Arrest in Sierra Lamar Murder: Cops To Announce Her Disappearance Ended in Her Death
This morning, Morgan Hill detectives will be giving a press conference to announce that 15 year old Sierra Lamar, who disappeared from her home on March 16, has been murdered.
Garcia Torres Mug Shot
In custody currently for Sierra’s murder is Antolin Garcia-Torres, 21, of San Martin who was booked at Santa Clara County Jail on suspicion of murder and kidnapping, said sheriff’s Sgt. Jose Cardoza.
The suspect attended Central High School in Morgan Hill and does not have a serious criminal history except for a 2009 arrest for resisting arrest, KTVU-TV reported. He had worked at a Safeway store on Tennant Avenue in Morgan Hill where he was arrested at about 6 p.m.
In early May, Santa Clara County Sheriff detectives released a picture of a red Jetta with a black hood in order to generate tips, but the vehicle had already been impounded. Sources inside the investigation have confirmed forensic tests indicated Lamar had been in the vehicle.
A news conference is scheduled for this morning. Please check back to www.blinkoncrime.com for updates.
Related Posts
Related Posts:
106 Comments
RSS feed for comments on this post. TrackBack URI
I’m sure the police already have this but for our discussion, here is a list of lakes and resevoirs in Santa Clara County:
http://www.freewebs.com/scoutingoutings/Webpages/Fishing.htm
Sorry to keep bringing up his myspace photos but now that we have the fishing story, I wish we knew where the photos of the lake and the other body of water are located. Maybe the police know and will include that in their searches. Does anyone on here recoginize where the photos were taken?
Natasha, one of the photos in that set/album is of a sign reading “Lake Cunningham Regional Park” so that might be a good guess as to where some, if not all of those outdoorsy photos were taken. Just a guess though and the photos could be of other places too.
I am not sure, but with the picture of lake Cunningham it could be there but probably uvas…..
Jmo
BlackPearl, when you spoke of ATG in the past tense, I was afraid I missed something our revered Blinkster–A Texas Grandfather!
Thank goodness, not.
Good questions on the fishing.
I wonder what LE has been able to find on his computer. I believe they caught a serial killer in the making. Many start out like this with attacks on women/girls and then escalate to their first kill. If he had gotten away with this, I believe he would have struck again in a year or two and eventually more frequently until caught.
I hope LE was able to recover his computer or laptop. We know he used on or had access to one for social media. I can only imagine the level of porn (snuff, rape, etc) this man watched. I hope they go for the death penalty.
Prayers for Sierra’s family.
I wonder if the body found today on dublin canyon road, in Castro Valley (CA) is that of Sierra’s. They found the partially decomposed body, later disclosed as female, on the side of the road. A neighbor reported the can as suspicious. KGO news (radio) reported that the rate of decomp is inconsistent with their present theory (wrt the suspect), but that they have not id’d the body yet (except to say that it is female). CV is an hour & a half, mas o menos, from MH.
Off topic but with Mickey Shunick now missing, will this ever stop?
Word Girl I thought the same thing when I saw ATG…We need a different handle for this creep.
Word Girl
I am still here. I saw the post and chuckled. It was bound to happen in an effort to keep from typing an entire name.
It is ok Blackpearl, you did not know. I agree that every place this perp went near water is going to need checking. Water is an easy way to dispose of a body. I just hope that LE has a very smart interrogation team that can get the answers needed.
ROTFL, I saw that and knew it was all good. We need a friday giggle around here.
B
Any thoughts on whether the body found in Pleasantdale is Sierra? I read a report it was female. About 45 miles from Sierra’s house.
Maybe its because it is Memorial Day weekend, but I can’t stop thinking about Morgan Harrington today. I sure wish justice would be served in that case.
twinkletoes
Thanks for remembering Morgan. I have been looking at the various areas of the Colonial Parkway murders for Dr. Pepper in regards to Morgan and the two young people that were students at Virginia Tech. Morgan was very much on my mind in recent days.
Your post about the juvenile records in this case is exactly why I think society has made a terrible mistake in sealing records of any juvenile over twelve years of age. This is the age when they begin to establish who they are and who they will be in the future. This information needs to be available to all of society so that bad or dangerous behavior can be dealt with in a meaningful way.
bethechangeyouwannasee
In regards to your posts No. 34 and 37:
Thanks for your work in helping children who may be in need of good parenting. Your questions are very good and are things they need to think about. Money is not necessarily the problem, nor is social standing.
The lack of parenting is the problem. Just look at what happened in the instance of Yeardly Love and George Hugeley. These parents had money and they lost the opportunity to make a good citizen of George because IMO they were too self-centered to spend the time learning to be parents and then doing the required parenting.
In cases like this one, we often find children in families that are the products of divorce. The children are sometimes shuffled back and forth. Unless the parents are willing to work together in the parenting process, the children will often try to manipulate the situation to get what they want regardless of what is benificial. After all, children and young people are mostly about themselves and they do not have the ability to think into the future unless some wise person, preferably a parent, stops them and introduces them to that type of thinking.
Then we have the modern day problem of the internet and other social media available to our young people. These are both benificial and dangereous at the same time. Wise parents need to do just exactly what Blink said in her remarks to Ode.
Another Possible Victim of Sierra LaMar’s Accused Killer Speaks:
http://www.nbcbayarea.com/on-air/as-seen-on/Exclusive-Another-Possible-Victim-of-Antolin-Garcia-Torres-Talks-to-Raj-Mathai-154220595.html
SoMom, link not coming up for me?
http://www.nbcbayarea.com/video/#!/news/local/Another-Possible-Victim-of-Sierra-LaMar-Suspect-Speaks/154303955
Word Girl,try this one…
http://www.nbcbayarea.com/video/#!/news/local/Another-Possible-Victim-of-Sierra-LaMar-Suspect-Speaks/154303955
I am curious as to why his dna was in the database. What did he do previously that required his dna entry?
Prior criminal acts, posting links upthread in a sec.
B
Earlier, I commented how I believed it’s very possible LE thwarted a potential serial killer “in the making” in this case.
Gather reporter, Chelsea Hoffman, shares her opinion:
Sierra LaMar Suspect’s Criminal Record: An Analysis
http://news.gather.com/viewArticle.action?articleId=281474981359414
I don’t this reporters work or history, but I did find this article interesting.
Prayers for Sierra’s family.
Another link detailing Garcia Torres criminal history.
http://www.gilroydispatch.com/news/crime_fire_courts/dissecting-torres-criminal-past-assault-obstructing-a-cop/article_1892bd02-a6ca-11e1-b53e-0019bb30f31a.html
Prayers for Sierra’s family.
Thx for the links, Southern Mom. I’m sort of surprised that Safeway hired Garcia-Torres or kept him employed when he had bouts of going to jail/court. All that takes a lot of time out of a job.
Their PR dept is probably working overtime as we speak. Afterall, the store’s name is derived from shopping in a trusted environment: Safe. Way.
Word Girl
Grocery stores often employe many part-time workers to keep from paying benefits. Labor laws allow this to take place when a worker does not work at least 35 hours. Therefore, they will hire many young often unskilled employees and schedule work hours at 20 or a little more always keeping the weekly total below 35. All that would be required is that Garcia-Torres keep the dept.head that he worked for informed if he was available for work or not.
Does Safeway management do background checks on part time employees? We don’t know. Background checks cost money. They may do background checks for full time employees. The average net profit in a grocery store is less than 3 percent of sales.
Safeway is an old line chain grocery store. It competed in the 1930′s with A & P (A & P was short for The Atlantic and Pacific Tea Company). The Safeway name came from the idea that they provided safe products to their customers. This was a marketing idea to compete with the many “mom & pop” stores.
Grocery products were not regulated by any government agency for the first third of the 20th century. The number of products found in the modern grocery is about ten times what was available in the stores up to about 1950 when they all began to sell frozen foods and some prepared foods.
If his cell phone was on can’t they track where it was pinging during and after the time of her disappearance? That is if he had it on and the battery was in it. If so, may explain (besides the “fishing” comment he apparently made to his mother) why they are focusing on the reservoirs.
If I remember correctly when little Trenton Duckett went missing (http://helpfindtrenton.com/) and the mother was a suspect LE were able to pinpoint her every move she made and her pinged locations did not corroborate with her story/alibi.
Hi, ATG, thanks some background on the food industry. I hadn’t thought about when frozen food came into being as they’ve always been in stores in my lifetime.
I worked for Safeway for a few years, fulltime, to set up internet shopping on the west coast. I can see how they started with the concept of very clean stores and excellent customer service.
I do notice the service difference when I go to stores such as Von’s.
But that’s what makes me wonder how Garcia-Torres could manage to work in an environment of smiley, helpful people, while controlling the monster within.
Or is this just a slice of our own humanity that we don’t want to consider?
Word Girl
You cannot appreciate the difference in quality and cleanliness of stores today when compared to those in the 1930′s unless you could see video of those old stores. My mother shopped at a Safeway Supermarket in the late 1930′s. Years later I visited that store as an adult. It was considered to be a large store at the time she shopped there. When I visited it as an adult, I found out just how small it really was. It was 4,000 sq. ft. including the back stock area. Small grocery stores today are five times as large.
Based on the link of SouthernMom about Garcia-Tores previous problems in society, I think that our Criminal Justice system in that community failed to incarcerate him for the attempted rape of the 14 year old along with the other acts. He should never been on the street to attack this child.
I do not remember the name of the woman that posted about a killer/rapist that worked as an assistant chef in a top quality resturant where she was a manageer. She stated that he gave her the creeps and she didn’t know why. She found out after he was arrested as a serial killer.
We don’t know just what job Garcia-Torres held at Safeway. He could have worked on the night stocking crew and only came in contact with the manager and the other crew members. This may also account for the fact that he was able to go to the continuing high school. In addition, it could also account for the early morning abduction of Siera.
ATG,
I don’t have the link, but I read some comments made by Antolin’s sister that said he had worked his way up from a bagger to a checker at Safeway. Supposedly he was no longer working there at the time of his arrest, and was seeking work doing odd jobs or construction, I believe. If he no longer worked there though, I am curious why that is where he was when he was arrested…was he just shopping? Or was he scouting out future victims?…..
Sierra had such a light about her, that smile and those beautiful eyes. She reminds me of my own daughter. It kills me to think of her afraid and in pain at the hands of a predator. Poor baby. I wish eventual peace and justice for her family members.
@Sandyeggo: do you have a link or know where you read that Torres was not employed at Safeway? This is very important.
Oh, God. “body found in South Bay pond”…news tease on NBC Bay Area a couple of minutes ago. The terms “South Bay” are used locally to describe areas south of the SF Bay…San Jose, Morgan Hill, etc…. stomach is doing flip flops….
Sorry, Blink. Dang news tease. It is the body of a man. May he rest in pease. Not Sierra. http://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/local/SJ-Police-Scour-POnd-for-Possible-Body-155405075.html
Here’s a lengthy video interview with Torres’ sister, Lucero, and her partner, at their apartment.
The sister says he’s not employed by Safeway and he isn’t looking for work. Several times in her very sincere interview, she shows signs of deception and you can see one when she speaks of his ‘looking for work’ status.
A couple other deceptions occur when she speaks of his past and whether he was violent and why he was targeted (actually more of the deception there comes from her partner–sorry I don’t have the actual spelling of his name.)
http://blogs.sfweekly.com/thesnitch/2012/05/antolin_garcia-torres_sierra_lamar.php
Another deception by Lucero was when she mentioned the photos of her brother circulating. She says they don’t depict him in a a good light. Those photos may be the same from his Myspace.
Gotta say, if you don’t condone it why take a photo of yourself doing it?
Sandyeggo
Thanks for the information about the actual jobs that Garcia-Torres worked at Safeway. If that is correct, there is the possibility that he did something to get himself fired or he simply decided to quit.
Based on the anger reported in the link, I would go for the first one.
There are many beautiful young girls and women to see in a grocery store. He could have been attracted to them and knew their sometimes poor safety habits in a parking lot. This could be the reason he chose those locations. Once a guy gets started in that direction, it never stops.
This guy has been enabled by the type of lifestyle the family lived. I would not give much credance to anything the family says in his behalf.
It seems AGT won’t give up any info.
How frustrating for LE & Sierra’s family & friends.
I have read several sites that claim the DNA found in suspects car was not blood, can they convict without a body and can you convince a jury that there was a murder without blood?
Texas Grandfather, you mentioned a link provided by sandyeggo and I’m trying to find it.
“Based on the anger reported in the link, I would go for the first one.”
Might you still have access to that link? thx, A Texas Grandfather.
Testing….
Everytime I attempt to post the links, my posts disappear when I hit ‘submit’. If this one goes through, I will try again.
test.. same thing for me.
?
B
One saavy armchair detective found what seems to be AGT’s Google reviews. His google username he used to write reviews was “Lucky” – same word was in his myspace account . For some reason (maybe his attorneys deleted his name or Google is just down) it only says now “A Google User reviewed”. But I took a screenshot with all of his accounts user reviews so that is how I have the specific dates.
This “Lucky” character made reviews in the days prior to Sierra’s disappearance, the day of, and the days after. If you click this link it shows one of his reviews which was written on March 18th. It is the one that says “I hate you all”. https://plus.google.com/110181742931919511768/about?hl=en
And the most alarming one would be Thousand Trails **where the Uvas Reservoir is and where they are conducting their water searches! “Lucky” reviewed it ON MARCH 16th 2012. THE SAME date Sierra Lamar went missing. Here is the link – https://plus.google.com/104755686657191968520/about?gl=US&hl=en-US
“Lucky” reviewed Camping World in San Martin and Orchard Supply Hardware in Capitola on March 15th. He reviewed Walmart Supercenter in Morgan Hill on March 18th (his very last review) and 117 Forest Ave Santa Cruz, Ca on March 13th in which he says “My sister and brother in law are awesome”. There are two other ones from January.
Here is AGT’s myspace… Username “Lucky All Day” http://www.myspace.com/303044008
hmmm
Scout, can you quote what Lucky said on 3/16/12 in his Google review of Thousand Trails–the review that you called “the most alarming one”? (BOC, Scout, June 4, 2012, 7:00 pm) What I find there lists service and pool table as advantages.
The I hate you all review makes sense, but I didn’t see anything in the 1,000 Trails.
I appreciate you bringing these forward. Do you know where someone might have the screenshots available in a public account such as Flickr or other?
I just really hope the DNA evidence is solid. I look at this alleged perp and I just don’t see it. I want to. I want justice. But my gut doesn’t feel it. But that DNA evidence . . .
I don’t know anything. I sincerely hope LE has its ducks in a row. I think they do, from what I can see and hear. I greatly respect the arresting officers in this case. Just had to state that i never would have fingered this fellow for it.
Hey Word Girl– he didn’t write any actual review…only gave it five stars and check off the “pool tables and service” for things he liked about the place. https://plus.google.com/104755686657191968520/about?gl=US&hl=en-US
MOO – the sketch in the link below is very close to a “dead ringer” for AFT but of course, could be coincidence. If AGT is the same man and it can be proven, I hope he has to pay for all of his acts of terror, not just Sierra’s case. I still say this man was a serial killer in the makings and I’m grateful he is behind bars. Again, MOO. Prayers for Sierra’s family.
oops – forgot the link:
http://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/local/Public-Wonders-if-Gilroy-Sketch-is-Linked-to-Sierra-LaMar-158201885.html
I live close to Sierra Lamar’s community and I found this tumblr posting by a teacher from Sobrato High, the school where Sierra Lamar attended. I was heartbroken by the pain these students, teachers and this community must face. Morgan Hill is a nice community, on the outskirts of the Silicon Valley.
Just wanted to share with you and send prayers in hopes that next year will be a better year for them all!
http://msguthrie.tumblr.com/post/24756922316/these-violent-delights-have-violent-ends
“These violent delights have violent ends.” – Shakespeare
It’s no secret that it’s been a rough year at Ann Sobrato High, where I teach. We’ve endured more tragedies than a school should ever have to, all in one year.
In November, we lost a dear student, Tara Romero. She was gunned down by gang members while waiting for a ride home with her friends. I had Tara last year when she was in 8th grade. I had her two girlfriends too. And her cousin. This year, one of her friends who was shot was in my class, and never returned to school. The other friend, whose mom died while she was in a coma because of the shot to her abdomen, returned to school and was placed in my class. She spent a couple of days just crying. In class. And didn’t show up most other days. And then there’s Tara’s cousin. I had her last year, and this year. She’s a bright, beautiful girl who understands more about how the world works than she should have to at her age. She struggled. She struggles. I admire her.
Then there’s Sierra. I didn’t know Sierra, but I feel like I do now. I see her face every day. It’s plastered all over the school. Posters. T-shirts. Fliers. Everywhere. I think about her every day as I’m driving to work, wondering where she is. Someone created a painting of her name, and stuck it alongside Monterey Road. It’s pink and beautiful. The unusual thing about her case is the lack of closure. The trial will go on for a long time. Our school will still suffer. Every time there’s a development, students will be further scarred.
Another student passed away this year that I didn’t know. He had muscular dystrophy. He was feeling sick and went to the hospital, and then died. Just like that. It was the third or fourth time that I heard my principal, Debbie Padilla, who is always calm and seems unshakeable, speak over the loudspeaker, stifling tears and sobs.
And then yesterday. The last day of school. I thought we had made it to the end. We survived.
Orlando didn’t. Orlando was a junior in my freshman English class. He knew he had screwed up his freshman year and needed to pull it together this semester. And he did. He wasn’t the perfect student, but he was honest. He participated in class, wrote poetry whenever he got the chance, and had the most charming smile. He was such a nice kid, and he knew I adored him.
He told me in April that he had attempted suicide earlier that month. He was absent for a couple days because he was in the hospital. It broke my heart. I said I was glad he was back, and to let me know how I can help.
Last week he turned in an essay about Romeo & Juliet for one of his last assignments. I let the students choose a topic that was interesting to them, and he chose to write about why Shakespeare has the two star-crossed lovers attempt and then commit suicide. He wrote about his experience, and explained how he knew now that there are people who care about him and that he’s not alone. On Wednesday, I returned his essay to him with a note that thanked him for sharing his experience, and reminded him that my classroom is a safe place for him. Always.
On the day of the final he asked if he could take the final in the principal’s office. I know he’d been spending a lot of time there recently, not because he was in trouble but because he was receiving support from Ms. Padilla, the principal. I felt kind of bad when I reminded him that his final in my class was a trial and he had to be present. He was playing Romeo in the trial, after all, and we couldn’t have a trial for the deaths of Romeo and Juliet without a Romeo. He participated in the trial and did a great job. Though I’m kicking myself now for choosing him to be Romeo, even though he requested the part.
Orlando committed suicide yesterday. I don’t know the details. I just know that I saw him the day before, smiling. I just know that I expected to see him next year, and hoped he would be placed in one of my senior English classes. I just know that other teachers cared too. I just know that I had to hear my principal stifling tears and sobs again, this time over the phone. I just know that every time my phone rings after hours and it’s a call from Morgan Hill that I’ll always have a jolt of panic – what now?
I just know that I left the school yesterday relieved and exhausted that I had completed my first full year of teaching and I didn’t feel like a failure. I felt tired, exhausted really, but I had a sense of accomplishment. Then I got that phone call and the adult in me said, “That’s just the way it is,” and the child in me said, “But the year is over; that’s not fair.”
The thing that haunts me about all of these kids is what they must have been thinking or feeling. The terror the girls must have felt in Tara’s last moments. Sierra’s fear. Orlando’s loneliness and depression. Kids shouldn’t have to feel those feelings. I think of Tara’s family. Sierra’s family. Orlando’s family. I think of their teachers. I think of the empty chairs in the classrooms that represented a young, intelligent, vibrant beings who were torn from our school through violence.
And I think about how fairness is so important to teenagers. They know when things are unfair, and they will fight for fairness. For justice. They’ll fight with words. With fists. Whatever they need to do to get their point across because they feel like no one listens to them. Like they have no effect on the world. And this year, Sobrato students have nothing to fight. They just keep feeling people being torn from their lives, and they can’t do anything about it. Most adults know that we have no control over outside forces like these. We know that life isn’t always fair.
But that’s a lesson Sobrato students are learning too early, and that isn’t fair.
1 week ago 32 notes
I just read this over on “Gather”:
Aside from the latest update, the Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Office officials have released documents regarding the investigation of the Morgan Hill teen’s disappearance, complete with arrest information and “statements of facts.” What’s most interesting about the documents within this release is that the discoveries of evidence differs slightly from media reports. It was earlier reported that the bag and clothing belonging to Sierra were found in a field, but the fact of the matter is different. Sierra’s belongings, along with DNA belonging to both her and Antolin Garcia-Torres, in an abandoned shed.
http://news.gather.com/viewArticle.action?articleId=281474981427767
Is this website legit? This is the first I’ve heard this. It would make sense that they have alot more evidence if this is the case.
Well, this is Hell for the family of Sierra. In the beginning we had the best possible scenario in a very bad situation. LE made an arrest and it looked like it would not be long before we came across Sierra. The best of the best showed up for the search effort. The organization of volunteer searchers by Mark Klass and his team from the “Klass Kids Foundation” Amber Dubois mom and with her search group “Team Amber Rescue” they came from southern California. Michelle Le’s brother came with his group “Bay Area Missing”. The suspects father was also arrested on charges of molestation of his own daughter and has since been convicted of that crime and sentenced to many years in prison. The search area is big and wide from elevations of 24 foot asl to 2000 asl but people who grew up here came in large numbers. We know our area. Over 3000 people have given their time and efforts. Many local people support Sierra’s family and are at the search center every weekend. Sheriff professional SAR teams worked the area over from every possible disposal locations. Still to this date Sierra has not been found. The suspect refuses to enter a plea and plays games with the court. The suspects family is silent. No help from them at all. Here comes the rain which will make grass grow and makes searching very difficult. But continue we will and someday we will find this child.
Sierra deserves to be found and her family and friends deserve to have her home.
Edward, as you know, I have great respect for you, all the organizations you mentioned, who have come to be just that- from their own loss.
Keep the faith as best you can. If there is a deal to be made to locate her, he ultimately will.
Until then, we are on God’s time, friend.
The last prosecutions in the Sheddy case occurred this week. This November will be the fifth anniversary of her murder- I understand the frustration better than anyone from an investigative perspective.
B
Thank Blink.. The new case with Jessica … What is similar is early morning abduction and all the clothes in her backpack left for others to find.I wonder what age the perp will be that abducted Jessica.
My thoughts on that are different than the prevailing theory. I think he more closely matches the profile of salt and pepper pot belly than the younger suspect in the jogger attack.
I would like to know if any of the young girls that encountered him last November were wearing glasses.
B
http://www.ktvu.com/news/news/crime-law/accused-sierra-lamars-father-faces-life-prison/nTqGs/
Father should get life sentence..