hi everyone my name is Jack and today we're going to take a look at another horrible case with you the case of Sarai Sierra she went across the ocean to meet her death the high-profile case of an American Girl photographer named Sarai Sierra 10 years ago stirred the world and brought the intelligence Services of two countries located on different continents to their feet the US citizen disappeared Without a Trace during her photo tour in Istanbul as if Vanishing Into Thin Air this story was widely covered in the press and the situation and circumstances were so
strange that it gave rise to a lot of rumors and conspiracy theories despite active large scale and timely searches it was unfortunately not possible to find the girl alive her body was found in the historic center of the city near the walls of Sarai Buu but how did it happen that in a white day in a popular tourist spot so simply took a person's life and no one even noticed it to understand this case it is necessary to restore the whole chain of events that led to this tragedy and now we will try to do
it together Sarai Sierra early years Sarai Sierra was born in New York in 1979 on November 9th and became the second child in a large family she was brought up together with her older brother David and younger sister Christina their parents Dennis and Bethany Sim jenez were of Puerto Rican descent but immigrated to the United States in 1973 settling in Manhattan where their children were born shortly after moving the couple joined the local Protestant community and became became Evangelical Christians they brought up all their children in strictness following the religious Cannons of their adopted Faith
the family attended church regularly socialized with other members of the community and the children attended Sunday school Sarai grew up to be an active creative person and also stood out for her strong willed but rather complex character unlike her younger sister Christina who was a quiet obedient and very modest girl Sarai was considered a rebel and a hooligan but at the same time she respected her parents recognizing their Undisputed Authority in the Jimenez Family Home there were strict rules to which all members of the family obeyed this applied to the daily routine of its inhabitants
many everyday moments as well as Norms of behavior for example the daughters were not allowed to socialize with boys go on dates or be out of the house after 9:00 in the evening all their friendly contacts were controlled and parents always knew where and with whom their children were in fact sarai's entire life revolved around home school and church and her Social Circle was limited to the people in those places the active energetic socially oriented girl was bored and cramped within the framework in which she was kept but her parents were sure that they were
doing the right thing for the good of their children during her school years Sarai planned to enter a pedagogical University and become a teacher in the field of culture or Arts but closer to the end of her studies she became interested in Psychology and began to think about connecting her future profession with this field of activity during one of the meetings of the religious community slender darkhaired Beauty attracted the attention of a young man named Steven Sierra he was the first to approach her and made an excuse to talk to her Sarai was barely 18
years old at the time and her new acquaintance was seven years older than her but despite the age difference with the approval of their parents the young people began dating Steven immediately liked Dennis and bethley who thought that this decent polite and honest young man would be a good match for their daughter most likely Sarai was not madly in love with the guy but agreed to marry him mostly for the sake of finally moving out of her parents house and freeing herself from such tight control it should be noted that Sarai had a good relationship
with her parents but she wanted some freedom to live her own life and plan her own future less than a year after meeting in February 1999 the couple got married the bride was 19 years old at the time and the groom was 26 years old soon after the couple moved to the state of Michigan where Steven's parents lived for Sarai this move was a real event because before that she spent all her conscious life practically without staying in his native New York the change of scenery did her good and in a new place she seemed
to revitalize Sarai enjoyed shopping for things for her new home making it cozy enjoying new acquaintances and new places she got a job at a local dental office as a receptionist and was thinking about getting a college degree after all however Sarai soon became pregnant and had children first a boy and then a girl entry into the university had to be postponed because the young woman was completely absorbed in motherhood and enjoyed it a couple of years later the family Sierra with two children again decided to move and this time they went to sunny California
settling in the picturesque neighborhood of Silver Lake in Los Angeles here Steven was offered a job but soon the couple realized that the money he was earning they do not have enough to live on then having consulted they decided to return back to New York and settled in a modest rented apartment located near the house of the Jimenez Family at that time the couple faced serious financial problems Sarai was still at home with the children and her husband had to survive on casual income because of which they periodically had to get into debt the situation
began to change for the better when the children went to school and the young mother got a job at an advertising agency Steven had by then found a permanent job as a bus driver on one of the city routes a new hobby closer to 30 years when the children have already grown up and life stabilized Sarah again remembered her long-standing plans to get a higher education by that time she was not interested in the pedagogical faculty at all and Sarai chose the faculty of psychology entering one of the local universities however Sarai soon grew cold
to her studies and the boring hours of lectures caused her boredom she decided to look for herself in another sphere and choose an occupation that would be to her liking Inspire her and allow her to express herself since Sarai had always been a creative person good at drawing and seeing the beauty in everything she became interested in photography and soon joined a well-known New York photography Community to be able to develop in this direction she was widely recognized as having a real talent Sarai was able to choose the right angles and harmoniously build compositions making
incredible in its beauty shots even professionals praised her work for her creativity and vision in early 2012 on the advice of her colleagues Sarai created a page in one of the popular social networks where she began to post her work the success did not take long and other users began to subscribe to the young woman's profile by the thousands enthusiastically commenting on each of her Works in a few months she became a real star and the number of her subscribers continued to grow exponentially such a furor literally dizzy her head Sarai felt that she could
achieve more that she wanted to develop and improve in this direction so she made a proposal to organize a group photo tour in search of beautiful and unusual locations in different parts of the world Sarai Sierra started with small trips around her native country specializing in shooting architectural ensembles and various historical monuments her images were a great success and she decided not to stop Sarai wanted to travel to Istanbul one of the most ancient and beautiful cities in the world to capture its SES and historical sites it should be noted that her parents were not
thrilled with this idea because she had never left the country before and never left home for so long but Sarai was adamant in addition she had to be accompanied on the trip by her best friend Magdalena as it turned out sarai's family was in crisis and her relationship with her husband was falling apart perhaps part of the reason for her idea of a photo Tour on the other side of the world was a desire to get away change her surroundings and reflect on what was happening in her family from a distance Sarai had lived in
a strict framework for too long and now she was eager to do something she wanted to do something her soul demanded during that period her husband's social media account began to show strange postings and statuses he philosophized about the value of marriage about love and mutual respect between husband and wife and also noted that he would not cheat on his other half even if the marriage hangs in the balance in one of the posts Steven opaquely hinted that his spouse was unfaithful to him but a few hours later he deleted the publication leaving the questions
that appeared under it unanswered Steven obviously didn't feel happy and loved and tried to show it to everyone through his social media page sah was experiencing similar torment but kept it to herself trying not to complain and focus on her creativ ity the long awaited trip shortly before the planned tour Sarai learned that her best friend would not be able to travel with her because of problems at work the young woman was very upset but did not change her plans because she had been going to it for too long sarai's relatives were concerned about the
fact that she would fly alone to a foreign country across the ocean but she assured them that everything would be fine promising to call write and send photos every day in addition Sarai was also planning to visit Germany and Austria where she had several commercial photography assignments already scheduled her entire trip was literally scheduled by the hour and she was not going to deviate from the schedule on January 7th 2013 a young American woman boarded a flight from New York to Istanbul she was carrying a small amount of cash a smartphone a tablet a fairly
inexpensive DSLR camera and several lenses designed for professional photography upon arrival Sarai called her family informing them that she had arrived safely and was on her way to check into the hotel she had booked in advance it should be noted that she had a rather modest budget so she had to stay in a remote area which the locals considered unsafe after leaving leaving her things in the room and changing her clothes from the road Sarai Sierra immediately went to the nearest metro station to get to the historic City Center she wandered the streets of Istanbul
until Nightfall photographing its beauty and savoring every shot she took in the evenings she would call her parents and husband via video call sharing her impressions and her plans for the next day she would also process fresh shots and post them to her social media accounts new friend as it later turned out Sarai was accompanied in Istanbul by a young man named Tylen they met on social networks in the middle of 2012 and it was tyon who convinced the American to fly to Turkey for several months they actively corresponded and became very close during this
time Sarai completely trusted her new acquaintance they saw each other almost every day and together visited various attractions the guy was a native of Istanbul so he knew the city like the back of his hand and arranged for sah exciting excursions to the most interesting sometimes unusual places after a week's stay in Turkey the photographer had a trip planned to a couple of European countries where as I said she arranged several commercial photo shoots here Sarai saved money on Hotel accommodation because she agreed to be hosted by her subscribers who had been following her work
for a long time these moments were negotiated and agreed in advance so at the airport in Vienna she was met by a young man in whose house she stayed for a couple of days the Austrian acquaintance was a few years older than Sarai he himself was fond of Photography and admired her works so he was eager to communicate personally with such a talented photographer the trip went according to plan Sarai visited all the places she had planned and met everyone she had arranged to meet on the third day she flew to Berlin where she was
also met at the airport by her subscribers who gave her a tour of the city after finishing all her business in Germany the photographer went to the airport again and returned to Istanbul where she planned to stay for two more days before returning home upon arrival she was met by tailon with whom they spent the day driving around the city and afterward they went to a popular local bar together it was after midnight when the Turk escorted Sarai to her hotel where they said goodbye a mysterious Disappearance in a foreign country on January 21 2013
the last day of her photo tour Sarai called her parents and husband to let them know what time and what flight she was taking to New York she had never been away from home for so long before so everyone was happy that her trip was finally coming to an end however before leaving Sarai decided to take one last walk around the city and take some more beautiful shots for her account at the appointed time sarai's father arrived at the airport to pick up his daughter because her husband was at work and could not make it
he arrived early because he was afraid of getting stuck in traffic and not being on time they announced the arrival of the plane all the passengers got off but Sarai was not among them her phone was also unavailable and all attempts to contact her were futile then Dennis waited a little longer and then concerned about his daughter's absence went to the representatives of the airline however Dennis was literally shocked when they informed him that a passenger with such a name had not boarded the aircraft Dennis immediately called Steven and informed him of what had happened
saying that it was necessary to immediately organize a search sarai's husband first contacted the hotel where his wife was staying in Istanbul but there he was told that her belongings were still in the room and she had not checked out although she should have done so yesterday and did not appear in the hotel for the second day this information caused a real Panic among the family members because they did not know where Sarai was and did not understand how to proceed Steven who had access to his wife's accounts decided to check them looking for some
Clues there he found his wife's correspondence with tylon which seemed very suspicious to him nevertheless he decided to contact the Turk himself to find out what he knew but Tylen claimed that he had seen the missing woman the day before the planned departure and before the flight she did not even call him although she promised sarai's family immediately reported the incident to the American Embassy in turkey and a day later a large-scale search operation was organized on the spot for which a special unit was even created almost immediately sarai's husband and parents flew to Istanbul
deciding that they needed to be personally involved in the search besides not much time had passed since her disappearance and there was a high probability of finding her alive investigating police officers the first thing decided to determine the Social Circle of the American and talk to those who saw her shortly before she disappeared to testify were called employees of the hotel where she stayed as well as her friend Tylen the hotel manager stated that he last saw Ms Sierra the night before she left she was leaving with a small bag and a camera in hand
she was supposed to check out later but never showed up at the hotel again and the next morning they received a call from her worried husband who informed them that sarai's belongings and documents were still at the hotel the receptionist also described the clothes Sarah was wearing that day the situation with ton was much more interesting and ambiguo first the guy's name was actually Taron and why he introduced himself to his new acquaintance with an assumed name was unclear secondly they had been in close contact for several months before their meeting and Sarai had arrived
in Istanbul at his invitation all of this suggested that there was a romantic relationship between them but Taron himself categorically denied it claiming that they were only friends the next stage of the investigation was to recreate in as much detail as possible the route that Sarai took that day for this purpose her cell phone data was checked as well as Street CCTV footage thus it was established that the young woman took the subway to sultanate District visited the Promontory between the bosphorous strait and the Golden Horn Bay visited eminonu Market but there she was lost
in a large crowd of tourists then her Trail was retraced to the subway where she was going down to go to the SAR beru walls but she soon disappeared from the camera's view again frightening Discovery the Searchers decided to go to the ruins of the I beru walls to comb the area and interview people maybe someone remembered a lone woman with a camera in her hands after several hours the search was successful if you can call it that the body of a young woman with no signs of life was found near the ruins of the
walls of ancient Constantinople it was covered with an old dirty blanket so it was not conspicuous investigators assumed that it was in this blanket that Sierra was brought here forensics believed the body had been there for about 10 to 12 days before it was found there were no clothes on the lower part of the body which immediately prompted a version of violence which was later confirmed by experts the autopsy revealed that Sierra died from a blow to the head with a blunt heavy object but there were also several hematomas on her body and a couple
of ribs were broken in addition Pathologists found particles of epithelium and blood under sarai's fingernails and this indicated that she had defended herself and scratched the perpetrator the crime looked strange and even ridiculous because the victim's bag smartphone and Camera were stolen but at the same time she was wearing gold earrings wedding ring and expensive watch which immediately caught the eye all that could be found on camera footage from the area was a young woman who looked like Sarai filming something on her phone and then a man approached her either hitting her or pushing her
and then they both disappeared from the camera's view the attacker was not immediately identified versions and conspiracy theories almost instantly the information was leaked to the media almost provoking an international Scandal the whole point is that from the TV screens and from the pages of newspapers every day appealed to people to help in the search for the missing American woman and tell if anyone knows any anything but at the same time the investigation was silent and when the body was discovered the situation became even more confusing many people wondered why a young married woman suddenly
flew alone across the ocean what was she doing in istanb and eope and with what funds had she traveled there it all looked suspicious indeed and investigators initially thought that Sarai had gone to see her lover taen AKA Taran and afterward flew to another man man in Austria but both her buddies denied being intimate with the victim later it turned out that the man who sheltered Sarai in Vienna has a criminal record in connection with which there was a version that he could use the American as a drug Courier but a thorough check did not
confirm this speculation there were also rumors that Sarai could work for the US intelligence services and to collect information in other countries allegedly hence the money for Intercontinental flights this version looked untenable so it was not even seriously considered the investigation of this high-profile case was carried out by Turkish special services together with the FBI but at first they did not have any serious leads only a few weeks later the police came to the alleged perpetrator a previously convicted and unemployed guy named tal Sali collecting waste paper on the city streets but it was not
possible to communicate with him because almost immediately after the crime he borrowed money from relatives and left the country presumably going to hati Province where he illegally crossed the border with Syria after obtaining a warrant police searched the suspect's home where they took a sample of his DNA and compared it with skin particles and seminal fluid found on the body of the murdered woman after that the last doubts were dispelled talali was the perpetrator of the crime in addition the victim's phone was last switched on in the neighborhood where he lived when it became known
that the criminal fled to Syria the special services lost all hope of getting to him but soon fate itself gave them an unexpected surprise this guy was detained while trying to cross the border illegally again but this time he was trying to return to Turkey he joined the rebels in Syria and obtained Firearms but was injured in the conflict and decided he would be safer at home home however he made his way back with his weapon which was the initial reason for his arrest but the local police soon realized who was in their hands and
immediately reported him to the security services when tal Sali was brought in for questioning his story was literally discouraging with horrific details he saw a young woman on a hiking trail along the walls of sé beru and for a few minutes he simply admired her and watched her taking pictures when he got closer Sarai tried to ask him something using gestures but due to the language barrier he never understood what she wanted however he noticed a brand new iPhone in her hands and an expensive camera around her neck as Sarai walked on he followed her
already determined to rob her it was getting dark outside and there were no other people near the wall at least in sight at one point Sierra turned around and as it seemed to him took a picture of him that action became a trigger of sorts talali grabbed a boulder and lunged at Sierra hitting her hard in the head after that they literally rolled together down to the ruins of the wall hence probably bruises and broken ribs on sarai's body then tal Sali taking advantage of the unconsciousness of the victim decided to commit violent acts of
intimate nature the perpetrator then delivered another severe Blow To The Head to finish Sarai off tal Sali took the victim's bag her camera and phone and walked away on his way he came across the same blanket that someone had thrown away and decided to return to cover the victim's body with it by that time it was finally dark outside and the chances of meeting someone at the wall were minimal once back the perpetrator dragged the body a little to the side positioning it so that it would not be visible for from the hiking path he
then covered it with a blanket and left surprisingly while the search for the American woman was going on the perpetrator visited the crime scene one more time to make sure sah was dead and her body was lying where he had left it when tal Sali learned from the news that his victim had been found he realized that the police would quickly get on his Trail so he decided to flee the country borrowing money from his sister who always felt sorry for him by the way he was never able to realize the stolen goods the camera
was broken in the process of falling the smartphone had a password which the criminal unsuccessfully tried to unravel while at home hence the signal and all the other stolen items he threw away when he went on the run the defendant did not deny his guilt and judging from his accounts he did not regret what he had done nor did he suffer from pangs of conscience as key evidence DNA a forensic evidence was presented which confirmed that it was his skin that was found under the fingernails of the murdered woman and his seminal fluid was found
on her body also sarai's cell phone was last switched on in the vicinity of his residence in addition the case File was supplemented with a video surveillance camera recording of the attack itself after all the evidence was presented it was decided that a psychiatric examination was necessary because of the belief that talali was insane this idea was suggested by his actions Behavior and the calmness with which he described in detail the atrocities he had committed but experts concluded that he was sany and fully aware of his actions when he attacked his victim in the summer
of 2014 The Judge Ely delivered the final verdict tal Sali was found guilty on all counts against him and sentenced to life imprisonment sarai's relatives considered this decision Fair the body of the murdered American woman after all the necessary expert examinations was transported to her Homeland in New York and all related costs were borne by a Turkish Airline Sarai was buried in compliance with all religious rights and traditions family members of the deceased created an Internet site dedicated to her memory where they publish it her Works which had not appeared anywhere before the photos were
a great success and people from different parts of of the world were ready to buy them the money received from the sale of picturers the family save it for college education for orphaned children Sarai as for Steven he categorically denied that in his and his wife's family life was a crisis which pushed the young woman on that fateful trip soon Steven became close to a girl from the Christian Community who supported him in a difficult period and often came to his home to help him with his children and household chores two weeks before the first
anniversary of his wife's funeral Steven walked down the aisle with his new chosen one when the perpetrator was finally sentenced Steven was already married and preparing to become a father again the story of Sarai Sierra was the basis for a series of TV programs and talk shows as well as detective documentaries in addition feature projects have also been based on it thanks for watching guys jack was with you subscribe to the channel and and don't forget to click on the Bell not to miss new stories from around the world see you soon take care
