Deceased/Not Found CA - Sierra LaMar, 15, Morgan Hill, 16 March 2012 #19 *A. Garcia-Torres guilty*

[bgmiller5]

A few things I noticed in this article:

http://www.gilroydispatch.com/news/...cle_c55b89d1-6c6f-5335-ad3f-91e527f96922.html

Investigators have also reported linking Garcia Torres to at least one incident in a trio of attempted assaults on women in the parking lots of both Morgan Hill Safeway stores in March 2009.

SBM

Police produced an artist’s rendering of the suspect shortly after the Safeway attacks, and even recovered his stun gun, but the crimes were not solved.

Maybe when police searched his residence during the searches re: Sierra's disappearance, they found evidence that he owned the recovered stun gun from the 2009 attacks. Maybe it was a receipt or the box the stun gun came in. He doesn't really seem like the type that would save either one of those things, but it's a possibility. I know that some articles say it's DNA that link him to the '09 attacks, but I find it hard to believe that that's the only evidence.

Just an idea.

 

[SmoothOperator]

I'm leaning toward the evidence linking him to 2009 attacks not being DNA either.. for one thing we know for a fact his DNA has been in the codis system for quite sometime.. you'd think once entered it'd be automatically scanned to see if its linked to any unsolved crimes with DNA available to compare.. or do they not do that? Or am i mixed up and his DNA was already in codis when the Safeway attacks occurred(I've got too many dates of cases running thru my head) ..either way it certainly seems to me that his DNA in codis would have long since been matched to DNA from attacks in 09..

That leads me to the above point that it was possibly something else that linked him. .the stun gun case or receipt possibly or what about the victims knife that was taken from her and then used against her? I know he ran off due to her calling attention to other people in the lot but never saw where he left the knife or took it with him? So IMO that could yet be another link that was found in his possession in subsequent searching that was done via warrants in Sierra's case.. if he still was found to have the knife somewhere in his possession and it was positively identified to be the victims knife?. Just a possibility IMO..

I will say this and its just moo but if it is learned that in fact it actually is DNA preserved from the 09 assault that is the link then IMO that looks especially bad on LE because IMO if DNA was available and the perps DNA has been in codis for atleast a couple years..well. .IMO there was no reason whatsoever for sierra having to have become a victim. That DNA should have had his azz off the streets and and alive sierra LaMar here today. .jmo.

 

[GrainneDhu]

Law Enforcement can run the plate, and presumably they have.
Keyboard sleuths....sorry, not really a resource that should be available to you-
All, or all-you-all, or we-all, in my opinion.

Some bit of privacy might be valued by any of us in some given situation .

Not to say there are not ways around it.

It is on a Toyota, which isn't , to my knowledge, a vehicle make that he is
associated with.
But let me ask this : let's just say it WAS a Personalized plate that was his.


This would matter very much because......???

It is already clear he used "Lucky "as a Moniker.How would having that plate
Add or subtract an iota from the case against him?

Just wondering.

Perhaps you weren't following that particular series of posts.

Sierra's tweets came up in relation to whether she may have seen AGT prior to the day she disappeared. There were tweets back in February that seemed to indicate she was irritated with someone driving a car. She used the term "lucky" in one tweet to reference the person irritating her, asking rhetorically if s/he felt lucky because s/he was protected by a steel car.

If AGT had the "Lucky07" vanity plate at the time, then that could be taken as a reference to the plates on the car whose driver and/or passenger(s) she was irritated with.

That's the summary of that series of posts until you posted.

Now my reply is: because it may indicate whether or not Sierra had had some type of unwelcome contact with AGT a month prior to going missing.

 

[GrainneDhu]

OK,
But IF he had that plate, and then her tweet obliquely referenced his
Plate....I don't think it matters. If he harassed her from his car previously,
Or if he did so with someone else along in the car with him....I just fail to
See how it relates to successfully trying him for the crime.

The issue is murder, with the special circumstance of kidnapping.

Whatever license plate he may have had is a non-issue, as is her tweet about
Being harrangued by guys ( or a guy) in a car.....it might show intent in a vague way, but That sort of innuendo is so far afield from the sort of evidence needed to indict In a case like this, yes?

If this level of " evidence" is really relevant, they should open the cell door
Now and let him walk, because if they are bothering with this, they don't have
Enough real evidence to see it through.

I trust that it is not so.

Personally, I'd be very surprised if any of the LE directly involved in putting together the case against AGT are monitoring this board. Their suspect does not have internet access right now, so it's not like he's going to be making interesting posts here.

I don't think that level of evidence is relevant to the case and whatever those tweets really referred to won't make any difference at all.

At this point, I think we're all engaged in speculating as to just what the case consists of and theorising as to what happened prior to Sierra's death.

I was unaware that WS TOS required posters to confine their comments only to what might be important in a court of law.

 

[ozazure]

OK,
But IF he had that plate, and then her tweet obliquely referenced his
Plate....I don't think it matters. If he harassed her from his car previously,
Or if he did so with someone else along in the car with him....I just fail to
See how it relates to successfully trying him for the crime.

The issue is murder, with the special circumstance of kidnapping.

Whatever license plate he may have had is a non-issue, as is her tweet about
Being harrangued by guys ( or a guy) in a car.....it might show intent in a vague way, but That sort of innuendo is so far afield from the sort of evidence needed to indict In a case like this, yes?

If this level of " evidence" is really relevant, they should open the cell door
Now and let him walk, because if they are bothering with this, they don't have
Enough real evidence to see it through.

I trust that it is not so.

I doubt very much LE would care about it either, because if they read it and had the same notion that it could be with regards to him, they would do what they could to corroborate it with interviews or cellphone pings etc and drop it if they couldn't find anything compelling. People are not speculating on this based on anything from LE or the media, it has no relevance to what LE has or doesn't have.

 

[yodle]

I actually thought "steel car" in the tweet was just as strange as the "lucky". Wouldn't you just say "car", especially if you had a limited number of characters? It makes me think she was referring to the unusual appearance of the car.

 

[yodle]

I doubt very much LE would care about it either, because if they read it and had the same notion that it could be with regards to him, they would do what they could to corroborate it with interviews or cellphone pings etc and drop it if they couldn't find anything compelling. People are not speculating on this based on anything from LE or the media, it has no relevance to what LE has or doesn't have.

It's entirely possible that LE has made some of these connections - they just don't have to reveal it to anyone until the discovery phase.

 

[nursebeeme]

http://www.santacruzsentinel.com/lo...ra-lamar-case-last-scheduled-water-search-set

water searches are over... will only do further water searches based on leads or tips... land searches with Klaas Kids will continue (volunteer searches)

 

[LBrennanVW]

To add to Nurse's post ^^

Divers complete final search for body of missing teen Sierra LaMar
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2012/06/sierra-lamar-divers-final-search.html

I mean common sense says they can't go hard on the searches forever. Hoping someone finds her soon so the family can have closure!

 

[oceanblueeyes]

To add to Nurse's post ^^

Divers complete final search for body of missing teen Sierra LaMar
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2012/06/sierra-lamar-divers-final-search.html

I mean common sense says they can't go hard on the searches forever. Hoping someone finds her soon so the family can have closure!

No one can ever say they haven't tried their very best to find Sierra's body.

It is so hard to find a body. Many say it is like looking for a needle in a haystack and that isnt an unrealistic analogy. When the suspect had from 7:15am until 5:00pm before she was reported missing it gave him so much time to discard her anywhere.

I do believe LE has evidence showing Sierra is deceased but truthfully they may never find her remains. Carrie Culberson's mother still looks for her daughter's remains even though the suspect has been tried and convicted many years ago now.

I dont believe Torres will ever offer up where he put Sierra's remains.

 

[LisaB]

Don't stores/chains own the land where the parking lots are? I always thought it was part of their parcel of land and therefore not really public property. JMO

In most cases they are leasing the space.

I do survey work and site plans for MD state Government, but was previously in the private sector, working for a civil engineer. Now, I can only speak for Maryland, but as a general rule, a company purchases one (or more) plots of land, and (if necessary) combines them administratively to form a large enough parcel for their intended purpose, whether it is a single store, or a shopping center.

There are requirements for handling stormwater, calculations to determine the appropriate number of parking spaces, and a certain portion of the parcel has to be permeable (i.e. not covered by a building or parking area, and able to absorb rainfall). There may be further requirements as far as sidewalks, landscaping, and entrance permits to allow access from the roadway, and connections for water and sewer, electric and phone.

The engineer, along with the owner will design the building and parking lot, as well as anything else that may be required, and the entire parcel remains the property of the owner (in this case, Safeway - and yes, I did work on the plans for a Safeway here). This will be approved by the client and Planning and Zoning before construction begins.

It is not so much PUBLIC as it is COMMERCIAL. Some shopping centers have signs stating that no loitering is permitted after a certain hour, or that skateboards are not allowed, which is not relevant to "public" areas.

In general, the police will come out if, for instance, some person tried to abduct you from the parking lot, if someone is sitting in a car drinking, or if your vehicle is broken into while you are inside the store. They will come to arrest shoplifters, and can come to investigate a "fender bender" provided they are called. AS A GENERAL RULE, they can't enforce driving laws as it is not a roadway.

If it was truly public, people could freely park their RVs overnight (Walmart allows this, but many don't), could "hang out" at all hours of the day and night, etc. AFAIK, the land is owned by the store, or in some cases, the shopping center, assuming the stores within it are all leased.

 

[rpgman]

I'm leaning toward the evidence linking him to 2009 attacks not being DNA either.. for one thing we know for a fact his DNA has been in the codis system for quite sometime.. you'd think once entered it'd be automatically scanned to see if its linked to any unsolved crimes with DNA available to compare.. or do they not do that? Or am i mixed up and his DNA was already in codis when the Safeway attacks occurred(I've got too many dates of cases running thru my head) ..either way it certainly seems to me that his DNA in codis would have long since been matched to DNA from attacks in 09..

That leads me to the above point that it was possibly something else that linked him. .the stun gun case or receipt possibly or what about the victims knife that was taken from her and then used against her? I know he ran off due to her calling attention to other people in the lot but never saw where he left the knife or took it with him? So IMO that could yet be another link that was found in his possession in subsequent searching that was done via warrants in Sierra's case.. if he still was found to have the knife somewhere in his possession and it was positively identified to be the victims knife?. Just a possibility IMO..

I will say this and its just moo but if it is learned that in fact it actually is DNA preserved from the 09 assault that is the link then IMO that looks especially bad on LE because IMO if DNA was available and the perps DNA has been in codis for atleast a couple years..well. .IMO there was no reason whatsoever for sierra having to have become a victim. That DNA should have had his azz off the streets and and alive sierra LaMar here today. .jmo.

CODIS is collected locally, updated to the state and federal level weekly and scans are run weekly to match perps with crimes.

UR correct, if his DNA was in the system in 09 and the assaults in 09 have DNA, he shouldn't have been on the streets to abduct Sierra.

 

[k9pia]

I actually thought "steel car" in the tweet was just as strange as the "lucky". Wouldn't you just say "car", especially if you had a limited number of characters? It makes me think she was referring to the unusual appearance of the car.

That is interesting and a strange phrasing. When you put it that way, the first thing I think of is an armored car, like a "Brinks" or something. Maybe she wasn't talking about a true "car" at all, but something else. Another thing we'll probably never know, sigh.

 

[leighmarker]

just thought I would drop in a see if anything has happened. Sad to say no, please already AGT just give it up and let her family have closure.

 

[ozazure]

I had to go back and read Smith's comments at the arrest conference and yes, she doesn't specify DNA as the forensic evidence. She does specify that the event with the police officer in May 09 got him into the database.

Something tied those cases to Sierra and given DNA wasn't in the system from the March 09 safeway attacks, even if they went back and had physical items to test and get DNA to compare - there was still something else. Fingerprints?

 

[bgmiller5]

I actually thought "steel car" in the tweet was just as strange as the "lucky". Wouldn't you just say "car", especially if you had a limited number of characters? It makes me think she was referring to the unusual appearance of the car.

I just thought by steel car she meant "You are yelling at a little girl while you are protected inside your steel car..."

 

[GrainneDhu]

CODIS is collected locally, updated to the state and federal level weekly and scans are run weekly to match perps with crimes.

UR correct, if his DNA was in the system in 09 and the assaults in 09 have DNA, he shouldn't have been on the streets to abduct Sierra.

I keep wondering if LE may not have bothered to run DNA or fingerprints on whatever evidence they had collected until AGT was implicated in Sierra's disappearance.

As I recall, a lot of California agencies were under severe budget constraints in 2008-2009, due to the economic disaster. Running DNA tests costs money. It may be that if the sketch had brought in a good suspect, they would then have run DNA to see if it matched.

 

[PlainJaneDoe]

I keep wondering if LE may not have bothered to run DNA or fingerprints on whatever evidence they had collected until AGT was implicated in Sierra's disappearance.

As I recall, a lot of California agencies were under severe budget constraints in 2008-2009, due to the economic disaster. Running DNA tests costs money. It may be that if the sketch had brought in a good suspect, they would then have run DNA to see if it matched.

In support of this...http://www.rainn.org/news-room/news/rape-kit-backlog. Not specific to CA but like GrainneDhu said...

 

[Niner]

I've also heard there's quite a backlog to update the Codis system - plus the budget here in California!

I, too, thought maybe they have fingerprints off the stun gun...

I see that the threads have finally slowed down a bit, at least it doesn't take 50 pages to catch up over night!! LOL! :rocker:

 

[rosesfromangels]

Is that what people do when they have an affair? Do they communicate cryptically (still tracable) or in person? If only in person, kind of hard to communicate that way to plan anything. If cryptically LE would know and the statement of facts indicates opposite of them having known each other prior to this. If AGT says different he better have evidence otherwise it's hearsay. Same with his family or friends.

If we were talking about two adults here having an affair and trying to hide their tracks from jealous spouses that may look at their phone or internet I would think you would just hit the delete button. This is not the case in this situation. This is a child on her way to catch the school bus in the morning to meet a friend before class.

I'm sure LE has this all dialed in, but I would think that perhaps that "15 year old Cool Carl" she was communicating with could have in fact been the 21 year old AGT Perp....as an example.