Family and friends of Sarai Sierra, who was murdered in Turkey, are mourning at her Staten Island home as her husband and brother wait in Istanbul to reclaim her body.
Sierra’s remains were identified Sunday by her husband Steven Sierra, 40, police chief Huseyin Capkin said. And Sarai’s husband and her brother, David Jimenez, won’t leave Istanbul without her, a family spokeswoman said.
Sierra, 33, a mother of two who went missing Jan. 21 on a solo trip to Istanbul, was killed by a single blow to the head, Turkish officials said. Her body was discovered Saturday in a rundown section of the city less than a mile from the storied Topkapi Palace.
Sierra was last heard from Jan. 20, the day before she was expected to catch a flight home. She planned the trip with a friend who canceled at the last minute.
She said she was going to Istanbul to pursue her love of photography, yet she traveled without a camera. And her travel itinerary continues to draw scrutiny.
Sierra arrived in Turkey on Jan. 7, but then flew to Amsterdam and Munich a week later before returning to Turkey on Jan. 19, authorities said.
Police are trying to retrace her steps and find out where she stayed on those jaunts and what motivated them. Turkish newspapers reported Sierra had contact in Amsterdam with someone she met online and may have stayed with him or her.
In Istanbul, Sierra stayed in the basement apartment of a Turkish man named Yigit Yetmez, who said he last saw her on Jan. 20, according to the Dogan news agency. Yetmez also lived at the apartment.
He told reporters Sierra had responded to an ad, and she paid for 13 days in advance. She stayed alone.
No camera was found with her, nor was there a camera at the private apartment where she was staying, said Erdal Kilinc, a local crime reporter. Her iPad — which she used to take pictures, her family said — is missing, according to police.
By Ginger Adams Otis , Vera Chinese AND Justin Vela / NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
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