Revealed: Moment homeless man accused of bludgeoning New York mother to death in Istanbul 'confesses' he killed her after sniffing paint thinner...as police arrest him following weeks on the run



Suspect known as 'Ziya T' caught while trying to cross into Syria from Turkey

He admits he killed Sarai Sierra, 33, after getting high on paint thinner



The mother-of-two's body was found on February 2 - she had not spoken to her husband since January 14

Ziya T had dirt all over him and 'fingernail scratches' on day she died, witnesses said



Brick found with Sarai's blood on it has been called the murder weapon



Dramatic video footage captures the confession of the homeless man accused of fatally bludgeoning a New York mother in Turkey in January.

'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 Staten Island resident Sarai Sierra's body, on February 2nd.

'l got thinner, the woman was passing by there. l hit the woman's head with a stick. When l woke up in the morning, l realized the blood of the woman and l understood she was dead. l went to Karabük and passed to Syria,' admitted Ziya reported the Turkish news website, TimeTurk.com.

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Admission: Tasali said in an interview shortly after his capture that he 'hit the woman's head with a stick' after sniffing paint thinner

Murder suspect: Ziya Tasali is led out of a home by police as he is detained in the murder of Sarai Sierra

Sarai Sierra on the NYC subway: This is the brown leather jacket she was wearing on the day she died which police say Ziya Tasali then sold at a nearby Bazaar

He was captured by police as he tried to cross the border into Syria in Turkey's Hatay province, Interior Minister Muammer Guler said.

The Hurriyet Daily News reported that Ziya taken into custody, and is in the process of being flown to Istanbul, where he will face formal charges in 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.

After he was taken into custody, Ziya admitted that he crossed paths with Ziya after he had been sniffing paint thinner for most of the day to get high .

He does not speak English and gave his alleged confession in Turkish.

He also admitted that he lingered in the area after killing 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.



Guler said police identified the suspect after inspecting thousands of security camera videos and conducting a 'series of tests.'



Last seen: This is the last image of Sarai Sierra - captured on CCTV on January 21 - close to where she was bludgeoned to death in Istanbul possibly moments before she was killed

Mystery: Police have placed a locked iron gate over the spot Sarai Sierra's body was found so no-one but them can access it

Ziya Tasali's brother Hamdi T said: 'He doesn't seem like someone who could commit a murder and flee. But, he said to me: "I'm going to run to Syria," which confused me'

Ziya was a scrap paper collector who used to hang around Istanbul's ancient city walls, where Sierra's body was found.

Authorities said 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.'



Mr 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.

Mr 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.



Mourning: Steven Sierra, husband of Sarai Sierra, upper center, and Dennis Jimenez, right, wipe their eyes during her funeral, at the Christian Pentecostal Church in Staten Island

'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 Sierra was murdered.

They said he is pictured carrying the mother-of-two'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'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.

Mother's pain: Betzaida Jimenez, second from right, pauses at the casket of her daughter Sarai Sierra, during her funeral

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 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 him on the day Sarai was killed and that he had scratches on his arms.

Mahmut G, a resident of the district where Sierra’s body was found, also told the police that he had seen Ziya T in the neighborhood that day and he had 'scars that might have been caused by nails.'

'I asked him what it was, and he told me that he fell in the bushes,' Mahmut G told the police, according to the Hurryiet Daily News.

Tough times: Sarai Sierra's sons, Silas in blue shirt, and Sion in orange , are seen being comforted at their mother's wake. Dulce has her own son, Angel and the boys all now live together at the Staten Island home where Sarai once lived

Last respects: The casket of Sarai Sierra is prepared for her wake at Christian Pentecostal Church today in the Staten Island borough of New York

'It'll be positive if everything is officially stated. It would be nice to know that whoever is being detained this time, is indeed responsible.'

Sierra's family was following the latest developments in the case, said her sister, Christina Jimenez, but she declined to comment at this crucial stage in the investigation.

'We don't want to say the wrong thing,' Jimenez said.

Police have confirmed that the murder weapon was a brick, rather than a rock after finding Sarai's blood on it.

Another witness identified as Hasan B. said he saw Sarai taking photos of the city walls. Ten minutes later, he heard screaming.



Police were alerted to Sarai's disappearance when she failed to catch her flight home on January 22.

The 33-year-old had been linked to at least two different men since her trip to Istanbul and it was believed she had sex with a man named 'Taylan K' in a bar restroom the day before she died.



Murdered: The body of Sarai, right, was found in Istanbul on February 2; her husband Steven (left) posted a series of cryptic messages online about cheating and relationships

