ANKARA, Turkey (AP) - A New York City woman who went missing while
vacationing alone in Istanbul was found dead on Saturday, and police
were questioning 11 people in connection with the case, Turkey's
state-run news agency said.
Sarai Sierra, a 33-year-old mother of two, was last
heard from on Jan. 21, the day she was to fly home. Her disappearance
attracted a lot of interest in Turkey, where the disappearance of
tourists is rare, and Istanbul police had set up a special unit to find
her.
The state-run Anadolu Agency said the body of a
woman was discovered Saturday evening near the remnants of ancient city
walls and that police later identified it as Sierra's.
The agency said she was found with a head wound and
a blanket near her body. She was wearing jeans, a jumper and a jacket,
and still had her earrings and a bracelet.
Police reached by The Associated Press refused to comment on the case.
Sierra, whose children are 9 and 11, had left for
Istanbul on Jan. 7 to explore her photography hobby and made a side trip
to Amsterdam, Netherlands, and Munich, Germany. She had originally
planned to travel with a friend, but ended up traveling alone when her
friend canceled.
She was in regular contact with friends and
relatives, and was last in touch with her family on Jan. 21, the day she
was due back in New York. She told them she would visit Galata Bridge,
which spans Istanbul's Golden Horn waterway, to take photos.
The body was found not far from the bridge and near
a major road that runs alongside the sea of Marmara. Here tourists
often photograph dozens of tankers waiting to access the Bosporus
strait.
On Saturday, police stopped traffic there as forensic police inspected the area.
Anadolu suggested Sierra may have been killed at
another location and that her body may have been brought to the site to
be hidden there.
At least 11 people were being questioned in
Istanbul, Anadolu said, and a police official at the site told
journalists that two of them were women. The official spoke on condition
of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to reporters about
the case. Earlier, Anadolu had said nine people were detained.
It was not clear if a Turkish man Sierra had
exchanged emails with during her stay in Istanbul was among those being
questioned. He was detained for questioning Friday, then released.
Turkish news reports said Sierra had arranged to meet the man on Galata
Bridge, but he reportedly told police the meeting never took place.
Shortly after her body was discovered, a woman came
forward and told police she had seen a white car parked near the city
walls as she was driving there the night of Jan. 29, Anadolu reported.
She said a man was trying to remove "something" from the car.
"At that moment, I noticed a woman's hand," Anadolu
quoted the woman as telling reporters after talking with police. The
agency said she declined to give her name.
Sierra's husband, Steven, and her brother, David
Jimenez, traveled to Istanbul to help search for her. Sierra's mother,
Betzaida Jimenez, said Saturday that she couldn't talk about the case
when reached in New York.
Shortly after Sierra was reported missing, Turkey
set up a special police unit which scanned hours of security camera
footage in downtown Istanbul in search of clues. A Turkish missing
persons association joined the search, handing out flyers with photos of
Sierra and urging anyone with information to call police.
While break-ins and petty thievery are common in
Istanbul, the vast and crowded city is considered relatively safe
compared to other major urban centers. Sierra's death was unlikely to
have a significant impact on tourism, a large component of the Turkish
economy.
In 2008, an Italian artist, Pippa Bacca, was raped
and killed while hitchhiking to Israel wearing a wedding dress to plead
for peace. Her naked body was found in a forest in northwest Turkey. A
Turkish man was sentenced to life in prison for the attack.
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