanbul.
The state-run Anadolu said 28 police officers were assigned to scan security camera images from around the Taksim neighborhood, where she stayed in a hostel and around the nearby Galata Bridge she planned to visit.
RELATED: VIDEO RELEASED OF MISSING STATEN ISLAND MOM IN TURKEY
AP
Members of the Istanbul-based Association For Families With Lost Relatives hand out flyers.
Anadolu said Turkish authorities had also requested information from Germany and the Netherlands on her trips there. They were also seeking information from the U.S. about her bank account activities and mobile phone calls, it said.
uncredited/ASSOCIATED PRESS
Sarai Sierra is shown in an undated family photo.
Sierra’s husband, Steven, and brother, David Jimemez, travelled to Istanbul to help in the search. Sierra’s children are 9 and 11.
RELATED: STATEN ISLAND WOMAN GOES MISSING IN TURKEY
AP
A Turkish mother shows a picture of her missing son as the members of the Istanbul-based Association For Families With Lost Relatives hand out flyers with photos of Sarai Sierra.
“We’re just praying and hoping for her return,” Christina Jimenez said. “We love her and we thank everyone for their prayers that has supported us.”
Jimenez said she could not speak about the investigation.
Sierra had planned to go on the trip with a friend, but ended up going by herself when the friend couldn’t make it.
Police on Thursday released new security camera footage of Sierra going through security checks at Istanbul’s Ataturk Airport on her way to Amsterdam. She is seen alone, wearing jeans, a gray top and a gray hat.
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