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Turkish homeless man identified as “Ziya T” has confessed to fatally bludgeoning Staten Island mother Sarai Sierra in Istanbul.
The man has said his victim fought for her life for approximately 30 minutes before she went limp and he fled the scene.
Ziya T, a trash collector who lives in Istanbul was detained by police as he tried to flee across the border to Syria, after spending weeks on the run following the discovery of 33-year-old Sarai Sierra’s body, on February 2nd.
He told police he was drunk and high on paint thinner when he stumbled on Sarai Sierra, who was walking by Istanbul’s ancient city walls, according to the Hurriyet Daily News.
Zyia T said he tried to kiss Sarai Sierra and she resisted, hitting him with her cell phone as he dragged her into an alcove where they fought for about a half hour, police said.
In the midst of the struggle, he began hitting the woman with a rock until her body went limp. He then fled from the scene, leaving Sarai Sierra in only her underwear and a shirt.
But the next day, Ziya returned to the scene to cover Sarai Sierra’s body with two blankets before stealing her iPad and phone. He told police he later threw the belongings into the ocean.
“I got thinner, the woman was passing by there. I hit the woman’s head with a stick. When I woke up in the morning, I realized the blood of the woman and I understood she was dead. I went to Karabük and passed to Syria,” admitted Ziya T reported the Turkish news website, TimeTurk.com.
The Hurriyet Daily News reported that Ziya T has been taken into custody, and is in the process of being flown to Istanbul, where he will face formal charges in Sarai Sierra’s death.
Clad in camouflage pants and a navy blue zip-up jacket, Ziya was led out of a building and into a police vehicle by officers.
He does not speak English and gave his alleged confession in Turkish.
The amn also admitted that he lingered in the area after killing Sarai Sierra, and only fled after her body was discovered.
“On the 9th, on the 10th day, I had to run away to Syria when the Police found her dead body. Now I got captured. And today I’ll be handed over to Turkey,” he said in the video, translated from Turkish.
Police identified the suspect after inspecting thousands of security camera videos and conducting a “series of tests”.
Turkish homeless Ziya T has confessed to fatally bludgeoning Staten Island mother Sarai Sierra in Istanbul
Ziya was a scrap paper collector who used to hang around Istanbul’s ancient city walls, where Sarai Sierra’s body was found.Authorities said Sarai Sierra, who traveled to Turkey to explore her photography hobby, died after she was struck in the head with a brick.
Ziya had gone on the run after he learned that police were looking to pin the murder on him.
Last month, it was reported that Ziya allegedly said to his friend Zafer Ozden: “I ran, because Sarai Sierra’s murder in Istanbul will be put on me.”
Zafer Ozden told Turkish media: “He had a bag, and he left. He told me that Istanbul police told him: <<Ziya, leave this area, a murder has happened, and it will be put on you>>.”
Ziya also said he would go to Syria or Iran because paint-thinner addicts who were in the area at the time of the murder would put the blame on him.
Zafer Ozden said he does not believe his friend is capable of murder: “Normally, he’s not the killing type. I’ve known him since childhood. I don’t know what happens to people who sniff glue or paint thinner and how they lose themselves.
“Forget killing a person, he can’t even cut a chicken. 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.”
Turkish police said that after studying footage from more than 500 cameras in the area, they were able to track Ziya in 16 different locations on January 24, the same day Sarai Sierra was murdered.
They said Ziya is pictured carrying Sarai Sierra’s brown leather jacket to a second-hand bazaar and selling it before fleeing Istanbul.
In addition, it had been reported that DNA samples taken from the suspect’s relative’s home matched that was taken from under Sarai Sierra’s nails and some blood on her T-shirt.
The woman’s husband, Steven Sierra, 40, says he has not been notified about the suspect’s capture from Turkish or American authorities, and it has done little to put his mind at ease.
Steven Sierra told the New York Daily News: “Whoever is being detained at the moment, we don’t even know if this person is indeed responsible.”
It led them to determine that [Ziya] was the man responsible for the brutal death of the young mother.
He has not been seen since he stayed with his sister and brother-in-law – who called him “unbalanced” – for three days after Sarai Sierra was murdered.
The Hatay province has tens of thousands of Syrian refugees, and police are now monitoring both refugee camps as well Turkish checkpoints on the Syrian border.
Two witnesses also told police they saw Ziya T on the day Sarai Sierra was killed and that he had scratches on his arms.
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Turkish police investigating the murder of Sarai Sierra have honed in on five people after collecting 51 DNA samples, it was revealed today.
Though authorities will not have results for two weeks, they have managed to narrow it down to a small group of Sarai Sierra’s internet contacts as well as the homeless people who were at the scene when her body was found.
One person who is believed to be talking to investigators is Ammer Reduron, who Sarai Sierra connected with on Instagram in the months before her trip and stayed with while she was in Amsterdam.
Little is known about the 31-year-old Dutch national, but last year he posted on a site similar to Craigslist that he lives in an immigrant ghetto in Amsterdam called Zuidoost.
Last week, Ammer Reduron claimed he was not a suspect and admitted Sarai Sierra stayed with him when she went to Amsterdam on a side trip – also saying her husband Steven knew this and was OK with it as the two were friends.
“Taking care of her,” he said last week.
“Meaning showing my city and being a good friend to her. She had a wonderful time here.”
Turkish police investigating the murder of Sarai Sierra have honed in on five people after collecting 51 DNA samples
On his Facebook, Ammer Reduron “checks in” at Amsterdam airport on January 15, which is purportedly when he went to pick up Sarai Sierra.
On January 23 – ten days before her body was found in Istanbul, Sarai Sierra’s sister Christina Jiminez become Facebook friends with him.
Aware that he is under the intense scrutiny of both the FBI and the media, he denounced them both on his Instagram site, alongside a picture of two toy pigs placed in an assimilated sex position.
“Media writes, goes home, gets paid, pay bills and don’t give a sh*t only about some juicy stories with no real or fact checked stories. Police should do their work. If you fart on the planet the FBI is on yo [sic] ass with some satellite sh*t.”
Police however, are giving little away as to what they have uncovered in the investigation.
Mystery has surrounded the death of 33-year-old Sarai Sierra since her body was found at a run-down area of Istanbul on February 2. She failed to make the flight back to New York on January 22.
Steven Sierra, husband of New York mother Sarai Sierra who was bludgeoned to death during a solo trip to Istanbul, posted a series of cryptic online messages about cheating and bad relationships in the weeks prior to her death, it has been revealed.
Steven Sierra wrote on Twitter on December 28 last year: “Don’t cheat in relationship, if you are not happy then just leave.
“A real relationship is where you can tell each other everything & anything. No secrets, no lies.”
Steven Sierra said in an interview with Hurriyet on Sunday that he had not been in conversation with his wife since January 14.
He told the paper: “At the beginning we were talking on Skype. I was following the photos she put on Instagram. But times didn’t match because of the time difference. I was working when she is at the hotel [her flat]. The last time I heard from her was 14th of January. The next day she called home and spoke to the kids, I was at work that time.”
On the day that Sarai Sierra left for her solo trip to Turkey on January 7, her husband wrote on Instagram: “Good relationship [sic] don’t just happen. They take time, patience and two people who truly want to be together.”
On January 17, Steven Sierra added to his account: “People are to be LOVED. Things are to be USED. The reason why the world is in chaos is because THINGS are being LOVED and PEOPLE are being used.”
Sarai Sierra’s husband posted Instagram messages bemoaning cheating just weeks before she was killed in Turkey
The emotional and public declaration came five days before Sarai Sierra was scheduled to board a plane back to U.S. She never showed up for the flight. Her body was found next to the city walls on February 2.
The messages were revealed after it came to light that Steven Sierra alerted her alleged lover, Taylan K, that Sarai was missing on the day she failed to return home.
Sarai Sierra’s husband frantically messaged the Turkish man since accused of having sex with her in a desperate plea for his help in finding her after she failed to return to New York, the New York Daily News reports.
Taylan K told police that Steven Sierra logged onto one of his wife’s online accounts on January 22, the day she went missing, and discovered the pair’s recent communication.
Steven Sierra, husband of New York mother bludgeoned to death during a solo trip to Istanbul, alerted her alleged lover Taylan K that she was missing on the day she failed to return home it’s been revealed.
Sarai Sierra’s husband frantically messaged the Turkish man since accused of having sex with her in a desperate plea for his help in finding her after she failed to return to New York, the New York Daily News reports.
Taylan K told police that Steven Sierra logged onto one of his wife’s online accounts on January 22, the day she went missing, and discovered the pair’s recent communication.
Taylan K “said that he hadn’t seen Sarai and the last time they met was on Sunday”, his lawyer, Ozkan Polat, told the Daily News of that conversation.
“And then he sent the husband copies of the earlier chats.”
Steven Sierra asked Taylan K to contact local authorities in a bid to help find the 33-year-old mother of his two children allegedly unknowing that the man had had sex with her in a bar’s bathroom only the night before according to several local reports.
This latest twist comes amid new claims that the mother told the landlord of her rented apartment that she was unmarried in the days before her death.
Turkish authorities are now busy piecing together who Sarai Sierra met before her murder while suspecting she was possibly killed by a professional, the local Hurriyet newspaper reports.
Taylan K’s attorney claims that the man had “no emotional relationship” with the woman though they had met twice before her death while planning to meet a third time the day she went missing.
Yigit Yetmez, owner of the flat in the down-and-out neighborhood of Tarlabasi, told Hurriyet that Sarai Sierra had told him she was “bekâr” meaning “single” or “a bachelorette”.
Steven Sierra, husband of Sarai Sierra, alerted her alleged lover Taylan K that she was missing
Taylan K has denied claims of having had sex with the slain woman, insisting they were just friends who met up for a cup of tea twice.
Sarai Sierra was said to have met Taylan K on Instagram a few months ago before her trip to Turkey and then met up with him several times while she was there.
Various Turkish media reports claimed they had sex in a bar restroom the night before she was murdered but that was the last time he had seen her.
Police said Taylan K was not a suspect.
His lawyer, Ozkan Polat, said that his client denies the claims, calling them “wholly untrue”.
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Taylan K, the Turkish man accused earlier yesterday of having a secret affair with Sarai Sierra, the New York mother who was bludgeoned to death during a solo trip to Istanbul last week, has denied the claims, insisting they were just friends who met up for a cup of tea.
Sarai Sierra, 33, from Staten Island, was said to have met a man named as “Taylan K” on Instagram a few months ago before her trip to Turkey and then met up with him several times while she was there.
Various Turkish media reports claimed they had sex in a bar restroom the night before Sarai Sierra was murdered but that was the last time he had seen her.
Police said he was not a suspect.
Taylan K’s lawyer Ozkan Polat said Friday that his client denies the claims, calling them “wholly untrue”.
Ozkan Polat insists the pair had “no emotional relationship” and had met for a cup of tea as friends, adding that his client comes from a “good family and completed a master’s program abroad…He’s very demoralized”.
The claims come one day after the body of Sarai Sierra arrived at her home in Staten Island. Her devastated husband Steven Sierra and two children, aged 9 and 11, are preparing for her wake and funeral on February 15.
It was also revealed on Friday that two Iranian women are among the 46 people being held over the murder.
Turkish police took DNA samples from 22 people – none of which matched the crime scene – and are questioning a number of others.
They said there is a possibility Sarai Sierra fought against her attacker and left traces of the killer on her skin or under her fingernails.
Taylan K has denied having an affair with Sarai Sierra, insisting they were just friends who met up for a cup of tea
As well as being bludgeoned over the head, Sarai Sierra had extensive trauma to her torso, her right hip area and bruises on her arms, suggesting a struggle.
Istanbul authorities say the area where Sarai Sierra was murdered is a known rape black spot in a run down part of the city.
A Swedish tourist was raped at knife point in the same place in January 2007, and in March 2010 a Japanese girl suffered a chillingly similar attack to Sarai Sierra’s murder when she was bludgeoned about the head with a rock and raped, according to Turkish daily newspaper Takvim.
Another 24-year-old Turkish girl was attacked at knife point at the same spot but managed to fight off her attacker and flee to safety.
Since those attacks, Turkish police have installed extra lighting and CCTV in the area in a clearly-failed attempt to make it safer.
Taylan K has denied wrongdoing and said he met Sarai Sierra on January 10 for the first time in Istanbul but he did not see her again until January 20 when she wrote to him: “I want to see you.”
The next day Taylan K missed two messages from her in the morning and when he tried to call, her phone was off.
Ozkan Polat told the New York Daily News that his client and Sarai Sierra made plans to meet again – near the Galata Bridge in Istanbul before her death. But she never showed up.
State Prosecutor Huseyin Kaplan said Taylan K is not being considered as a suspect and authorities aren’t concerned about their alleged affair.
“We’re not interested in whether she had a sexual relationship,” Huseyin Kaplan told the Daily News.
“What’s important for us is who killed her.”
It was also reported that police are questioning a drug dealer and hostel owner in the area where Sarai Sierra’s body was found after checking her phone and Gmail records.
Meanwhile, Sarai Sierra’s family are preparing for her funeral under the intense scrutiny of the media.
The family will gather on February 15 at Christian Pentecostal Church, where Sarai and Steven had met, for Sarai Sierra’s funeral.
Sarai Sierra’s wake will take place on Valentine’s Day – which would have been the couple’s 15th wedding anniversary.
Sarai Sierra, the Staten Island mother who was found beaten to death during a solo trip to Istanbul last week, had sex with her Turkish lover in a bar restroom the day before she died, it was claimed today.
The allegations come as the body of Sarai Sierra arrived at her home in Staten Island, and will add further salt to the wounds of her husband Steven who has to deal with both his devastating loss and the heartbreaking allegations.
The Turkish media identified Sarai Sierra’s secret lover as “Tarkan K.” and said the pair began communicating online about three or four months ago.
Today they printed a picture of a man they believe is Tarkan K. but still have not released his full name.
Sarai Sierra is then said to have emailed him to say she was coming to Turkey and wanted to meet him. Her body was found beaten to death last Saturday when she failed to make the return flight home.
Tarkan K’s lawyer said his client has absolutely nothing to do with the murder and revealed he comes from a “good family and completed a master’s program abroad…He’s very demoralized”.
Tarkan K. told Istanbul police that they had sex in a bar bathroom in Beyoglu on January 20, Hürriyet newspaper reported. He has denied wrongdoing and had previously denied the two had a relationship.
It was also reported today that police are questioning a drug dealer and hostel owner in the area where Sarai Sierra’s body was found after checking her phone and gmail records.
It comes after DNA testing from 22 suspects came back with no link to her murder. Police are said to have taken both blood and sperm samples from Tarkan K.
Sarai Sierra, 33, who filed for bankruptcy on 2005, had been unemployed for several years but recently got a part time job at a chiropractor’s office.
Her 40-year-old husband is a New York City bus driver. He drives an old Safari mini bus and neighbors said money appeared tight. Sarai Sierra usually walked everywhere with the boys.
Her parents Dennis and Betzaida Jimenez, who also declared bankruptcy in 2005, live a five-minute drive away and often babysat while Sarai Sierra took time off from motherhood to go into Manhattan to take photographs.
The Turkish media identified Sarai Sierra’s secret lover as Tarkan K and said the pair began communicating online about three or four months ago
Sarai Sierra told her family she wanted to pursue her dream of taking pictures in Turkey – yet her only equipment was an iPad and Droid phone. Both items were missing when her body was found but the murderer did not take her wedding ring or other jewellery.
Meanwhile, a witness has told Istanbul police that he saw Sarai Sierra speaking to a different man outside the city’s Sultanahmet Mosque on January 11, just days after she arrived in the country.
The man handed her a card and as she left the mosque, she took a walk with him and four or five other men, the witness claimed, Turkish newspaper Milliyet reported.
Sarai Sierra flew to Amsterdam on January 15 and to Munich the next day, returning to Istanbul on January 19.
The witness said he then saw Sarai Sierra talking with the same man on January 21 at Topkapi Palace – the day she was due to fly home, but she never boarded the flight.
Turkish police and the FBI are reportedly looking into whether Sarai Sierra was involved with drug traffickers, human traffickers or jewellery transportation while on her solo trip.
Tarkan K. had initially insisted they were just friends, but Turkey’s Vatan newspaper reported he told police they had consensual sex a day before she went missing.
He had hoped to see her before she left but she never responded to his message.
Tarkan K., who is in his early 30s and lives in Istanbul, was quizzed by Turkish police several times and has given DNA samples, along with 21 other people.
He has denied any part in her murder.
All of those questioned have now been released, and police have also taken statements from 200 other people.
Sarai Sierra’s body was found stashed by Istanbul’s ancient city walls on Saturday, more than a week after she failed to catch her flight home.
Police said she died from a blunt force trauma.
She was found with a head wound and a blanket near her body and still had her earrings and a bracelet on, as well as her wedding ring.
Her iPhone and iPad were missing.
Meanwhile, Sarai Sierra’s family are preparing for her funeral under the intense scrutiny of the media.
To pay for her funeral, her family began selling some of her images online on Tuesday and soon had enough to cover her expenses.
Sarai Sierra was believed to have finished a course in photography just before she made the trip to Istanbul, which she said was to take pictures of the city and its ancient ruins.
Sarai Sierra, the married New York mother who was murdered while on a solo trip to Turkey, had sex the day before she vanished with a man she met on the internet, he has claimed.
“Taylan K” has been interviewed at length by Istanbul police after they discovered his online communication with 33-year-old Sarai Sierra, but he had initially insisted they were just friends.
Now Turkey’s Vatan newspaper has claimed Taylan K told police they had consensual sex a day before Sarai Sierra went missing. The duo had met online months before she left for Turkey on January 7.
It adds yet more intrigue to the circumstances surrounding Sarai Sierra’s death after earlier reports she was hanging out with “a criminal element” before she was killed. The FBI is also reportedly investigating whether she was involved in drug trafficking during her visit to the country.
Taylan K, who first met Sarai Sierra online several months ago when he commented on one of her photographs on Instagram, denied having any part in her disappearance or murder.
He added that he sent her a message on the day she vanished and asked her to meet, but she never responded. Police have taken a blood and sperm sample from Taylan K and 21 others.
Sarai Sierra’s body was found stashed by Istanbul’s ancient city walls on Saturday, more than a week after she failed to catch her flight home. Police said she died from a blunt force trauma.
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 on, but her iPhone and iPad were missing.
The claims come on the same day as a source familiar with her murder investigation has suggested she had been hanging out with “a criminal element” while on the trip.
FBI agents investigating the killing do not believe she had only travelled to the country to take pictures, as her family has claimed.
“The first people she met up with were a criminal element,” the source told the New York Post.
“There are some witness reports that she was seen with sketchy characters.”
Authorities are now trying to verify these claims amid reports that her casket will be sent back to the US on Thursday, the Post reported.
Among various lines of inquiry investigators are looking into a possible connection to drug trafficking.
Sarai Sierra, who had been unemployed and had declared bankruptcy in 2005, had also travelled to Amsterdam and Munich while on the trip, which was her first time leaving the United States.
She had initially planned to visit the country for three weeks, but after 12 days she posted online that she had to cut the trip short.
Her family, including her devastated husband Steven Sierra, have said Sarai went to the country because of the photo opportunities. They say she used her iPad and iPhone to shoot the images.
To pay for her funeral, her family began selling some of her images online on Tuesday and soon had enough to cover her expenses.
The photos remain on sale online and any other profits will go to her two young sons, who are nine and 11, her family wrote on the website.
Photographs on sale include images taken during her time in Istanbul and pictures of New York City. They are being sold as canvases, framed prints, greeting cards and iPhone cases for $39.95 each.
“Sarai’s passion for photography and love for capturing the beauty we see in culture, architecture and scenery was her reason for traveling to Istanbul,” her brother, David Jimenez, wrote on the site.
David Jimenez added this afternoon: “Thank you for all the support in purchasing Sarai’s pictures. Quick update, all expenses for Sarai’s funeral have been paid for!
“From here on out any picture of hers that you purchase will NOT be going towards her funeral. All funds will be going to her children. Thank you for your support. David.”
Sarai Sierra, the married New York mother who was murdered while on a solo trip to Turkey, had sex the day before she vanished with a man she met on the internet
The outpouring of support comes hours after Sarai Sierra’s devastated husband, Steven, revealed how he is consumed with sadness at his wife’s death.
Steven Sierra, 40, left their home in Staten Island for Istanbul last week to help search for his wife, after she failed to get on a flight back to the U.S. on January 21 – but the trip ended in heartbreak.
“I’m heartbroken,” Steven Sierra said. He was married to Sarai for 14 years. “This is something you never want to imagine, and it’s something I’d never want anyone to experience.
“You have so many plans, so many dreams with the person you deeply love. You look forward to many years together and there are so many things you haven’t fulfilled with that person, and now those won’t be fulfilled,” he told the New York Daily News.
His two sons, who are aged 9 and 11, still do not know their mother is dead. Steven Sierra told the Daily News he is waiting until he returns home to tell the boys face-to-face.
Turkish police hope DNA samples from 21 people being questioned in the case will be key to finding the perpetrators, according to state run media.
Sarai Sierra’s mother told the Today show: “It was such a shock when we heard. She was supposed to come back and she didn’t.
“Her little boys do not know, their father will talk to them once he gets back. We will all be present for this.
“It was the first time she was going overseas after getting into photography college. She wanted to go there and take pictures of bridges and the history of the city.”
Sarai Sierra had left for Istanbul on January 7 to explore her photography hobby, her family said.
She was in regular contact with friends and relatives, and had told them she would visit Galata Bridge, which spans Istanbul’s Golden Horn waterway, to take photos.
CBS News reported that shortly after Sarai Sierra’s 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 January 29, Anadolu reported.
The eyewitness said a man was trying to remove “something” from the car, at which point she caught a glimpse of a woman’s hand.
The news came after police in Istanbul detained and released a man who was one of the last in contact with the missing mother, who vanished the same day she planned to meet up with him.
The man only identified as “Taylan” on social media sites was taken into police custody after questioning on the disappearance of the woman.
Turkish news reports said Sarai Sierra had arranged to meet her contact, “Taylan”, on Galata Bridge she wanted to photograph the day she went missing.
It was about a mile from Sarai Sierra’s hostel, Dogan news agency reported but it’s not known if the meeting had actually taken place.
“We did not meet that day, but we had met before,” Taylan told police while adding that it was four months ago that they met for the first time online, Turkish paper the daily Hürriyet reports.
Authorities scoured security camera images near to the bridge to see if the meeting did in fact take place, the news agency said.
Last week, Turkish police released security camera footage showing missing Sarai Sierra at a mall near her hostel hours before she disappeared.
Sarai Sierra can be seen eating lunch and walking through the mall on January 20 – a day before she was supposed to catch a flight back home.
Her family last heard from Sarai Sierra on January 21, when she was supposed to start her journey home, but she never checked into her flight.
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Sarai Sierra, a US woman who disappeared last month while on holiday in Turkey, has been found dead in Istanbul, reports say.
The body of Sarai Sierra was discovered near Istanbul’s ancient walls, Turkish media report.
Police have arrested nine people in connection with the case, the state-run Anadolu agency says.
Sarai Sierra, a 33-year-old mother of two from New York, had been missing since January 21, the day before she was due to arrive back in New York City.
She had left for Turkey two weeks earlier and made short trips to the Netherlands and Germany, the Associated Press (AP) reports.
Police had released security camera footage showing Sarai Sierra at Istanbul’s Ataturk Airport before she flew to Amsterdam.
Her body is reported to have been found close to the Galata Bridge, a popular tourist site spanning Istanbul’s Golden Horn waterway.
Shortly before her disappearance, Sarai Sierra had allegedly told her family that she planned to visit the bridge.
Although police have not yet commented on the case, reports say the American may have been stabbed to death.
Sarai Sierra, a US woman who disappeared last month while on holiday in Turkey, has been found dead in Istanbul
Andalou says she may have been killed at a different location before her body was hidden near the city walls.
The US embassy in Ankara had been working with Turkish authorities to help track down the missing woman.
Police in Istanbul set up a special unit to find Sarai Sierra, AP says.
Her husband and her brother had also travelled to Istanbul to join the search.
The case attracted extensive media coverage in Turkey where the disappearance of tourists is rare.
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