The homeless man suspected in the savage killing of a Staten Island mom in Istanbul was caught on surveillance video trying to sell her leather jacket, Turkish media reported yesterday.
The man, an “unbalanced” garbage picker identified only as Ziya T., was spotted carrying the coat Sarai Sierra was seen wearing the same day that she was found with her head bashed in, according to Turkey’s Hürriyet Daily News.
Turkish cops also revealed that the murder weapon was a brick, not a rock as had been reported.They said they had scrutinized surveillance footage from more than 500 cameras in the vicinity of Istanbul’s ancient walls and that Ziya T. was spotted in 16 locations, allowing them to track his movements.
The footage also caught Sierra’s last moments before her gruesome death — and captured her wearing sunglasses, jeans and the same leather jacket the suspect was trying to peddle at a bazaar.
The suspect dropped out of sight last month after spending a few days after the murder with his sister and brother-in-law, who have described him as “unbalanced.”
Authorities believe he fled to Hatay, near the Syrian border, where cops are trying to track him down in crowded refugee camps.
Police had earlier said that DNA samples taken from the home of Ziya T.’s relatives were a match for blood on Sierra’s T-shirt.
The 33-year-old mother of two, who reportedly had sex with at least one man during her solo vacation, was found dead on Feb. 2.