Sierra LaMar was born on October 19, 1996 in Fremont, California. Her parents were no longer together, with her father staying in Fremont, whilst Sierra moved with her mother to nearby Morgan Hill.
Even though she was a relatively new student at Ann So rata High School, 15-year-old Sierra LaMar was popular and well-liked among her peers.
On the morning of March 16, 2012, Sierra LaMar didn’t make it into school. It wasn’t until 6pm that evening that Sierra’s mother was notified of her absence by the school’s automated email system.
She was reported missing but unfortunately crucial time was already lost.
The Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Office considered Sierra a standard missing person. Jose Cardoza the Sheriff’s spokesperson said:
“There is no evidence of foul play.”
On March 17, Sierra’s mobile phone was found intact near the roadway at an intersection in Morgan Hill approximately 2 miles from her home. It appeared as if it had been thrown from a vehicle.
On March 18, Sierra’s “Juicy” brand bag was found two intersections away from her phone. It was stuffed with her clothes, including jeans and a shirt.
Investigators found nothing in Sierra’s personal life to indicate that she would voluntarily run away.
Volunteers searched for any signs of Sierra around her home and the route she would have taken, organised by the Nonprofit Klaaskids Foundation.
Sierra’s father, a registered sex offender, was ruled out as a suspect.
Forensic examination of her phone didn’t reveal anything useful to the investigation, but her bag and clothes that had been discarded at the intersection did provide a breakthrough.
Traces of DNA found matched 21-year-old Antolin Garcia-Torres. He was already in police databases for previous crimes including felony battery.
Garcia-Torres drove a red VW Jetta and worked at Safeway, a grocery store. He lived in an RV park with his mother and pregnant girlfriend around 7 miles away from Sierra’s home.
In 2009, 3 women had suffered attempted abductions and assaults, all from the parking lots of Safeways stores in the Morgan Hill area. In each instance a man approached the women as they entered their vehicles or as they prepared to drive away. The suspect used a shun gun in one attempt, which they dropped. Each time the man was scared away by the victims screams of by passersby. Fingerprints on the dropped stun gun matched Garcia-Torres.
Garcia-Torres was placed on 24-hour surveillance, and on May 21, 2012, after two months of round-the-clock surveillance, he was arrested for the kidnapping and murder of Sierra LaMar.
His red VW Jetta had been seized by officers a few weeks before, having been seen on CCTV near the area Sierra was in on the morning of her disappearance. Sierra’s DNA was found on an inside door handle and a strand of her hair was caught in a rope found in the trunk.
Although investigators hadn’t located Sierra LaMar’s body, Garcia-Torres was charged with murder. Despite no crime scene, weapon or body, prosecutors sought the death penalty.
On Saturday, March 14, 2015, Sierra’s family called off the search for her. For 3 years volunteers conducted weekly searches in the hopes of finding her.
On January 30, 2017, Garcia-Torres went on trial for the kidnapping and murder of Sierra LaMar, as well as the attempted assaults of the 3 women in the Safeway parking lots.
The trial lasted 4 months. Antolin Garcia-Torres was found guilty on all counts. The jury rejected the death penalty and Garcia-Torres was sentenced to life without the possibility of parole.
Sierra LaMar’s mother said to Garcia-Torres:
“ You could end this and repent, and tell us where she is.
“What if she was your child?”
Sierra LaMar’s family have never held a funeral for her as they said:
“It didn’t make sense without her body.”
Source:
https://www.truecrimepodcast.com/videos/episode-188-body-of-evidence-sierra-lamar
https://allthatsinteresting.com/sierra-lamar
https://medium.com/lessons-from-history/the-disappearance-and-murder-of-sierra-lamar-14eff18c1318
