Deceased/Not Found CA - Sierra LaMar, 15, Morgan Hill, 16 March 2012 #2 *A. Garcia-Torres guilty*

Gem2626 said:

Ahhh I can't look at the map on this thread of where her purse and phone were found. Can somone tell me if her purse or phone were found closest to her home/bus stop please

Click to expand...

The phone was closer to the bus stop.

cluciano63 said:

It is very odd...although in Holly's case the only item we know for sure was tossed was the infamous "lunch bag/pail"- since LE won't confirm the phone or where it was found, or even that it was found. It is presumed to be the "significant" item found on that last Sunday of searching.

But depending upon what took place here, I could see things being tossed out as someone drives, as a way to both get rid of things from the vehicle and confuse the search efforts. Maybe not such a bad idea, unfortunately, since Holly's case remains as bleak and dismal as the day she vanished...

To add-in Holly's case, even after a year now, LE won't show facsimiles of the items still missing...what is THAT about? They won't even discuss what items are missing. I hope this LE is more forthcoming if there are items they need to find.

Click to expand...

The ole lunchpurseboxpailbag.
Which I just wanted to see for curiosity's sake!

What is that about? I could tell you, but then they'd have to kill me! HA!

houndstooth said:

Oh dear. Not another breadcrumb trail case!!

Click to expand...

Yep. Shades of Holly Bobo, I'm afraid. It really is similar.

swanniee11 said:

so does it look like this person was heading out of town or in town. I'm so confused as to where they may have been heading if anywhere? Is it near a highway and in what direction? towards where Sierra was from or towards intown kind of thing? Thanks for giving me some insight.

Click to expand...

My belief is that the vehicle traveled from her house southwest to Santa teresa, threw the phone out, made a right on Santa Teresa, drove northwest to Bailey, on the way threw the purse out, made a right on Bailey and got on 101.

swanniee11 said:

so does it look like this person was heading out of town or in town. I'm so confused as to where they may have been heading if anywhere? Is it near a highway and in what direction? towards where Sierra was from or towards intown kind of thing? Thanks for giving me some insight.

Click to expand...

It is confusing because it can depend on which side of the car it was thrown out of and or which direction they were heading in. I think the purse was a purposeful misdirection. But the cell was thrown within 2 minutes time according to some reports. So that was an obvious effort to just get it out of the car.

As someone speculated, since it was not in the direction of her route to school, she may have realized they were going the wrong way, and she took out her cell to call, and someone took it and flung it out the window.

swanniee11 said:

It was stated in the beginning of this that the pic was taken that morning, its now coming out that the pic was taken the day before.

Click to expand...

ORIGINALLY, it was reported that mom snapped the pic on the morning of the previous day as Sierra was leaving for school.

Now some reports ay it was that morning. But it could not have been that morning, because mom says she left at 6 am and Sierra was in her pj's. But the picture shows her dressed and ready for school. So it was taken a day earlier. imo

Just curious, have we heard why the family moved from Fremont to MH? I just read Mom commutes to Fremont for work.

katydid23 said:

It is confusing because it can depend on which side of the car it was thrown out of and or which direction they were heading in. I think the purse was a purposeful misdirection. But the cell was thrown within 2 minutes time according to some reports. So that was an obvious effort to just get it out of the car.

As someone speculated, since it was not in the direction of her route to school, she may have realized they were going the wrong way, and she took out her cell to call, and someone took it and flung it out the window.

Click to expand...

Then there would be prints on the phone.

I just don't know what to think about all this misdirection speculation supposedly carried out by perps. Too much TV watching by perps?

She made it no further than the end of her driveway, right?
So someone was just happening along right then?
Doubtful. Were they laying in wait? Not sure.

So far this doesn't seem like an abduction. It seems like an assignation.
She would have tossed the phone, if there are no other prints.
I can see no reason that she had clothes with her. Unless she changed what she left home earlier in the day in.
The clothes found were what she was last thought to be wearing?

boaps said:

My belief is that the vehicle traveled from her house southwest to Santa teresa, threw the phone out, made a right on Santa Teresa, drove northwest to Bailey, on the way threw the purse out, made a right on Bailey and got on 101.

Click to expand...

would 101 head back towards the town that sierra is from?

http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/video?id=8591214

March 22 Press Conference. I had trouble hearing a few of the questions, sorry.

Sgt. Jose Cardoza: Good morning everyone. This morning, the Sheriffs office has reached out to our volunteer search and rescue team. They are out here helping out this morning with the search for Sierra Lamar. The purpose of today's search is a more extensive, more thorough search. We're going to concentrate within a three mile radius of Sierra's mom's home looking for any evidence of a crime. Uh, clothing, weapons, tire tracks. Anything suspicious, any information that could help out in the investigation. The search and rescue teams will expand that three mile radius to search specific areas such as waterways and gulleys, as well.

Some new information that has developed over the past few days, was that there was a bag, specifically a Juicy purse, a Juicy bag belonging to Sierra Lamar, that was found Sunday about 1pm. Members of the Sheriffs office search and rescue team found this Juicy bag belonging to Sierra. Inside the bag was some of Sierra's clothing. A pair of pants, and a T shirt, neatly folded, neatly put inside this bag. This bag was located on Santa Teresa Blvd, and Laguna, which is within a couple of miles of Sierra's mother's house. The reason the information wasn't immediately made available to the public was because we had to confirm that the clothes did belong to Sierra, and we had to do some further investigative follow up on that. Through confirmation from Sierra's family, and through some of the investigative efforts, we have now confirmed that those clothes, and the bag did belong to Sierra. I'll now take questions. Those are the updated information we had right now, but I'll now take some questions from everybody.

Q: How close was this bag to where the cell phone was found?

Sgt. Jose Cardoza: The bag was found at Laguna and Santa Teresa, the cell phone was found at Scheller and Santa Teresa. A couple blocks away. All within a couple of miles of Sierra's mom's house.

Q: Were the clothes that were folded the ones that she was wearing when she left the house?

Sgt. Jose Cardoza: We cannot confirm that, that she was wearing that when she was last seen. Because nobody saw Sierra leave the house, we don't know for a fact if those were the clothes she was wearing, or if for whatever reason those were extra clothes that she had inside her bag at the time.

Q: You made a point to say neatly folded, does that imply that she was going someplace, possibly running away, does that mean anything to you?

Sgt. Jose Cardoza: It's information that the detectives still cannot determine as to why these clothes were neatly folded inside the bag, but that is specifically how the clothes were found. Neatly folded inside the bag.

Q: In the last few days have you found anything, prints on that bag, anything at all?

Sgt. Jose Cardoza: Unfortunately, no information through forensics or any other trace evidence on the bag or on the clothing leading to a person of interest or a suspect at this time.

Q: Was it on the side of the road, or the middle of a field, or?

Sgt. Jose Cardoza: Near the side of the road, near the intersection of Laguna and Santa Teresa.

Q: It could have been thrown from a passing car, dropped from a car?

Sgt. Jose Cardoza: Uh, possibilities, but we obviously aren't sure how the bag you know, was found, uh, came about to be there.

Q:*inaudible* or near the street?

Sgt. Jose Cardoza: Near the intersection of Laguna and Santa Teresa. Not on the roadway, but near the intersection.

Q: *inaudible* there might have been urine on the clothes?

Sgt. Jose Cardoza: You know, the specific details as far as the condition of the clothing, if they were wet or if there was any urine on them, we are holding that information, that specific detail uh, confidential right now because of the investigation. So, we can't confirm that detail right now.

Q: The phone, was that on the side of the road on Scheller and Santa Teresa?

Sgt. Jose Cardoza: The phone was about 20 to 30 feet off the roadway at Scheller and Santa Teresa. Correct.

Q: So it is possible that someone was driving down Santa Teresa, they threw the phone out of the right side of the window, and this bag was also found the right side of the window?

Sgt. Jose Cardoza: That's a possibility, but again, we have no witnesses and no other evidence to confirm if it was thrown..

Q: *inaudible*

Sgt. Jose Cardoza: The bag of clothing, we can't specify exactly what side of the intersection it was located, but..

Q: Why are you waiting until today to go forward with the thorough search of the area immediately surrounding the house?

Sgt. Jose Cardoza: The weekend searches were more of a general type search for a missing person or an injured person. Today's search is more extensive, it's specific to not only uh, an injured person, but also to evidence of a crime or any other information that could help in the investigation. So, today's search is a little bit more extensive, a little bit more thorough, a little bit more specific.

Q: *inaudible, another question was asked over this one*

Sgt. Jose Cardoza: No other evidence of foul play at this time and unfortunately we still do not have a person of interest.

Q: Can you confirm the last call on the phone?

Sgt. Jose Cardoza: There was a text message that was sent out a little after 7am on Friday morning, from Sierra's cell phone.

Q: To whom?

Sgt. Jose Cardoza: It's- we're withholding that information right now.

Q: We've been told that the FBI is assisting you guys. Can you tell us what the nature of that assistance is?

Sgt. Jose Cardoza: I can confirm that the FBI is assisting in the case. Unfortunately, in what way- or, in- we can't go into how they are assisting us. But the FBI is assisting us right now. For investigative purposes, we just can't comment on the role that they are playing.

Q: Did the family tell you that she often carries extra clothes, like, I don't know, can you itemize them- a couple of pairs of jeans, a pair of flip flops or?

Sgt. Jose Cardoza: That's a good question. That is something that again, we can't comment on at this time. We can't comment on if she would normally carry extra clothes with her in the bag or if that was something new that she would do, so um.

Q: Did she have any plans for after school that day?

Sgt. Jose Cardoza: Not that we know of.

Q: What type of dog is this? Is it search or is it a recovery dog?

Sgt. Jose Cardoza: The K9 dogs are both human remain dogs and specific detection dogs.

Q: Talking to RSO's, how is that coming along?

Sgt. Jose Cardoza: We're still in the process of doing that. We have contacted all the sex registered offenders within a 10 mile radius of Sierra's mom's home. Now the concentration and now the efforts are reaching out beyond that 10 mile radius to contact all the RSO's in the South County area, from Morgan Hill to Gilroy.

Q: You're escalating the search now because of what you found, you found this on Sunday, why didn't you escalate the search then and worry about getting confirmation later?

Sgt. Jose Cardoza: You know, there was some investigative efforts, some steps that needed to take place from- between Sunday and now. Primarily to confirm that there was Sierra's clothing, to see if there was any evidence that would be able to be gathered on any of those clothings, which at this point there hasn't been any evidence or any trace information leading us to somebody else, but again, some investigative steps had to take place before we could confirm that and make this information public.

Q: Are you leaning still toward a possible runaway or leaning toward abduction?

Sgt. Jose Cardoza: We're still a missing person case. We've yet to have any confirmation on an abduction or a volunteer runaway case. It unfortunately is still a missing person case until we get some concrete evidence or a good tip or lead on the case.

Q: Could the FBI take over if you confirm it was an abduction?

Sgt. Jose Cardoza: That's something- I can't answer that for the FBI, if they would or not. But, uh, that's something they would have to comment on if we start going in that direction or if new evidence or information comes out.

Q: *inaudible*

Sgt. Jose Cardoza: We're cooperating with Sierra's family, members of the community, and likewise-vice versa, they are cooperating with us 100%, and that is something I'm sure if any organization, any outside organization would come in, of course we'll cooperate with them as well.

Q: *inaudible*

Sgt. Jose Cardoza: No, they're continuing their search efforts today with the K9 dogs, but there has been no new evidence or leads other than the clothing that was found on Sunday afternoon.

Q: *inaudible*..planning on searching today?

Sgt. Jose Cardoza: No one else outside of our agency that's helping out with the search. At least for today.

Q: Any specific locations today or just the three mile radius?

Sgt. Jose Cardoza: Just the three mile radius. Uh, private property, you know, yards, backyards of the residential homes, open fields, waterways, thoroughfares, cul de sacs, and like I said, they will expand the three mile search specifically for nearby reservoirs and waterways as well.

Q: *inaudible, something about scent dogs*

Sgt. Jose Cardoza: They have. The dogs have been trained. They have Sierra's scent from her clothing. We have 5 k9 search dogs assisting today with the search.

Q: And the distance again between the cell phone and the bag, you say it was a couple blocks, or a mile?

Sgt. Jose Cardoza: Both the cell phone and the clothing are both within two miles of Sierra's mom's house. I don't know the exact location though, between the cell phone and the clothing.

Q: They are in the opposite direction of the way she would have gone to the school bus?

Sgt. Jose Cardoza: The cell phone is in the opposite direction. Laguna and Santa Teresa- I'm not sure if it's in the opposite direction of the bus stop.

Q: How concerned are you that it's been almost a week and you don't really have much to go on?

Sgt. Jose Cardoza: We're really concerned. We're still, obviously, still out here, you know, with a lot of concentrated efforts. With a lot of our personnel. Search and rescue, detectives, I mean we've been working this case 24/7 since Friday evening when we were notified of the case. So, we're very much concerned, it's still a priority, you know, for our agency, for our department right now, and we're hoping to get some information or some leads to help not only track down or help get this in the right direction, but to help establish; is this a runaway case, or is it an abduction?

Q: Interviews of sex offenders, are you widening that process?

Sgt. Jose Cardoza: We're sticking to the South county area sex offenders right now. We've contacted all the sex offenders within a ten mile radius of Sierra's mom's home, and now we are reaching out to the rest of the sex offender registrants in the South county area.

Q: Have anything you have heard led you to believe that she may have run away?

Sgt. Jose Cardoza: No, no information leading to or leading us in that direction. She had a very good relationship with the mom, the moms boyfriend and her biological father. Uh, the mom, the sister, everyone in Sierra's family has been cooperative. We have no information that would lead us to believe otherwise that there was any problems at home, or that there would be any indication for her leaving.

Q: *inaudible*

Sgt. Jose Cardoza: Unfortunately not. The forensic testing on the computer and cell phone didn't reveal any- any persons of interest.

Q: Can you tell us if the text after 7am was a distressed text?

Sgt. Jose Cardoza: It was not. It was not a distressed text. It was a normal text that she would send out to her friend.

Q: Where was the text located from?

Sgt. Jose Cardoza: It was-it was to her friend.

Q: But where was it sent from?

Q: Was it from her laptop, or?

Sgt. Jose Cardoza: It was from her cell phone.

Q: ..the location?

Sgt. Jose Cardoza: At her home. It was from her cell phone at home.

Q: And it was on Friday?

Sgt. Jose Cardoza: It was on Friday morning, a couple of minutes after 7 in the morning.

ASKFORNIA, before I even read your post. THANK YOU

cluciano63 said:

Well, they called it a purse earlier, but listed the contents now as clothes and books...that does not sound like a purse to me, but some sort of bookbag/knapsack...and since it lacked any other items at all, a purse should still be out there, I imagine...a description would be nice...

Click to expand...

If you Google (pink and black Juicy Couture bag) and click "Images" you'll see a lot of them. Without knowing the exact "model" of her bag it's hard to tell which of these were hers but at least you can get an idea of size and look.

Juicy Couture is very popular. It's kind of hard to believe that the bag was left in the same spot from Friday to Sunday without someone picking it up.

It couldn't have been tossed from a moving vehicle or the items would not have been neatly folded still.

The vehicle would have needed to come to a complete stop to set the bag down on the side of the road before moving off again.

Very strange.

boaps said:

My belief is that the vehicle traveled from her house southwest to Santa teresa, threw the phone out, made a right on Santa Teresa, drove northwest to Bailey, on the way threw the purse out, made a right on Bailey and got on 101.

Click to expand...

Has anyone looked at that route on Google street view? Does it look like there are any security cameras anywhere?

houndstooth said:

Then there would be prints on the phone.

I just don't know what to think about all this misdirection speculation supposedly carried out by perps. Too much TV watching by perps?

She made it no further than the end of her driveway, right?
So someone was just happening along right then?
Doubtful. Were they laying in wait? Not sure.

So far this doesn't seem like an abduction. It seems like an assignation.
She would have tossed the phone, if there are no other prints.
I can see no reason that she had clothes with her. Unless she changed what she left home earlier in the day in.
The clothes found were what she was last thought to be wearing?

Click to expand...

I think either someone was laying in wait, OR someone pretending to be a friend was actually planning a crime.

She lived on a quiet cul-de-sac and walked ALONE to the bus stop every morning. And she was the ONLY kid waiting for the bus every day. That is a kind of remote, partly commercial area. So if a worker or neighbor or RSO happened to notice her pattern every day, then it would be very easy to be sitting at the end of her drive.

Also they could be a neighbor or a handyman or someone in the neighborhood. We had a series of neighborhood break-ins carried out by some workers on roofing projects in our neighborhood. They could sit on the roof all week and see who was home and when they left each day, and then they would send one guy to break in while the other watched from the roof as a look out.

I think it might have been a stalker type thing perhaps. She is very beautiful, petite and very vulnerable each morning.

As for the phone, they may have had gloves on at that time. So maybe no prints will show up.

I think the clothes in the bag are a red herring. I think she packed them herself because it was Friday---the day for sleepovers and parties. My DD always took extra stuff on fridays cuz she never came home after school that day because of activities and stuff.

I think some creepers were lurking at the end of her driveway hoping she was coming along soon. They would have seen both of the adults leave earlier and would have felt safe hanging out, imo.

Knox said:

Just curious, have we heard why the family moved from Fremont to MH? I just read Mom commutes to Fremont for work.

Click to expand...

I am just speculating, but I think maybe because mom wanted to live with her boyfriend. He has a business in MH. And MH is kind of upscale area. Less urban but lots of wealthy families who commute to silicon valley jobs North in San Jose. I think Mom might have seen it as a move up, imo.

katydid23 said:

I think either someone was laying in wait, OR someone pretending to be a friend was actually planning a crime.

She lived on a quiet cul-de-sac and walked ALONE to the bus stop every morning. And she was the ONLY kid waiting for the bus every day. That is a kind of remote, partly commercial area. So if a worker or neighbor or RSO happened to notice her pattern every day, then it would be very easy to be sitting at the end of her drive.

Also they could be a neighbor or a handyman or someone in the neighborhood. We had a series of neighborhood break-ins carried out by some workers on roofing projects in our neighborhood. They could sit on the roof all week and see who was home and when they left each day, and then they would send one guy to break in while the other watched from the roof as a look out.

I think it might have been a stalker type thing perhaps. She is very beautiful, petite and very vulnerable each morning.

As for the phone, they may have had gloves on at that time. So maybe no prints will show up.

I think the clothes in the bag are a red herring. I think she packed them herself because it was Friday---the day for sleepovers and parties. My DD always took extra stuff on fridays cuz she never came home after school that day because of activities and stuff.

I think some creepers were lurking at the end of her driveway hoping she was coming along soon. They would have seen both of the adults leave earlier and would have felt safe hanging out, imo.

Click to expand...

Exactly my thoughts too. It seems so planned from the cell phone to the bag being thrown out. It doesn't sound as if someone happened to come across her at that early hour and decided on a whim to kidnap her. I'm sure the person knew her daily routine and had planned on her having her phone and school things so they knew to dump them early on before heading to the destination. That way, no one would know which way they turned once they got away from the area. Sounds like a stalker since it doesn't seem she wasn't in contact with any shady online person.

Sassynic said:

Exactly my thoughts too. It seems so planned from the cell phone to the bag being thrown out. It doesn't sound as if someone happened to come across her at that early hour and decided on a whim to kidnap her. I'm sure the person knew her daily routine and had planned on her having her phone and school things so they knew to dump them early on before heading to the destination. That way, no one would know which way they turned once they got away from the area. Sounds like a stalker since it doesn't seem she wasn't in contact with any shady online person.

Click to expand...

If a perp planned it, why wouldn't he bring a garbage bag to have her drop them in, to be thrown in a dumpster across town or store's dumpster behind a mall, something like that?

I am confounded by the idea of perps who leave behind evidence scattered
on well travelled roadways in plain sight.

houndstooth said:

If a perp planned it, why wouldn't he bring a garbage bag to have her drop them in, to be thrown in a dumpster across town or store's dumpster behind a mall, something like that?

I am confounded by the idea of perps who leave behind evidence scattered
on well travelled roadways in plain sight.

Click to expand...

Not in plain sight. Phone was 20-30' off the road.

Watch the video to see the terrain.

http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/story?section=news/local/south_bay&id=8591051

houndstooth said:

If a perp planned it, why wouldn't he bring a garbage bag to have her drop them in, to be thrown in a dumpster across town or store's dumpster behind a mall, something like that?

I am confounded by the idea of perps who leave behind evidence scattered
on well travelled roadways in plain sight.

Click to expand...

The perp in Holly Bobo's abduction did just that. And it created a lot of confusion. It seems to be doing the same thing here.

Plus if they got out of their car or drove up and and put it in a dumpster, then the chance it would be on camera is very high. I bet all of the dumpsters in the surrounding areas are being searched right now too. If they find anything else, like her wallet or something, they will probably have the perp or his car on video.