Deceased/Not Found CA - Sierra LaMar, 15, Morgan Hill, 16 March 2012 #14 *A. Garcia-Torres guilty*

[houndstooth]

bbm: the article/interview with LE said it took weeks of piecing the video and interviews together

(ie: not a quick process)

I just scrolled back to the quote on the previous page and it says "over the past WEEK".
That's what I was referring to in both my posts.

 

[TheDoormouse]

local sleuther signing in! Lived in this area 21 years.

Sorry for the delay. I need to catch up on everything.

 

[nursebeeme]

Cardoza said it took "weeks" of interviews with witnesses and reviews of surveillance video to come up with this particular car.

http://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/local/Red-Jetta-Possibly-Connected-to-Sierra-LaMar-150441425.html


also video of mom at link... she knew about this lead and is glad it has been released to the public

 

[houndstooth]

http://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/local/Red-Jetta-Possibly-Connected-to-Sierra-LaMar-150441425.html


also video of mom at link... she knew about this lead and is glad it has been released to the public

Ma'am with all due respect, I was not implying I thought they just got around to doing interviews in the last week, or collecting the surveillance footage before then.
I was remarking upon them saying they didn't get around to collating (culling used in original), this information together until last week as per the statement to the Mercury News.

I can't see the video. NBC locals don't play for some reason for me.
If you could relate the Mom quote you are referring to I would appreciate it.

 

[IHAVENOCLUE]

I am behind in the reading...
but I am encouraged LE is reporting leads and non-leads.

"Red Jetta Sought in Sierra LaMar Disappearance"
May 7, 2012
ABC 7 News

Also states that handcuffs and condoms are NOT related to this case.

 

[yodle]

NCSleuth I think you should call or email that in as a tip. You never know.

 

[LisaB]

It is probably described as a "black hood," and could very well be what they call carbon fiber hood in the world of car modification (as such: http://s30.photobucket.com/albums/c340/pedrider/?action=view&current=benjticarbonfiber.jpg). I would think something like this wouldn't be hard to track down, and hopefully LE has asked around at body shops since this is usually something done custom.

Yes, well I'm in oz so we mostly call it the bonnet (tho that's probably morphing to the US"s hood) but certainly the hood covers the engine, hinged to open up and probably one of the easiest replaced bits of the car body no?

Yes that's what I imagined it looking like. But I think it could also be a home done repair? You see a lot more mismatched panels here on cars that are obviously junky, and I imagine a hood might be simpler to replace than to be fixed if it's available.

It wouldn't just be body shops unfortunately. Think junk yards, salvage yards...there are ALOT of these "pick and pull" junk yards around San Jose/Morgan Hill area.

It's probably a salvaged car with a stolen license plate....

How about looking at the cars in her OLD NEIGHBORHOOD in FREMONT? Ask all those high school kids (at both high schools), who drives that car? It sounds like a teenagers car, or yes, a poor person.

Hope I snagged the right quotes...

I just called a friend of mine who has worked in about half a dozen body shops over the past 25 years. I asked him what sort of damage would affect JUST the hood of a car and no other parts (not a front end hit, for instance). His answer was that it could be one of the following:

1. The engine oil ran out, threw a rod, and punctured the hood. This is very unlikely in this case as it would have required replacing the engine AND the hood, and the car is not worth enough to make that practical.
2. Something fell onto the car
3. Oxidization. because of the hood being hot, and the weather in CA, the paint tends to oxidize faster and you may get overall surface rust.
Also, if this car was originally from Washington or Oregon, where it is wetter,
4. Rust. The front rolled edge of the mid 90s Jettas tended to trap water causing the front edge of the hood to rot away.
5. Hood latch released while driving and hood flew open, twisting the hood and bending the hinges.
6. Someone stood up on it.

I also asked him what color the replacement part would be and he told me that if it was ordered from Volkswagen, it would come in as a black part. It would be fitted to the car then removed and sent to the paint booth. He also mentioned that carbon fiber parts are sometimes mistaken for black. He also told me that if this was NOT an insured repair, the driver might have decided to go with junkyard parts, which could be any color.

OK. Long way around to my latest theory... well, TWO theories really.

The first I stated earlier... this car could have been in a repair shop to get a new hood. The collision tech could have fitted the new hood on (black from VW)
then borrowed it and committed the crime, before returning it to the shop, removing the black hood and returning it for paint. The easiest justification for using the car would be if option #5 is the case. They would want to be sure it was fitted correctly and would not fly open again. It sounds ridiculous, but apparently repair guys DO sometimes use customer cars for personal errands even when there is no "justification". If this were the case, the owner brought a RED CAR WITH HOOD DAMAGE to the shop and picked up a RED CAR. To this person, there never WAS a red Jetta with a black hood.

The second scenario would be that it is the car of a teen. The car was "handed down" and the person stupidly climbed on the hood or allowed a friend to do so (#6 above). They obtained a replacement that was black and put it on, but have not been able to afford to have it painted. Then someone said (wait for it...) Hey! You don't have to get it painted right away... because it is the school colors! Red and Black! Fremont!

I think this person either visited Sierra in Morgan Hill, either in a different car, or as a passenger, with someone who came to see her. And if they decided to drive around, they might even have discovered a dirt dead end that went behind a metal shed where they could stop and smoke some pot without being detected. We have heard Sierra never ditched school, but nobody has thought to ask how many days she was out sick. If Marlene left for work at 6ish, she could easily wait a little while and then call her mom and say she was sick and staying home. Maybe some Fremont kids came up and they all hung out someplace on days her mom thought she was "sick".

I just can't get past the car being the colors of her old school. The idea of teenagers piling onto the hood in a parking lot isn't too farfetched, nor would a fight that ended up on the hood of the car be. All typical teenager stuff.

I seriously think that they need to check out body shops and the parking lot at the high school in Fremont for a RED JETTA, POSSIBLY having a black hood, but maybe not.

Another thing worth mentioning. In my state, when you sell a car, you turn the license plates in to the Motor Vehicle Administration. The buyer has the car inspected and applies for license plates in his/her name. NOT IN CA! I am sure you locals have not given it a second thought, because it is what it is, but in California, tags go with the car when you sell it. So selling it would not have kept it from being located IF we had a license plate number. Even if it was sold several times, the tags would still be on it. However, we do not have the information from the license plate. I do not even know if it has been said the car had California tags.

 

[mamacita]

WAY long shot here...
What if the car was put in a shop for repairs? One of the guys from the shop could have "borrowed" it, then returned it afterward to be painted and sold/returned to owner. I'm specifically thinking about the kind of shop that refurbishes trade-ins for resale/auction, so nobody would really notice. Someone may call and say they sold or traded a car like this recently. And, as with the mural on the van mentioned above, repainting the hood is a quick fix. The driver would not necessarily be "associated" with the car by way of paperwork at all.

hi lisa

i agree, i think the perp will probably try to get that hood painted or at lease hide the car until they can get it painted/replaced. the junkyards might want to keep an eye out for anyone going to the junk yards looking for a jetta hood... especially a red one... but i wouldn't put it past a perp to resort to spray paint as a cheap/quick solution.

HOWEVER... it's a little too late as far as i'm concerned. someone knows the owner of the car and knows that it had a black hood. and hopefully they will come forward with a name.. then the suspect can REALLY be looked for. i also hope that people know of or live near a red jetta that had a black hood that suddenly has a red (or different colored) hood put 2 and 2 together and at least give LE the lead.

 

[mamacita]

I just want to throw it out there that I live here in the bordertown of Mexico/San Diego (on the Mexico side) and I'll keep an eye out for a red jetta with a black hood. But there are plenty of body shops down here that don't charge much to do the job... especially if it's just a hood.

Also, just a thought... bringing a person down here in a car would have to be done with them in the passenger part of the car, not the trunk. It's too risky that they get sent to secondary inspection when crossing the border and they will ALWAYS check the trunk when you get sent to secondary.

My gut tells me that people will know someone with a red jetta that has (or had) a black hood and can come forward with a name. It's too hard to NOT notice a car like that.

 

[concentric]

Or, if this car was parked at a motel or campground, maybe someone noticed it.

 

[nursebeeme]

Ma'am with all due respect, I was not implying I thought they just got around to doing interviews in the last week, or collecting the surveillance footage before then.
I was remarking upon them saying they didn't get around to collating (culling used in original), this information together until last week as per the statement to the Mercury News.

I can't see the video. NBC locals don't play for some reason for me.
If you could relate the Mom quote you are referring to I would appreciate it.

here is what she was saying:

Heavy publicity has yielded a deluge of tips in the case, but not all of them become publicly known either because they didn't pan out or are still being investigated. The car description is a solid lead, a milestone for a family desperate for answers.
"For them to release this to the media, it's huge," said Marlene LaMar, Sierra's mother. "This is not just a hypothesis. I had not been able to say that previously."
LaMar lauded thegrass-roots effort by the local community in helping flesh out the vehicle information.
"The community has stepped it up. They've been there from the very beginning," she said. "They're going to continue being really responsive and observant for that vehicle."
The heartbroken mother even offered reassuring words for whoever was driving the car or may have taken her daughter.
"Right now it's not about getting this person in trouble or going after a conviction. I don't know this person or whatever led them to the situation to do this," LaMar said. "It's not too late to do the right thing. It's about her recovery."

http://www.mercurynews.com/crime-co...earch-www.mercurynews.com-www.mercurynews.com

 

[LisaB]

(snip) and the black mercdedes with the peace symbol on the hood. (snip)

I hate to rain on your parade, but I am pretty sure the girl did not know the model of the car, but told LE the hood ornament looked like a peace symbol, leading LE to determine the car was a Mercedes. The hood ornament for a Mercedes is attached.

I do not think anything was painted on the hood. I think the hood ornament IS the "peace sign".

 

[LisaB]

Reporter: "We should assume that you didn't see them throwing out a cell phone or putting her purse out in a field or anything like that - that wasn't caught on surveillance tape?"

Cardoza (looking, IMO, noticeably uncomfortable with this question): "Uhhh... N-, we're not gonna comment on that, No."

http://www.ktvu.com/videos/news/sierra-lamar-case-sgt-jose-cardoza-talks-about/vG94Q/

In other words, the unspoken answer to the reporter's question seems to be, IMO, "No - we don't have surveillance footage of the driver of the red Jetta throwing out a cell phone or putting her purse out in a field".

Just keepin' it real, folks. Just keepin' it real.

It almost appears that Cardoza started to answer the question "No" but then said (basically) "no comment". If we assume he "slipped up" in starting to say "No" this would not suggest to me that they did NOT have the footage of them throwing items out, but that "We should (NOT) assume that you didn't see them throwing out a cell phone or putting her purse out in a field or anything like that - that wasn't caught on surveillance tape?"

If he answered the question as it was asked, a reply in the negative would be a response to the positive. Am I making any sense at all?

He was not asked "Do you see them throwing out a cell phone or putting her purse out in a field or anything like that - that was caught on surveillance tape?" He was asked "We should assume that you didn't see them throwing out a cell phone or putting her purse out in a field or anything like that - that wasn't caught on surveillance tape?"

 

[mamacita]

just reposting this article.. sorry if it's already been done.

http://www.mercurynews.com/crime-co...describes-attempted-abduction-daughter-willow

Mother describes attempted abduction of daughter in Willow Glen

He also confirmed the girl reported a man assaulted her with some kind of electric device, possibly a stun gun, and tried to get her into a red compact car, possibly with tinted windows. The suspect was described as a Hispanic man with a hooded sweatshirt.

 

[stillwatersc]

I think we can rule out someone who went to school with Sierra driving the Jetta - the car & driver would have been ID'd by now. I imagine LE made inquiries about this car among locals before going public. Surely they wanted to get the car before the perps knew it was being looked for. Now it will be burned or otherwise destroyed with zero chance of collecting any evidence.

 

[LisaB]

It's like I posted in a previous post: because LE doesn't want to open themselves up to liability by broadcasting the actual surveillance images of whomever was driving that red Jetta, because, IMO, they have no real evidence that this person has anything whatsoever to do with Sierra's disappearance.

If LE had any solid evidence that the red Jetta driver was involved in Sierra's disappearance, the last thing they'd do is broadcast info about the vehicle over the local news.

When LE suspects someone, they prefer to swoop in unannounced, for obvious reasons. LE is NOT in the habit of giving a perp a heads-up-here-we-come-get-outta-Dodge-while-ya-can warning.

They could have shown the actual image and said they were looking for this car to interview the driver to see what s/he had seen on the morning Sierra disappeared, as this Jetta was seen in the same general areas the perp was known to have been that day.

Didn't someone mention that there were a lot of "junker cars" behind one of the homes on Sierra's street?

 

[itsashame]

this is a link of an article about how police think that someone in an older red jetta with a black hood could have a link to sierra lamar's disappearance

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-504083_...ing-for-red-car-in-calif-teens-disappearance/

well just a refresher, this was posted back a ways in earlier feeds.....

an article that someone originally put up wondering if there could be a link to the sierra lamar case and what happened to a walnut creek girl, I think a week or two prior to sierra's disappearance. please go to this link, it references a red older model car and also gives a sketch of the suspect.

http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/story?section=news/local/east_bay&id=8590604#&cmp=twi-kgo-article-8590604

maybe this guy moved on to another town and another girl after trying twice without any success. I believe walnut creek and morgan hill are only an hour apart....

 

[LisaB]

I think that LE MUST have DNA and/or fingerprints on Sierra's belongings that they cannot identify, otherwise how could they say for sure that the other items (handcuffs, condom) were not related??

If the condoms had female DNA outside and male DNA inside, but the female DNA was not Sierra's, then LE could say with confidence that they were not related.

 

[MyTinkieGirl]

http://www.mercurynews.com/breaking...office-seeking-red-mid-1990s-jetta-associated

Sheriff's Sgt. Jose Cardoza said the car was seen at the time and place where the 15-year-old disappeared, the morning of March 16 near Palm and Dougherty avenues in unincorporated Morgan Hill. He added that surveillance cameras from buses and Morgan Hill businesses also spotted the car near where other evidence in the case was found.


IMO...the "buses" reference is EXCELLENT evidence of LE doing a great job! I've NEVER heard of LE using "bus" video before...maybe it's just that I've never heard of this.

As far as "businesses"...I'm gonna leave that one open...we don't KNOW for sure what OR where camera's are put. Not ALL camera's are seen poking out of a building or on a pole....I don't know if anyone can say what TYPE of "businesses" LE is speaking of ....sometimes it's not just 7-11, etc. There's so many small buildings, work buildings, off the beaten track roads around there...who knows???

Just me, but I have a few video cams outside of my house...except they're NOT in places screaming "I'm watching you, dude"....not where someone can SEE them. The "purpose" of a video cam is to "catch" someone in the act, not WARN them you're TRYING to catch them in the act...
Probably been reading and posting on WS waaay too much...LOL

 

[MyTinkieGirl]

They could have shown the actual image and said they were looking for this car to interview the driver to see what s/he had seen on the morning Sierra disappeared, as this Jetta was seen in the same general areas the perp was known to have been that day.

Didn't someone mention that there were a lot of "junker cars" behind one of the homes on Sierra's street?

In Jersey we call em "hoopty's"...LOL Sorry, O/T...just playin with ya!!!