The Istanbul authorities have taken a man into custody on Friday that reportedly exchanged messages over the Internet with a New York woman before she went missing.

Sarai Sierra, a 33-year-old mother of two children, disappeared while vacationing by herself in Istanbul, Turkey. Her family stated that they hadn't heard from her since Jan. 21, which was the day she was scheduled to return back home to New York City, but Sierra reportedly never got on board her flight to the U.S.

However, a CCTV surveillance video that was released by Turkish police on Jan. 29 did show a woman that police later identified as Sierra, walking outside of a shopping mall in Istanbul.

According to the CBS News, a police official stated that under the condition of anonymity, the authorities did query a man that had been in contact with Sierra while she stayed in the city, but the official wouldn't identify the potential suspect or give any further details on the arrest.

Turkish news reports are saying that Sierra arranged to meet up with the man being questioned on a bridge that she planned to take pictures of on the day she went missing. It's still unknown whether the meeting between the two had ever occurred.

The Staten Island woman initially made the trek to the foreign country on Jan. 7 to further pursue her hobby of photography. She also allegedly made some other trips to Amsterdam, Netherlands and Munich, Germany while in Europe.

Sierra was originally supposed to take the trip with one of her friends, but ended up doing it solo when the friend wasn't able to make it.

Sierra's husband, Steven, as well as his brother, David Jimenez, are now in Istanbul in order to assist with the search. Their children are 9 and 11.

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