Search for missing NYC woman in Istanbul continues

FROM CNN WIRES:

The family of a New York woman last seen earlier this month in Turkey is pleading for help, and clinging to hope, as they try to find out what happened to her and bring her home.

Sarai Sierra traveled to Istanbul on January 7 and over the next two weeks chronicled her trip in photos. She last spoke to her family on January 21, the day before she was ticketed to fly back to New York City.

But they haven't heard from her since.

The trip to Turkey was Sarai Sierra's first outside the United States. A part-time student, part-time receptionist at a chiropractor's office and full-time mother of two, she also had a passion for photography - particularly taking photos of places and posting them on her Instagram account - according to her husband.

The New Yorker's plan was to capture the sights of Istanbul with a friend, but she ended up going alone because her friend wasn't able to make it, Steven Sierra said.

This morning on "Starting Point," Sierra's friend Magalena Rodriguez & Rep. Michael Grimm (R-NY) update John Berman and Brooke Baldwin on the latest in the search.

READ MORE: Family seeks help finding New York woman last seen in Istanbul