Ziya T., the top suspect in the murder of U.S. citizen Sarai Sierra, was detained in the southern province of Hatay.

Hatay police are still questioning the suspect, according to Turkish media.

Ziya T. was detained within Turkish borders in Hatay’s Reyhanlı district, official sources told the Hürriyet Daily News.

Sierra left the United States for the first time in her life on Jan. 7 to take pictures in Istanbul, which is visited by millions of tourists every year. She went missing in the city on Jan. 21 and her dead body was found on Feb. 2.

Police have been searching for suspects since then, but the top suspect, Ziya T., was said to have escaped to Syria.

However Lekesiz did not comment on whether the suspect was captured in Syria or Turkey.

Ziya T. or “Laz Ziya,” used to earn his living collecting and selling used paper, according to his family’s statements. He left Istanbul shortly after Sierra’s body was found by police. According to police reports, after leaving Istanbul, Ziya T. went to his sister’s house in the northwestern province of Karabük where he spent three days. He told his family he was heading for the southern province of Hatay.

Some media outlets had claimed that the rebel Free Syrian Army had cooperated with Turkish police in their search for the suspect.

Previously, Turkish security forces had contacted the armed opposition in Syria, which controls “liberated zones,” to capture suspects in the deadly bombing of the Turkish Syrian border gate of Cilvegözü.

The al-Nusra Front, al-Faruk Brigade and Fatih Sultan Mehmet Brigade, which are controlling the mountainous area in Latakia, a western province of Syria, also provided information on the issue, according to a report by Turkish media.

Five suspects were arrested out of eight detainees who were brought from Syrian land on March 11 after a month-long investigation.

The al-Nusra Front has been blacklisted by Washington as a terrorist organization for its deadly suicide attacks.

 

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