Sierra LaMar: Anatomy of a Search Day 16

Sierra LaMar: Anatomy of a Search Day 16

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Everything is relative.
Last night I dreamt about my own death. I was old: much older than I am right now. My face had not been shaved in several days and I still had a full head of hair. I was in bed surrounded by loved ones and I was holding Violet’s hand. I was neither desperate nor afraid. I didn’t have regret and was at peace with the world. It must have been sad, because unless you are evil, death is always a sad occasion.
 Of course, this dream was a direct result of my immersion association with Sierra LaMar’s disappearance. I have been thinking of little else these past weeks and each day that passes is more ominous than the day before. I am struck by the fact that thousands of searchers and hundreds of search parties have revealed very little about the mystery surrounding her disappearance. As much as I hope that she will be recovered alive, I dread the alternative. I am a pragmatist and must fall back on my experience and knowledge of what we are doing in the field every day. Death invades my thoughts.
 Given that Sierra LaMar is still missing and that we will be searching for her again tomorrow, today was an excellent day. Earlier today I received a phone call from Brian Miller, who has emerged as one of the Sierra Search Center volunteer leaders, regarding another missing child in Morgan Hill. This time it was a 4-year-old girl. She had been missing for an hour by the time Brian and I talked. Obviously, Morgan Hill is very sensitive to child safety in the aftermath of Sierra’s disappearance. The little girl had disappeared during a slumber party after an adult had left the room full of children for a few minutes. Brian told me that upon being informed by a friend of the family he had logged onto the  KlaasKids Foundation Missing Child Page to ensure that proper procedures had been followed in reporting the missing girl to the police. Fortunately, relevant entities were notified in a timely manner.
 After Brian explained the situation he asked me if he could conference in the friend of the family who had notified him so that she could provide more detail on the case. My instinct and sense of dread was such that I wanted to tell him that one missing child in Morgan Hill at a time was enough. Instead, I told him to make the call. When she got on the line she was obviously overcome with emotion. The first words out of her mouth were, “She’s been found. She’s safe.” It turns out that the child is excellent at hide and seek. The first thing out of my mouth was laughter. Sometimes it’s just a good day.
 At 4:00 p.m. I picked up Violet for a quick trip to Berkeley. We had last minute shopping to do for a home improvement project. We were on the verge of exceeding our budget and preliminary research indicated that we would exceed it by hundreds of dollars within the next hour or so. We arrived at our destination and singled out the item that we had only seen through a window on Easter Sunday. It was not only perfect for our project, but cost much less that we had anticipated. We made the purchase and remain under budget. Upon leaving the premises we saw two little girls, one white and one black, tentatively kissing each other on the lips. It was precious.

Sometimes it’s a great day!
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Sierra LaMar: Anatomy of a Search Day 13

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There’s a new quarterback in town. Michael Le may be the coolest guy in the room, but even he became giddy at the prospect of meeting 49er quarterback Alex Smith and some of his teammates at today’s search.
 Of course I didn’t need to remind Michael that we were searching for the missing 15-year-old cheerleader and not having a fan-fest for local sports heroes, because it was only six months ago that we were looking for his sister Michelle. That Michael is ready and willing to assume a leadership position in this effort is pretty amazing under those circumstances. “Marc, wouldn’t it be awesome if I was the 49er’s team leader? Then I could boss them around and tell them what to do.”
 “Yes, that would be fantastic Michael,” I said. “Let me see what I can do.”
 I picked KlaasKids National Search Director Brad Dennis up at SFO yesterday afternoon and we drove down to Morgan Hill together. The Search Center was abuzz with activity when we arrived in the late afternoon. Brad disappeared into the mapping room as I engaged Frank Harper in a conversation about an incident he had mentioned last week about a rape victim that he and his sons had rescued more than ten years ago. The physical similarities between that victim, Sierra, and Christina Williams who was kidnapped and murdered in Seaside, CA in 1998, were startling. Got me to thinking so I blogged about it yesterday.
 The search effort is in transition. KlaasKids is turning direct management over to community leaders and assuming a support and assistance role because we don’t have adequate staff to devote full time to the multiple cases that we are involved with. We brought Brad back this week because the response to the Sierra search has been so massive and the 49ers have been so openly supportive. We were concerned about an overwhelming response so Brad and his mapping team planned for as many as 1,000 volunteers.
 Four of those searchers turned out to be 49er tight end Delanie Walker, quarterback Alex Smith and his wife Elizabeth, backup quarterback Scott Tolzien, and tackle Joe Staley who really is as large as a redwood tree. All of them were assigned to Michael Le’s search team.
 When Michael’s team came back hours later I asked him how things went. He said that, “They were really awesome. And you know what? I wasn’t intimidated by them or anything,” Mike said, “but boy are they massive. It’s like they could snap me like a toothpick. They were extremely thorough and enthusiastic and they followed all their instructions. When I told them to hold the line, they held the line. When I asked them to dig into the brush they did. Even their wives and girlfriends dug deeply into the brush. They called me over when they found something relevant or suspicious. They did seem kind of anti-media though. Somehow, a couple of the media truck figured out where we were and started dogging us. It was a tough search, but I know that my team was thorough.”
 Another team, searching a high probability area was looking in outbuildings when they found a barn full of a dozen malnourished and filthy pigs in dilapidated pens.  The team leader reported the find to Santa Clara Animal Control, only to be told that they would not be able to respond until Monday. It turns out that there are only three animal control officers assigned to the 1,500 square mile County. In the old HBO television show Deadwood they used to throw dead bodies into the pigpen to make them disappear.
 These were but two of 53 teams consisting of 600 volunteers that were dispatched for today’s search. Every morning begins with such hope and ends with such frustration. Regardless of how many volunteer show up and how much terrain is covered, and as successful as this effort seems, at the end of the day Sierra LaMar is still missing.
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Sierra LaMar: Anatomy of a Search – Commonalities

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Christina 6/12/98
The temperature had just dipped below 60°F when fourteen-year-old Christina Williams took her dog Greg for a walk at 7:30 p.m. on June 12, 1998. When Greg returned home alone, trailing his leash at 8:20 p.m. Christina’s mother Alice immediately knew that something was wrong.

Christina and her family lived on the old Ft. Ord Army Base in Seaside, California. She was a petite 5’2” middle school girl with long black hair and brown almond shaped eyes. Christina had flawless white teeth that lit up a room whenever she flashed her perfect smile.

The FBI classified Christina’s disappearance as a stranger abduction. This allowed law enforcement to devote the full power of their investigative resource to her case. They quickly focused upon two Latino men, one slim and the other heavyset, sort of an evil Laurel and Hardy, as the primary suspects. They had been seen driving in Christina’s sparsely populated neighborhood in an older Mercury Monarch. One witness saw a “frightened” Christina in the car with the two men at approximately 7:45 p.m. Upon receiving a call from Christina’s father Michael, the KlaasKids Foundation organized community searches in cooperation with the Seaside Police Department. Celebrities like Clint Eastwood and Mariah Carey appeared in Public Service Announcements for Christina.

I spent very difficult days with Christina’s father Michael. He was an introverted Meteorologist for the U.S. Army who felt more comfortable in front of a computer than he did at the search center. As a result, Michael Williams was a pioneer in creating one of the first family based sites on behalf of his missing daughter. Michael and his wife Alice, a Philippine native, had raised their two daughters overseas and had only recently moved to the United States. Alice told me that she felt safe in America and that she wanted her daughters to take advantage of the American dream.

Despite the best efforts of all involved, months passed without a significant lead in the case. Finally, on January 12, 1999 an ecological surveyor discovered human remains on the former Fort Ord Army Base, about three miles away from Christina’s home. The identity of the remains was not confirmed for several days.

A few hours after learning that the remains had been positively identified as Christina, her mother turned toward a television camera and in her grief and anguish screamed, “You know who you are.” Unfortunately, we still do not know who they are.

Teresa 10/2/1999
Frank Harper and his seventeen and twelve-year-old sons belonged to a community theater group in Gilroy, CA. On October 2, 1999 after the Saturday night performance of Oliver, they attended a cast party near Masten Avenue in Gilroy, CA. After plenty of good food and ping pong they decided to drive home to San Jose late in the evening.

They were driving East on Fitzgerald Avenue and had just crossed over Santa Teresa Blvd., when Frank saw a flash of light off to his left in the middle of a field. It was a car dome light. About 40-yards away a car door had opened and Frank saw a person slide out of the back door, upside down, legs flaying, onto the ground.

Frank swung his van around and aimed the headlights toward what he first suspected was a domestic quarrel. Instead, he saw a woman running as fast as she could in his direction. He drove toward her into the field. Frank and his sons could see that she was struggling to run because her arms were at her side pulling up her pants. By the time she reached Frank he could see that she was a young girl, no more than fifteen-years-old. 

He rolled down his window and could hear her screaming, “Help me! Help me, I’ve been raped!” Frank told her to get into his van NOW. He assured her that she was safe as she repeated frantically over and over, “I have been raped by three older men.”

As the older, rather beat-up car sped away, Frank’s immediate reaction was to get the license number. Once the girl assured him that she did not require immediate medical attention he floored the accelerator, took off after the rapists, and got on their tail in a high speed pursuit. He put on his high beams, shouted the license plate and told his sons, “If you remember only one thing in your life, remember this license plate number.”

The other car stopped and Frank had to slam on his breaks to avoid a rear end collision. It was very late at night, 55°F with clear skies and the moon was in the last quarter. Frank’s immediate reaction was, “Oh my God! We’re in trouble now.” He didn’t know if they had guns or not. After a brief standoff the other car sped up and raced away.

Frank returned to the cast party where his seventeen-year-old son jumped out of the van to call 911. Several of the parents who were still at the party tried to console the young girl. Teresa, who had just been gang raped by three vicious predators was a petite fifteen-years-old, 5’2” girl with long black hair and big brown eyes. Teresa had been waiting at a bus stop when a car with three men pulled up and dragged her into the car. They drove to Masten Avenue and raped her. She was wearing a nice sweatshirt and stylish jeans. She had a crucifix hanging around her neck.

The police arrived and took Teresa to the hospital. Frank and his sons made their statements and accompanied the police back to the crime scene. Frank wondered what he could have done differently. For a fleeting moment he wished that he had a gun so that he could have blasted the scumbags back into the hell from which they had ascended. But Frank is not that kind of man.

Instead, Frank drove his children home, went to bed and struggled to fall asleep. He couldn’t help but think about Teresa and how she would have to relive this experience for the rest of her life. I think that Teresa had put her life at risk when she escaped her tormentors and that they would have killed her had Frank not been there to rescue her.

The next day Frank and his boys returned to the theater for another performance of Oliver. That was when he found out that the perverts had all been apprehended and charged with rape. All three of them remain in prison to this day.

Sierra 3/16/12
It was 56°F and raining outside when Sierra LaMar disappeared after leaving her home on Paquita Espana Ct. Morgan Hill, CA shortly after 7:00 a.m. She has not been seen since. Morgan Hill is approximately 60 miles from Fort Ord, CA where Christina Williams was kidnapped and murdered, and 13.6 miles from the location where Teresa was kidnapped and raped. Sierra LaMar is a petite fifteen-years-old with long black hair and big brown eyes.
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Sierra LaMar: Anatomy of a Search – New Beginnings

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The KlaasKids Foundation is organizing more volunteer searches for Sierra LaMar, the 15-year-old missing teenager from Morgan Hill, California, on Saturday, April 7, 2012, from 8:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. PDT, and on Wednesday, April 11, 2012, from 8:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m. PDT. 
Steve and Danielle LaMar
San Francisco 49ers quarterback Alex Smith and his wife Elizabeth will participate in Saturday’s search, as well as other 49ers players.
 Volunteers are being asked to report to the Find Sierra Search Center, located at Burnett Elementary School at 85 Tilton Road in Morgan Hill.  Volunteers must be at least 18 years old, and must register — with photo identification — at the search center.  “Dress appropriately for the weather, wear long pants and sturdy, covered toe shoes. We need people who can do foot searches as well as individuals who are willing to work in the Find Sierra Search Center. We are also looking for donations of food and office supplies.
Anyone not intending to volunteer with the search for Sierra is highly discouraged from attending, and will be denied access to the site.
Sierra’s Family, The KlaasKids Foundation, The Laura Recovery Center, and Child Quest International would like to thank everyone who has volunteered so far.  The KlaasKids Foundation is continuing to assist law enforcement and the LaMar family with future searches.
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Sierra LaMar: Anatomy of a Search Day 6

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On the Other Side

 

This routine is familiar. I woke up at 6AM, prepared to make a long drive to a search center that promises an even longer day. Media trucks are parked outside, but our family is not the one they’re looking to hound now. A long line forms outside with volunteers eager to help. Most are not familiar faces, but their presence is calming. The emotions that come with every search are difficult for me to comprehend – filled with anxiety, but unbeatable hope, exhaustion but perseverance. But this time, I’m on the other side. I’m a volunteer – one of the many- simply looking to make even an ounce of difference in the effort to bring Sierra home.
 “Whatever it takes”, I tell myself – the same phrase I repeated in my head over and over when Michelle went missing last May.
 The first time I met Sierra’s family, I was speechless. What is there to say that would suffice? They are facing a nightmare every minute of the day; they wake up each morning wondering where Sierra is and every night hoping Sierra is alive, fed, safe, warm, trying to find her way back. And on top of all of that, they have to use whatever brain power they have left to coordinate a national effort to bring Sierra home.  I came to the LaMars’ searches knowing that it has only been six months since I faced the same emotions, fought with the same demons – hoping that I would be strong enough now to help others be strong.
 And now I remember. I remember that searches give you an acute sense of how many compassionate people exist – their hearts big enough to give love to people they have never met.
 It amazes me every time. Today, more than 650 volunteers of all ages to came to Morgan Hill to help search, flier and promote fundraising efforts. 70 search teams were dispatched, extending the search radius to 20 miles from Sierra’s home.  Teenagers helped make signs and tie bows. Restaurants, grocery stores donated large amounts of food and water. The most passionate volunteers found themselves in significant roles within the Search for Sierra – whether that be making phone calls or braving poison oak as searchers.
 At searches, everyone is working toward something much, much bigger than themselves. And despite the ugliness that surrounds Sierra’s disappearance, searches remind you that there remains so much good in the world.
 I am in awe of the community that is pulling together for Sierra. I hope this sends a loud, clear message to the abductors, sex offenders, human traffickers, perpetrators, kidnappers, murderers and rapists – that they will not and cannot take our loved ones without a fight. That, if you take one of ours, we are not staying silent.
 From what I have learned, Sierra is a fighter – always sticking up for her friends, speaking her mind, relentlessly showing her loved ones that she cares for them. So, I pray that her community continues to show up for her the way she would for all of them. Together, we can and will bring Sierra home – whatever it takes.
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Sierra LaMar: Anatomy of a Search Day 5

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Michael Le is the coolest guy in the room! But it wasn’t always so. When I met Michael he was an anxious, nervous, shy man-child wearing Vibram Five Finger Shoes. He had a deer in the headlights look because his sister Michelle had been missing for nearly three weeks, since May 27, 2011. On June 7, Michael and his family learned on the evening news that Michelle’s disappearance had been reclassified as a homicide.
 Michael’s paternal family were boat people: immigrants who fled Communist controlled Vietnam following the Vietnam War. His maternal family were recipients of the Orderly Departure Program, which allowed people wishing to leave Vietnam after the war to do so in a safe and orderly manner. Both families immigrated to the United States intact and settled in San Diego, CA where Michael’s parents met and married. Michael and Michelle lost their mother to cancer in 1999 and lost their father to indifference before they were even born.
 Son Le immigrated to the United States, the oldest of six children, when he was seventeen years old. Like generations of first born Asian men before him, Sonny received deferential treatment and was allowed to chart his own path. Unfocused, indifferent and caught between two cultures, Sonny became a nomad prone to ancient superstitions as he embraced 21stCentury electro-technology. He has a tendency to disappear for long periods of time and then reappear suddenly as if he had never been away. Sonny deferred his paternal responsibility to his younger sisters and allowed his children to become way stations in his nomadic wanderings. 
 In 2002 Michelle and Michael were living in the San Francisco Bay Area with relatives while Michelle pursued her dream of following in her mother’s footsteps and becoming a nurse. She was six months away from achieving that goal when she disappeared from a Kaiser Hospital in Hayward, CA last May. The extended family began commuting from San Diego to help Michael search for his sister.  
It was during one of these commutes up Interstate 5, which runs from North to South through California’s central valley, that I received the call from one of Michael’s uncles. As we had so many times before, Violet and I watched Michelle’s drama play out on the evening news. She kept encouraging me to help the family, but I deferred, reminding her that the family needed to call us, not the other way around. I believe that my wife was driven by similarity. She too, is a first generation Asian American whose family of nine traveled half ways across the world to settle in the land of golden hills and Champaign dreams.
Our first meeting occurred in a dingy motel room in Hayward. My first piece of advice to the family was to get a new room. Having stayed in hundreds of hotel and motel rooms I understand the importance of maintaining standards of comfort that did not exist at this location. Ultimately, I believe that we reflect our environment which is why it is better to surround ourselves with beauty rather than squalor.
I accompanied the family to the Hayward Police Department where Sonny, surrounded by family, stepped in front of waiting television cameras and read a statement rejecting law enforcement’s theory that Michelle was a homicide victim. He declared that the family still believed that she was alive and that they would search for her until she was found alive. Off camera Sonny looked me in the eye, and promised to move heaven and earth to find his daughter.  Two weeks later he traveled to Vietnam for an extended visit.
Michael and his cousin Krystine, who had just moved to the Bay Area from San Diego, assumed the burden of responsibility, a daunting task for kids in their early twenties. They recruited volunteers to distribute flyers. Although Michael was shy, and he spoke haltingly, he organized small fund raising events and tried to repair the family’s relationship with the police. Finally, when we reached the point where volunteer searches were feasible the family secured a Buddhist Temple that we could use as a search center on weekends. 
 Michael was a ubiquitous presence at the search center. At first he stayed in the background, a lanky lad gracefully shadowboxing or teaching the temple children how to dragon dance. Although he was surrounded by family, and his girlfriend Thuy was never far away and was always watching his back, Michael seemed alone, isolated, attempting to slay the demons in his head as he reconciled his frightening new reality.
 The search for Michelle was very different than the search for Sierra LaMar. We only had a weekend search center, not an entire donated school. Hayward was as indifferent to Michelle’s plight as Morgan Hill has been responsive to Sierra’s. Whereas we have registered thousands of volunteers from Morgan Hill, only a handful of people from Hayward offered assistance. Instead the response came primarily from volunteer SAR teams, the Asian community and those who admired the steely determination of Michael’s tight knit family.

Eventually a core group of volunteers gravitated toward Michael and went with him on ground searches. He became more comfortable and began hanging out in the mapping room, sitting in on briefings and debriefing sessions. Very quiet and never displaying the wild range of emotions typical of family members, including myself, in dire straits, Mikey began to fit into his new role of brother-protector.

As days turned into weeks and then months the family assumed more and more search related responsibilities. KlaasKids is very good at creating a search and rescue effort. We can work with and provide direction families and their communities. We can create relationships with law enforcement and work with the media, but we do not have the resources to devote our full time all the time to a single search. Therefore, we are constantly teaching and instructing. We seek out people to assume critical search related roles and basically hope to Hell that they are up to the task. Michelle couldn’t have been in better hands. Family passion never wavered and their commitment never waned. Unfortunately, on September 17, they learned what we had believed from the beginning. It was during the last scheduled search that Michelle’s remains were discovered. The Hayward Police had been correct all along. She had been the victim of a twisted mind and a vengeful heart.

Throughout, Michael never lost his public composure. The deer in the headlight gaze deferred to focused contemplation. He had developed a passion for search and rescue as he found his voice and his direction. He determined that Michelle’s death would have meaning and announced that he was forming his own SAR team. He organized meetings and team trainings. He has overcome his shy nature as he developed a quiet forcefulness that commands respect.

When Sierra LaMar disappeared I received another call from a desperate family. Again, I explained that certain milestones would have to be achieved before we could launch a major search and rescue effort. Again, my words clashed with a sense of urgency that wants to recover their child, not achieve “certain milestones.” When I called Michael and asked him if he would work with Sierra’s family on preliminary roadside searches he didn’t hesitate for a moment. I could hear the excitement in his voice. He met with them, he consoled them, he took them into the fields to search for their daughter and he led them.

 Now when I see Michael at the search center every day he is not shadow boxing and he seems to have slayed or at least reconciled his personal demons. He stands in front of hundreds of anxious volunteers and quietly commands their attention as he explains basic SAR procedures. He briefs and de-briefs search teams all day long. The shy, lanky man-child I met last year has evolved into a man of purpose and a leader of men who wears Vibram Five Finger shoes. Michael Le is and always will be the coolest guy in the room.
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Sierra LaMar: Anatomy of a Search Day 4

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The two Cathy’s appeared at the Find Sierra Search Center at approximately 1:00 p.m. this afternoon. I had been forewarned that they were coming, but given the numerous tasks at hand, I placed this tidbit in the back of my mind and attended to other matters. I was writing a press release when they came into my office. Introductions were made all around. We closed the office door and discussed our business.
Hopefully, people get into the child find business for altruistic reasons. They have either been touched by personal tragedy, they have an overabundance of empathy for the plight of missing children, or simply realize that it is their calling. It is a rewarding field because it becomes helpful to families when they are at a crossroads. When their lives have been turned upside down and they are in need of expert guidance and advice. Those who become advocates for missing children because it will bring them fame and fortunes quickly realize the folly of their ways and seek alternative career paths.
I wasn’t prepared for the conversation with the two Cathy’s, but their faces were flushed crimson and their nervous energy was palpable so I knew that something was afoot. I asked them to sit down, but they declined. They had something to say and they weren’t particularly interested in formalities. Finally, we were just standing there, surrounded by the amped up positive energy, so they wasted no time in delivering their message.

When children disappear, unless you are one of the parents, it can be difficult to remain positive. Family has no choice but to remain hopeful. As a general rule you believe with all of your heart that your child will be returned alive until proven otherwise. First responders, on the other hand, play the statistical game. We can anticipate the probable outcome in advance. It’s not good outcome, so we keep our world worn knowledge to ourselves, put our chins down, assume a focused gaze, and go about our business.

The two Cathy’s and I emerged from the tiny office to the hustle and flow of busy people engaged in the task at hand. We made our way to the auditorium. The room was full of searchers wearing reflective yellow vests, hiking boots, dirty jeans and weary expressions on their faces. Searchers are a rare breed. It takes a special kind of person to return time after time to trudge around in sometimes hostile territory, avoiding rattlesnakes, scorpions and the other pitfalls of rural nature, all the while looking for evidence of crime. I know that I am not a natural searcher. I don’t want to find what they are seeking. I don’t want to stare down critters or crawlers and I don’t particularly want to wade into the mulch. But God bless those who do. Without search and rescue volunteers we would have nothing, and missing persons would rarely be located.


The two Cathy’s and I requested the attention of the reporters in attendance. While they set up their cameras and microphones I gave the two Cathy’s a brief overview of the search effort to date. By 1:00 p.m. 471 people had registered to search on this day alone, bringing the three day total to 1,366 searchers. Today we had sent out 41 search teams and had extended the search radius to more than eight miles from ground zero. We talked briefly about the ever stronger relationship with law enforcement and how responsive they had become anytime that a potential clue was reported. All in all I was very proud of our volunteers.


“Excuse me,” I said loudly. When I was ignored I tried again, more loudly. Finally, when I had everybody’s attention, when all eyes were turned towards me I realized that I was in a bind. For the first time since I don’t remember when I was speechless. Actually, I do remember the last time I was speechless. It was the day after Polly was kidnapped. Violet and I drove to Petaluma and were walking to Polly’s house. The scene was right out of an episodic crime drama. Crime scene tape surrounded the perimeter of her yard. Plain clothed and uniformed police officers were moving about purposefully. Television microwave trucks were parked up and down the block, their antenna’s uncoiled as reporters stood around with microphones in their hands. As I approached the house one of the reporters, who I recognized from the local news, approached me. She asked if I was the little girl’s father and I said that I was. She asked if she could interview me. I declined because I simply didn’t know what to say.


Finally, when the room was quiet I spit it out. “Ladies and gentlemen, what you have done here this week is amazing. Your response to Sierra’s plight sets a new bar for community response. Now, I would like to introduce you to the two Cathy’s, from Intero Real Estate Services. Cathy, please, would you like to say a few words,” I asked addressing the first Cathy.

It has been said that the easiest way to suffer a broken arm in Morgan Hill is to get between Marc Klaas and a television camera. I take offense at that statement, but cannot control what other people say. In fact, that is why I never Google myself. But, I digress.

The first Cathy stepped up to the microphones, still flushed crimson and said, “Intero Real Estate Services would like to present the KlaasKids Foundation with $12,000 to be used in the search for Sierra LaMar.” The room erupted in cheers. It was an awesome and dramatic moment that I will never forget. Even the television reporters were smiling, and if you didn’t already know, television reporters rarely smile.

Then the second Cathy stepped up to the microphones, still flushed crimson and said, “This money was donated by our agents, brokers and office staff in $10 and $20 increments. Since yesterday the amount has doubled and doubled and doubled yet again. We are proud to make this donation and believe that business has to support the communities that give them success.”


All week long I have thought that the volunteers have set a new standard. Now I believe that the business and volunteer communities have taken an unprecedented stand to a new and higher level than ever before. I hope that other communities are paying attention, because one thing that I have learned these past 19-years is that crimes against children do not discriminate. We are all vulnerable to the forces of evil!

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Sierra LaMar: Anatomy of a Search Day 3

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Today was about routine. People were getting to know each other. They were finding their comfort zone, where they fit in; whether that meant going on a ground search, serving food, or assuming one of the other myriad jobs that require focused attention. As yesterday’s chaos subsided, the Find Sierra Search Center bloomed like a summer rose.

 

Everybody acknowledges that time is the enemy when children are stolen. This can be demonstrated in many ways. Statistically, seventy-four percent of children who are murdered as a result of being abducted are dead within the first three hours. At KlaasKids our tagline is, “A mile a minute…that is how fast your child can disappear.” According to personal research about eighty percent of children who are kidnapped live within 3 to 4 miles of a major Interstate Highway. Each of these examples screams that there is no time to lose. Therefore, if one is going to organize a community based search effort efficiency is the key. Time, energy, and resources cannot be wasted.

 

Think of it as building a corporation from scratch on the turn of personal catastrophe. Your child has just been kidnapped, you are out of your mind with worry, your anxiety level is ramped up to the max, and you have to build a successful business venture without a clue. You have to be an administrative, organizational, media, hygiene, and search and rescue expert. You have to find a location that will provide ample parking, several rooms for numerous tasks, the ability to feed numerous people, plumbing, electricity, and toilets. You need the wherewithal to assign viable search locations for groups of strangers who need to be trained before they can be sent into the field, then you have to convey all of that information to television, print, radio and Internet media. You haven’t eaten in days, sleep comes fitfully, you cannot focus, and you are denying nightmare scenarios every time that you allow your mind to rest. It is impossible to do on your own. I know, because I’ve been there.

 

That is where family, friends, community and the KlaasKids Foundation come in. Hillary Clinton is correct: it does take a village to raise a child. Family will keep you close and watch your back. Friends and neighbors will give you food and comfort. The community should rally behind you with a collective desire to assist. Unfortunately, they do not know how to do that because what has just occurred is beyond anybody’s experience. The possibilities are so damned frightening that nobody even wants to acknowledge, let alone think about them. So, the army is mobilized, waiting, anxious to help, but without direction or leadership.

 

The KlaasKids Foundation and our good friends at the Laura Recovery have played out this scenario numerous times throughout the years. Once we have been invited to assist by either the family or the jurisdictional law enforcement agency we get to work. We know facility, administrative and resource requirements. We have local and national media lists. We beg, borrow or buy support items including office supplies, food, lodging, and staging areas. Our search and rescue director has more than two decades of experience. If we are fortunate local NPO’s like Child Quest International will provide valuable resources. Once we build the infrastructure we try to build trust with the family, community and jurisdictional law enforcement agency. We don’t try to get around the system: we work with the system.
 If, by working together, we can create mutual trust then the sky is the limit. The authorities will share viable search areas. The community will respond in large numbers in numerous ways. The family will know that they are not alone and be able to face their nightmare with the knowledge that every possible thing is being done to recover their missing child. It has happened before, it is happening now, and unfortunately, it will happen in the future. Again and again and again…
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Sierra LaMar: Anatomy of a Search Day 2

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Yesterday was about organization, but today is all about action. It overwhelmed us like a human tsunami. A wave of volunteers descended upon the Find Sierra Search Center to help find the missing 15-year-old girl. We were optimistically prepared for 150-volunteers, based upon the bubbling cauldron of anticipation that we all detected. However we were not prepared for 583-people to show up early on a cool, gray Tuesday morning. Are there really that many unemployed people in Morgan Hill, CA., or was something else going on? I like to think that all of these caring people had found a higher calling than a paycheck for at least this one day. Sometimes it takes the worsts of humanity to inspire the best of humanity.

It was dark and raining when I left home this morning so I dressed for the weather. However, by the time I approached Morgan Hill, the sun had appeared over the horizon and the sky was somewhat overcast, but it looked like the weather was going to cooperate with Find Sierra for at least one more day. The nearer I got to the search center the more I focused on the details: is she in that pile of dirt, hiding in that abandoned building, somewhere on that high ridge? Is she waiting to be rescued like Elizabeth Smart, or was she trying to effect an escape like 8-year-old Midsi Sanchez succeeded in doing back in 2000.

I thought a lot about Polly on the 90-minute drive to Morgan Hill: how much hope I had at a similar stage in the search, while at the same time trying desperately to hold onto my sanity as the world I knew suddenly ceased to exist, to be replaced by a bizarro world that had no rhyme or reason.

We know so much more now than we did then, and we have so many more tools. Parents have a world of resources that simply didn’t exist in 1993; law enforcement responds more quickly and with a better understanding of the issue, yet Sierra is as invisible today as Polly was between October 1 and December 4, 1993. It infuriates me that I cannot make 2+2=4 and walk this girl into the loving arms of her family. Instead, 2+2=5, or 11, or nothing at all and Sierra is nowhere to be found. 

Polly was the first missing child on the Internet, and now almost two decades later Sierra LaMar is all over the Internet. Polly’s case benefited from some technically astute minds in Northern California at a time when personal computers were just beginning to gain widespread acceptance. When they told me that a first generation flyer could be downloaded anywhere on the planet they might as well have been speaking in tongues. But being a missing child on the Internet helped Polly to become almost as well known on the East Coast as she was in Sonoma County.
 

Sierra LaMar is all over the Internet. Her missing poster is my Facebook profile picture. There are at least three Facebook pages dedicated to her plight and all are providing updates, pictures, story and video links. She also has her own social media accounts. Unfortunately, none have been used since shortly before she disappeared early in the morning on Friday, March 16. That a socially sophisticated teenager with more than 6,000 twitter posts would go cold turkey is an enormous red flag. That her final tweet can be traced to shortly before her disappearance helps to establish a viable timeline. Unfortunately, as far as the Internet has come and despite the fact that Facebook has become the 21st Century milk carton project Sierra LaMar is still missing.

In 2000, 8-year-old Midsi Sanchez was kidnapped by a predatory turd who kept her chained inside his car for three days. At an opportune moment, when her perv left her alone in the car for a moment, Midsi grabbed the keychain that was still in the ignition and systematically went through his keys until she was able to unlock her shackles. Midsi ran, he followed. My very good friend Midsi was at the search center today, the walking turd died in prison in 2009 after admitting to killing two other children. Midsi and her friend Davina are organizing this weekend’s Teen Brigade so that Sierra’s friends can join this unprecedented community effort to bring her home.


 
This afternoon Sierra’s parents announced the Sierra LaMar Fund, established to help with the costs associated with Sierra’s search and rescue efforts, and to fund a reward for information leading to Sierra’s recovery.  Her dad asked the public to contribute to the fund. Contributions can be made directly to the Sierra LaMar Fund at any Chase Bank, or online through the Fundrazr link available at Find Sierra LaMar. Sierra’s mom expressed her gratitude for the amazing show of support.  
 
Breaking News: The Santa Clara County Sheriff today reclassified Sierra’s case from missing person to involuntary missing person. Investigators have treated this case as a possible crime since the beginning and now believe it is highly unlikely she ran away.  

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Sierra Lamar: Anatomy of a Search Day 1

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Unable to get away until 10:00 a.m. I fielded 17-phone calls, all related to the disappearance of Sierra LaMar, by the time I arrived at the search center at noon. Located about two miles from Sierra’s Morgan Hill, CA home, Burnett Elementary School was generously provided to the search effort for at least the next several weeks by the local school board.  With access to an auditorium, administrative offices and classrooms that can be used for mapping, food & water storage, debriefing and quiet time, this is as ideal a search center as I have ever seen.
KlaasKids Search and Rescue (SAR) Director Brad Dennis, and Dawn Davis from the Friendswood, TX based Laura Recovery Center were already dispatching volunteers in an effort to have the search center fully operational by 8:00a.m. Tuesday morning (3/17/12) when the first community searches will begin. I attempted to get the attendant volunteer leaders attention for a few moments, but quickly acknowledged the futility of herding cats. The apparent chaos of the moment was but an illusion. Brad and Dawn have been organizing volunteer searches together for more than a decade and don’t waste a move.

Before arriving I stopped at Carl’s Jr. and picked up lunch for the three of us as well as Michelle Le’s brother Michael and LaMar family friend Brian Miller.  For some reason this case has captured the attention of local and national media, so I wasn’t surprised to find a half dozen television microwave trucks dotting the parking lot when I arrived. On the other hand I was surprised that the reporters documented every moment of my lunch delivery. With tax the $6 combo meals came out to $6.66 each and I got some pretty bad indigestion about an hour after eating the burger. Sure hope that Isn’t an omen.

After lunch and the volunteer meet and greet Brad, Michael and I went to scout some search locations. We arrived back at the search center close to 3:00 p.m. with preliminary assignments for at least half a dozen 8-member search teams. Morgan Hill is nestled at the base of the Diablo mountain range. The average elevation of the Diablo range is about 3,000 feet. A summit at over 2,300 feet is considered high, mainly because the range is mostly rolling grassland and plateaus, punctuated by sudden peaks. Canyons usually are 300–400 feet deep and valleys are deeper but gentler. It is not the most inviting topography we have had the challenge of searching, but neither is it the most hostile. Wait! Diablo means devil. Sure hope that isn’t an omen.
At 5:00 p.m., as Sierra’s parents Steve and Marlene met with our search management team, a bunch of Little Leaguers streamed by to play a game on the school’s baseball diamond. Sierra is still missing, but I believe that we are geting o know each other and trust each other. This is always a tryng time because we are all staring into an uncertain future seeing different shades of light at the end of the tunnel.

That damned burger is still having its way with my digestive system. I think that I’ll go watch the kids play baseball for a while. It’s been a long day and I want to do something normal.

Breaking News: The Giants beat the Yankees 43 to 31, proving the dominance of the West Coast yet again.
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