Missing New York mother found dead near ancient walls in dangerous Istanbul neighborhood 'was drawn to site of her death by life-long passion for GRAFFITI,' husband says



Sarai Sierra, 33, a photographer and mother of two, took trip to Turkey on her own

Officers detained nine men and two women for questioning

Failed to board flight from Istanbul to Newark International 11 days ago

Last person in contact with her has been detained after questioning by police



Police say mother has activated her phone twice in last two days and Skype call was placed on Wednesday

Suffered wound to the head and was found next to a blanket still wearing her jewelry



Body discovered in low-income area of Istanbul next to popular Galata Bridge



Tragic: Missing mother Sarai Sierra was found stabbed to death in Istanbul.

The body of a missing New York City woman has been discovered in a hardscrabble neighborhood of Istanbul next to ancient city walls covered with graffiti that she so loved, according to her husband.



Sarai Sierra, a 33-year-old mother of two, went missing while vacationing alone in Istanbul. She was last heard from on Jan. 21, the day she was due back home.

The Anadolu Agency says residents discovered the body of a woman near the ancient city walls in a low-income district.



Police later identified the body as Sierra, through her driver license. Officers have detained for questioning nine men and two women in connection to the murder.

Anadolu said Sierra 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.



In its report, the private NTV news channel said Sierra was stabbed to death.

Steven Sierra, the victim's husband, told CNN.com that his wife was fascinated by graffiti, which may have been her undoing.



Tags were evident on the crime scene photos from the site where her body was discovered in the low-income district of Sarayburnu Saturday.



Police believe that the photographer may have been killed elsewhere and then dumped next to the ancient ruins. However, even it that was the case, it does not exclude the possibility that the 33-year-old woman had met her assailant earlier near the walls.



Crime scene: Police forensics search for missing New York City woman Sarai Sierra near the remnants of some ancient city walls in low-income district of Sarayburnu in Istanbul

Violent death: Reports say the woman was stabbed in the head, but her killer left behind her earning and bracelet

However, Mr Sierra said that it is possible that his wife, who at one time traveled to Amsterdam to capture street art there, was drawn to the graffiti next to her last known tourist destination in Istanbul, the Galata Bridge.

CBS News reported that shortly after 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 Jan. 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.

A family friend told the New York Daily News Sierra’s parents are devastated, and her boys, ages nine and 11 — have not been told about what happened to their mother.



The news comes 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, who went missing while vacationing alone in Istanbul.

Theory: Police say Sierra may have been murdered somewhere else and her body was then dumped by the ancient walls

Street art: Sierra's husband said his wife had always been interested in graffiti, and it is possibly that she came to the walls to take pictures of the tags

Sierra was last heard from on Jan. 21, the day she was to start her journey back home to Staten Island as well as the day she planned to meet up with 'Taylan,' according to their online communications.



A police official refused to identify him or provide further details on the arrest. He spoke on condition of anonymity in line with government rules that bar civil servants from speaking to reporters without authorization.



Sierra is said to have made a call on her phone using Skype on January 30, and have activated it once more again on Thursday.



Police say four more Turkish citizens are sought for questioning by police after also communicating with her through various social media sites.

Turkish news reports said Sierra had arranged to meet her contact, 'Taylan,' on Galata Bridge she wanted to photograph the day she went missing. Previous reports claimed the planned to meet on the 20th.

No trace: Sarai Sierra, 33, set off for Istanbul on January 7 and was last heard from on January 21

It was about a mile from 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.

RETRACING SARAI SIERRA'S STEPS

January 7:

Sarai Sierra left the U.S. for Istanbul



January 15:

Sierra traveled to Amsterdam



January 16:

Sierra traveled to Munich



January 19:

Sierra returned to Istanbul



January 20:

Owner of house she was staying at claims to have last seen her



January 21:

Mother was scheduled to board plane back to U.S.

Sierra's family say they last heard from her Contact with 'Taylan' shows she planned to meet him on Galata Bridge



January 22:

Sierra's plane landed in Newark, New Jersey without her



January 30:

A Skype call was placed on her American cell phone



January 31:

Sierra's cell phone was activated again

Sierra left for Istanbul on Jan. 7 to explore her photography hobby and made a side trip to Amsterdam, Netherlands, and Munich, Germany. Sierra had planned to go on the trip with a friend, but went alone when the friend couldn't make it.

Her family last heard from her on Jan. 21, when she was supposed to start her journey home, but she never checked into her flight.



Sierra's husband, Steven, and brother, David Jimenez, traveled to Istanbul to help in the search.



Sierra's children are 9 and 11.

Her two sons were not been told their mother was missing.

Staten Island Rep. Michael Grimm confirmed to Staten Island Live that police in Turkey were searching for her online contact but he did not know their relationship or if they had met.

'There's nothing remarkable about their conversation, but the fact that he's the last person she had any contact with makes him a person of interest,' Grimm said. 'That's a solid lead that needs to be followed up on.'

He added that he spoke with Sierra's husband Steven on Tuesday, and that the man was meeting with local authorities and had provided them with passwords to her social media sites.

Her husband said Sierra was in constant contact with him throughout the trip and knew she had traveled outside Turkey.

'These are things she made me well aware of,' he told Staten Island Live before leaving for Istanbul. 'She kept me 100 percent updated.'

Turkey's Dogan news agency said police had learned that Sierra had travelled to Amsterdam on January 15 and then on to Munich on January 16, before returning to Istanbul on January 19.

Her husband continued: 'Every day while she was there she pretty much kept in contact with us, letting us know what she was up to, where she was going, whether it be through texting or whether it be through video chat, she was touching base with us.'

Search: Members of the Istanbul-based Association For Families With Lost Relatives hand out flyers with photos of Sierra, and other missing family members, in Istanbul on Thursday

Apart: Sarai's husband Steven, pictured, said she had told him about her trips to other countries

On Tuesday, Turkish police released security camera footage showing the missing mother at a mall near her hostel hours before she disappeared.

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 - according to local reports.

Sarai was supposed to land in the U.S. on January 22, but she never arrived. Airline staff at Newark Airport told her husband she had never boarded her flight.

A police official said authorities were reviewing footage from around Istanbul's Taksim neighborhood - the city's main hub where she was staying at a hostel.

Several police teams have also been dispatched to surrounding neighborhoods to find possible clues and witnesses, the official said.

Last images: Sarai Sierra is seen on CCTV just before she vanished in January

Spotted: The footage from inside a mall close to her hostel shows her eating lunch in the cafeteria



He spoke on condition of anonymity, in line with government rules that bar civil servants from speaking to reporters without prior authorization.

Before she went missing, the mother-of-two told family members that she planned to take some photographs at Galata Bridge, a well-known tourist destination about a mile away from Taksim that spans the Golden Horn waterway.



Her husband, Steven Sierra, waited for hours at Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey on the 22nd to pick her up.



Airline attendants in Turkey said that his wife did not show up for the flight.

Her belongings, including her passport, phone, phone chargers, and medical cards, were found in her room at a hostel in Beyoglu, Turkey . An official said authorities were therefore not able to track her by her cell phone.

Mother: Sarai is pictured with her two sons, who are now 9 and 11. They were not told their mother was missing

The hostel’s owner told Turkish authorities that he had last seen her last on Sunday night.

The heartbroken husband said that he's been married to her for more than 14 years after meeting her at a church youth group, adding that his love for her is ‘deeper than it is for any individual.'

He told WABC : ‘Yo u have so many thoughts going through your mind, you don’t know what to think, you don’t know what to believe, you don’t know what to expect, you don’t know what will come out of this.'

Mystery: A view of the street with the hostel, in yellow, where Sarai Sierra, a New York City woman, left all her possessions before she disappeared Skyline: Mrs Sierra posted a series of pictures from Turkey on her Instagram account, including this one of Isanbul

Crime in Turkey is generally low and Istanbul is a relatively safe city for travelers, though there are areas where women would be advised to avoid going alone at night.

The Galata and the nearby Galata Bridge areas have been gentrified and are home to fish restaurants, cafes and boutiques.