Man found dead in Istanbul in same place as US tourist Sierra

ISTANBUL – Doğan News Agency

CİHAN Photo

The body of a man has been found along Istanbul’s city walls near Sarayburnu, in exactly the same spot where an American woman visiting the city was killed in 2013.

The man, who is thought to be a foreign national aged between 35 and 40, sustained cuts to his throat, reports said. One of his shoes was found one meter away.

No identity card, wallet or cell phone belonging to the man has been found.

Police have launched an investigation into the killing and the body has been sent to the Forensic Medicine Institute for an autopsy.

Sarayburnu is the same area where the body of American tourist Sarai Sierra was found in January 2013. Following her disappearance, issues surrounding safety and poverty in the neighborhood triggered much media attention.

Sierra, 33, left the United States for the first time in her life on Jan. 7, 2013, to take pictures in Istanbul and went missing in the city on Jan. 21. Her dead body was found Feb. 2, 2013, along Istanbul’s city walls near Sarayburnu beneath Topkapı Palace.

Ziya Tasalı was sentenced to life in prison for the murder in June 2014.