There’s now a primary suspect in murder of Staten Island mom Sarai Sierra, killed last month in Istanbul. We are talking about a 46-year-old homeless man identified by the authorities as “Z”. He was spotted by witnesses near the scene, covered in mud and dirt, on the day Sierra, 33, went missing, according to the Vatan newspaper.
When a witness asked about his strange appearance, the homeless “paper-collector” man replied:
“I fell off the walls.”
Sierra’s murdered body was found near the city’s ancient walls on Feb. 2, according to Istanbul news accounts. Her body had several defensive wounds, suggesting she engaged in struggle with her killer.
After murdering Sierra in a nearby location, the suspect may have quickly dumped her body inside the walls so it wouldn’t be found, cops told the newspaper.
Investigators believe “Z” may have tried to rape Sierra, but instead smashed in her skull during the struggle. The Turkish cops have taken blood samples and fingerprints for DNA tests from 53 people, of which 23 of them are addicts and homeless.
The Turkish paper Haberturk, reported that “Z” had not been seen since the homeless people saw him and that investigators are trying to locate him.
In Istanbul, she met with a Turkish man identified as Taylan K. Reports in Turkish media have said the two had sex the day before she died, but in a statement put out by Taylan K.’s lawyer, he said the two met for tea. Police have said he is not a suspect.
Questions are arising about why the married mother of two traveled solo. Initial reports said that Sierra arranged the trip to indulge her interest in photography. It was her first trip overseas. Instagram messages posted by her husband Steven Sierra, however, suggested that their marriage had hit a rocky patch in recent weeks, the Daily Mail reported.
“Don’t cheat in relationships,” Sierra’s 40-year-old husband wrote on Dec. 28. “If you are not happy, then just leave.”
On Jan. 7, the day his wife departed for Turkey, he wrote:
“Good relationships don’t just happen. They take time, patience and two people who truly want to be together.”
Sierra’s husband, speaking to the New York Times:
“I just put those up to just encourage other marriages,” Steven Sierra said. “It may seem coincidental.”
Ms. Sierra’s wake will take place on Valentine’s Day, which would have been the couple’s 15th engagement anniversary, at Christian Pentecostal Church. The funeral will take place the next day at 10 a.m. at the same church where the couple met and later married.
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