The Murder of Sarai Sierra

Sarai Sierra traveled to Istanbul in January 2013 to photograph the city. Her family expected her back in New York on January 22, but she had stopped communicating the previous day. A search followed, and on February 2 police found her body near the old city walls in the Sarayburnu area.

The disappearance and search

Contemporary reporting describes Sierra as a mother of two who was making her first trip abroad. When she did not board her planned flight home, relatives alerted authorities. Istanbul police reviewed surveillance footage, interviewed numerous people and searched the areas she was known to have visited.

Early speculation about Sierra’s travel and personal life circulated widely. Police publicly rejected claims that she was involved in drug trafficking, and forensic reporting later said toxicology found no drugs in her blood. This dossier does not repeat unsupported theories as fact.

Forensic findings

Police and forensic reporting established that Sierra died from blunt-force trauma to the head. Initial reports discussed possible sexual assault, but the forensic examination did not establish rape. The later indictment charged the suspect with attempted sexual assault as well as murder and theft.

The search for Ziya Tasalı

Investigators focused on Ziya Tasalı, who was also referred to in contemporary coverage by the nickname “Laz Ziya.” Authorities said he had left Istanbul and crossed into Syria. On March 17, 2013, police captured him in Hatay after he re-entered Turkey from Syria.

During questioning, Tasalı admitted striking Sierra after she resisted his advances. His statements were admissions, not yet a conviction; the criminal case still had to be tested in court. Prosecutors later filed an indictment alleging deliberate homicide, attempted sexual assault and theft-related conduct.

Trial and conviction

On June 24, 2014, Istanbul’s 5th High Criminal Court convicted Tasalı of deliberately killing Sierra. Anadolu Agency reported that the court initially imposed aggravated life for the homicide before reducing it to life imprisonment based on the sentencing considerations applied by the court. He also received additional prison terms for sexual-assault and theft offenses.

Later appellate proceedings affected the related-offense portion of the case. In 2021, Hürriyet Daily News reported that a previous decision had been overturned because judgment on those counts had been made without defense counsel present. On retrial, the Istanbul court again imposed a combined 11 years and eight months for attempted sexual assault and theft, in addition to the previously imposed life sentence for deliberate homicide.

Why the legal distinction matters

The case moved through several stages: police suspicion, Tasalı’s statements, indictment, conviction and later retrial on related offenses. This page uses “convicted” only for findings made by a court. It also does not transform every early investigative claim into an established fact.

The homicide itself is adjudicated. The later retrial described in 2021 concerned the additional offenses and a procedural defect, not a finding that Sierra’s killer had been wrongly identified.

Timeline

1. January 21, 2013
   Last known contact

   Sierra is last heard from in Istanbul, one day before she is expected to return to New York.

2. February 2, 2013
   Sierra is found dead

   Police locate her body near Istanbul’s historic city walls in the Sarayburnu area.

3. March 17–18, 2013
   Tasalı is captured and arrested

   Authorities detain Ziya Tasalı in Hatay after he crosses back into Turkey from Syria. He is brought to Istanbul and arrested.

4. July 2013
   Indictment completed

   Prosecutors seek aggravated life imprisonment on the homicide count and additional punishment for sexual-assault and theft allegations.

5. June 24, 2014
   Life sentence

   An Istanbul court convicts Tasalı of deliberate homicide and imposes life imprisonment, along with additional terms on other counts.

6. December 2021
   Related-offense retrial

   After an appellate procedural ruling, the court again sentences Tasalı on attempted sexual assault and theft counts, while the life sentence for homicide remains part of the case outcome.

Current status

Solved / adjudicated. Ziya Tasalı was convicted of deliberately killing Sarai Sierra and received life imprisonment. Later proceedings revisited additional charges because of a procedural issue and resulted in new sentences for attempted sexual assault and theft.