Sarai Sierra, NYC mom missing in Turkey, appears in shopping mall security video at cafe

Sarai Sierra in undated family photo. / AP

ISTANBULTurkish police have released security camera footage of a New York City woman who has gone missing while vacationing alone in Istanbul.

Sarai Sierra, 33, has been missing since Jan. 21, when she was supposed to return to New York but did not show up for her flight home. She arrived in Istanbul on Jan 7 alone after her a friend could no longer join her.

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Family of missing NYC mom arrive in Turkey

CCTV camera footage released Tuesday shows Sierra eating alone at a shopping mall cafeteria near her hostel and walking around the mall. It was not immediately clear when the images were recorded.

The husband and brother of Sierra, a mother of two, were speaking Tuesday with Istanbul police who specialize in missing persons.

"I don't want to come home without my sister," her brother, David Jimenez, said before leaving for Turkey.

Before she went missing, Sierra told relatives she planned to take photographs at a tourist destination.

• Istanbul police start search for missing NYC mom
• Missing N.Y. mother of two disappears while on vacation in Turkey
• Family heads to Turkey to seek missing NYC mom

[clafete]

Her husband looks like a mexican drug dealer..... poor woman...

[Liz0011]

She left to take pictures of Turkey because she is a photographer. She did not leave her husband of 14 years and very young children ages 9 and 11. She only wanted to take pictures. Get your fact straight before trying to make false accusations about this married woman and mother.

[usbworks]

The fact is that she left her husband of 14 years and her children behind to travel alone to Istanbul in the middle of winter.

It's fact that she was in contact for 2 whole weeks while in Istanbul. After a last conversation with her husband on the morning of the day she was set to board her flight, she disappeared.

How convenient...

She left him and her kids. She wouldn't be the first married woman taking desperate measures to escape a bad marriage. She won't be the last.

[usbworks]

The family confirmed that she took an extra pair of shoes with her when she disappeared, leaving behind her clothes and Passport. Why would someone carry around an extra pair of shoes while taking pictures on her last day in Istanbul?

She had no intention of returning to her room for the clothes or the Passport. She's going to stay and blend-in in Istanbul.

Someone in Istanbul has to be helping her. My guess is that the tour operator in Holland she visited and the three days she spent in Munich are involved with her effort to hide.

[usbworks]

The biggest clue to this "disappearance" is that it happened on the very day that she was set to board the plane back to the US. She was gone 2 weeks with several days spent in a side trip to Amsterdam and Munich, always keeping in touch until the very last day.

She doesn't want to go back! I hope that her husband can't find her and bring her back. I hope she finds freedom and love. Good luck Sarai!

[hamiltongrad]

Why isn't she home with her young children and her husband ?

[EZKube]

I guess all good women stay home with their husband and kids. Why not make her wear a veil, too?

[usbworks]

The simplest answer is usually the correct one. She left her husband and two grown boys and traveled alone to Istanbul in the winter because she needed to leave them. I would not be surprised that 14 years of marriage starting from 19 years old was too much.

[usbworks]

Turkish news reported that two Americans living in Istanbul filed an affidavit at a police station that they were friends of the family. They refused to comment on the details of their affidavit to the press waiting outside.

The plot thickens.

[Liz0011]

She left to take pictures of Turkey because she is a photographer. She did not leave her husband of 14 years and very young children ages 9 and 11. She only wanted to take pictures. Get your fact straight before trying to make false accusations about this married woman and mother.

[spf718]

what turkish news?? back up your info....