Category Archives: red Jetta

Sierra LaMar: Anatomy of a Search Day 51

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Antolin Garcia-Torres

The beloved fairy tale Beauty and the Beast ends happily ever after, but alas, this real life tale of Beauty and the Beast may have tragedy written all over it.


Sierra Lamar has been missing since shortly after leaving home for the school bus at about 7:15 a.m. on March 16, 2012. Sixty-six days later, at approximately 6:00 p.m. on May 21, 2012, Antolin Garcia-Torres was arrested and charged with kidnapping and murdering the vivacious 15-year-old Morgan Hill high school student. The Sierra LaMar task force has had the 21-year-old Safeway Supermarket employee under surveillance since March 28, after DNA linked him to items found in Sierra’s Juicy Couture bag. The Juicy bag was discovered by the Sheriff’s Search and Rescue team two days after Sierra disappeared.


His DNA was on file in the nationwide CODIS database because California law allows for DNA collection in cases of felony arrest. Garcia-Torres has a misdemeanor conviction for interfering with a police officer as well as a past arrest for felony assault. The felony assault charge was ultimately dropped, but not before his DNA was extracted. There are many who argue that collecting DNA without a conviction is a privacy violation. Without that linkage, this creep might still be on the loose and young girls in Santa Clara County would still be endangered.


A red VW Jetta with a black hood and sunroof that is owned by Garcia-Torres has been in law enforcement custody since April 7. It was identified as a vehicle of interest through witness accounts and surveillance video. Forensic testing has been conducted on the vehicle, and although some test results remain outstanding, the authorities have evidence that places Sierra in the red Jetta. That means that Sierra and Garcia-Torres can be linked at two separate crime scenes: the location of the Juicy Couture bag and the vehicle owned by and registered to the suspect.   


This sucker has a history, has assaulted women in the past but is not a registered sex offender. Besides the misdemeanor conviction and felony arrest Garcia-Torres has also been linked to at least one of three 2009 unsolved assaults on young women in Morgan Hill. During her press conference Santa Clara County Sheriff Laurie Smith alluded to the fact that, “Since January of 2011 in Santa Clara County alone there are 43 missing females that have never returned home.” Was she suggesting that Garcia-Torres might be a serial killer?


The arrest was made for public safety concerns. Although the Sheriff had hoped that he would lead them to Sierra’s remains, he has not done so. It was quickly noted that surveillance isn’t perfect and that anybody who would kidnap and kill a young girl poses an extreme safety threat. The authorities are still seeking information from the public that will help establish the timeline that will lead them to Sierra.


There is no evidence whatsoever that Sierra had ever met or had knowledge of the suspect’s existence. It is believed that Garcia-Torres acted alone and that it was a random crime of opportunity. This makes it one of the most frightening and difficult crimes to solve for they are looking for the proverbial needle in a haystack. It is a large world full of billions of people and she is a small girl.


Garcia-Torres is a small time thug who has always lived in Morgan Hill. Although the task force has spoken with him several times, he had not been questioned in a controlled environment until after his arrest last night. 

 

After KTVU broke the story last night I called Sierra’s mother Marlene. I asked her, based on this latest development, if she wanted us to continue looking for her daughter. Her answer was an emphatic, “Absolutely!”


Garcia-Torres has been charged with kidnapping and murder, but he does not have an extensive criminal history, has not been previously charged with murder or rape, there is no weapon, we don’t know how Sierra was killed, and her remains have not been found. Perhaps there has been a rush to judgment. Perhaps Sierra is alive after all. It is now up to us to find the truth.

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Sierra LaMar: Anatomy of a Search Day 47

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I’m so God damned angry that I can barely see straight. We have been searching for Sierra LaMar for 64-days now. That’s more than two months. I’ve watched this community rise to the occasion on multiple levels. I’ve seen support come in from all over the Bay Area. I’ve thought, more than once, that today is the day that we will find Sierra. Yet here we are, still: looking; hoping; and engaged in internal dialogues, trying to negotiate with a God who forces families to reach into the depths to endure open ended misery. I understand that life isn’t fair, but this is ridiculous. Where is the mercy?

 

Somewhere out there a goon who does or doesn’t drive a red Jetta with a black hood has created an intolerable situation that only he can end. Was he born without conscience or is he a product of of a dysfunctional environment? Does hate and destruction come naturally or did he hone his demonic skill set over time?

 

He turns his back in indifference, eating pizza, drinking beer and generating a vibe so negative that it has a community up in arms and a family caught up in emotional free fall. I wonder if he thinks about Sierra on a daily basis or only when the flyers and news reports remind him that many are still looking? In the final analysis it doesn’t really matter. And all we can do in response is send out search parties, keep open minds in the face of near statistical certainty and encourage the family to stay strong for their girl. The only thing that is important is bringing Sierra home.

 

Listen turd. You have the power to end this right now. You don’t have to turn yourself in. Just clean up your business and cover your tracks. Let Sierra’s family have her back, whatever that means. Then you can go about your business, target your next victim and reign terror on somebody else’s community. Just understand that you can’t get away with this forever.

 

Ultimate Survivor Midsi Sanchez

At some point you are going to mess up. You’ll leave your DNA, or there will be a witness, or your victim will escape like Midsi Sanchez did back in 2000. Then and only then it will be your turn to pay. The wages of your sin will be steep. Hopefully yours will be a long and painful death. Then you will rot in hell forevermore.

 

I know something about guys like you. My family was bedeviled at one time. He haunted and tormented us as he looked away in indifference. It lasted for 65-days. Finally, he is in a place where he has no influence, no future, and most importantly no hope.

 

When we began looking for Sierra there was a vacant lot across the street from the search center. Now there’s a housing development. Sometimes I wonder if we’ll still be here when the children of the young families that move into these houses graduate from high school.

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Sierra LaMar: Anatomy of a Search Day 37

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Sierra 2For the first time in 47-days the Santa Clara County Sheriff had something new to report. They were looking for, no, wait, they found the 1999 red VW Jetta with a black hood and sun roof that they believe is connected to the abduction of Northern California teenager Sierra LaMar. They haven’t disclosed how long they have had the car, who owns the car, what they found inside the car, or the results of forensic testing that has been conducted upon the car. Obviously, this is a good thing because the Jetta may finally lead us down the path that will result in Sierra’s recovery. However, if you are Sierra’s parents Steve and Marlene or her sister Danielle, things are a bit more complicated than that.

Sierra 3Human nature demands that you keep hope alive until proven otherwise. Sierra’s immediate family has been holding onto a thread of hope ever since she disappeared on March 16. They have played out various scenarios, trying to figure out what really happened on that cold, wet Friday morning. Inevitably, thos scenarios end with one resolution: that Sierra is rescued alive, is reunited with her family, and is able to put her affairs in order and lead a productive and happy life. Now, cold reality may be staring them in the face. Perhaps something entirely different went down. Perhaps the end game will not be as they imagine in the silent hours of the predawn morning.

Sierra 4This creates high anxiety. Not the kind of anxiety you feel when you might not get to the airport on time, or when you don’t get the promotion that you feel you deserve. No, this is anxiety that their beliefs, their dreams, their God and their prayers will supernova if this doesn’t play out the way that they have demanded these past months. This is anxiety that physically vibrates your body and incessantly pings your brain like a jagged pinball until some truth at long last reveals itself. It invades your fitful sleep, causes your feet to sweat and makes you want to fall down on your knees and banshee scream at the moon. But you don’t scream at the moon: at least not when others are present.

Sierra 1It has been a long, difficult slog to this place. The community has been magnificent, the media has been consistent, and the cops are working overtime. But at the end of the day we go home to our families, our homes, and our lives. We eat, sleep and awake renewed.

Sierra 5Not Marlene, Steve or Danielle. They aren’t eating right, they haven’t had a full night’s sleep in nearly two months and their consciousness’ have been dominated by one thought and one thought only: find Sierra! They need our help and support as they need each other. But what do you have left emotionally if every fiber of your being has been focused on one point? Not much. I know, because I have been there.

Sierra 6We all want to be there for those we love. We want to support and encourage them in their time of need. But what if those you care about the most share a common crisis that is so over the top that you cannot calculate the enormity of its impact? You stand there alone, emotionally naked, sweating between your sheets at night and shivering as the morning dew evaporates in the breaking dawn. You ar spent with nothing to give back. You simply em bark on another cycle of the living nightmare. You hope as you despair. You laugh so that you will not cry.

Sierra 7Will the red Jetta reveal more truths in the coming days? Let us hope so, but let also keep this family in our thoughts and prayers, because they need us now more than ever.

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