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

[cluciano63]

The one neighbor told reporters that LE took his security camera video after he noticed TWO cars that he "didn't understand" on the day Sierra disappeared around 7:00am-7:15 am. What would cause LE to not release info about the other car? If it didn't belong in the cul-de-sac or neighborhood at that time of the morning, it is hinky.

Maybe that person came forward early on and told LE why they were there? They may have even been one of the witnesses re: the Jetta.

 

[dog.gone.cute]

If Le is still planning water searches, then they are looking for Sierra, IMO. I don't believe divers go down for things like shoes, etc...

I think they will continue to say she is alive until...she isn't, just like Samantha. JMO

:seeya: This makes total sense to me ... and I totally agree ...

:moo:

 

[Cottontop]

Editorial by a Mercury News reporter. The comments aren't so nice, but he's at least repeating some of what others have been thinking.

http://www.mercurynews.com/scott-he...riff-should-upgrade-level-candor-sierra-lamar

 

[houndstooth]

http://www.nbcbayarea.com/video/#!/news/local/Red-Car-Found-in-Sierra-LaMar-Case/150706035

May 8 from video @ link

Sgt. Jose Cardoza: We just can't make public right now when we found it, or where we found it for that matter.

Reporter: So then why announce that it was found, anyway?

Sgt. Jose Cardoza: Well, what we don't want- is we don't want these calls to continue.

Reporter: These calls are the generic tips from people who thought they might have seen the car. Now the Sheriff's investigators are asking people to get more specific and call only if they saw that older model Volkswagen Jetta with a black hood, or the people inside it in the days around Sierra's March 16th disappearance.

Well isn't that special?!
LE would like the public to get more specific telling them to look for "an older model Jetta with a black hood".

They claim they found the car but, still don't know what YEAR the car is?
An older model is pretty vague since they aren't showing it with front or rear details in which most models are distinguised by. Maybe they're the ones who need to get more specific!

But, in any case, why ask them to remember some unmemorable moment of a car you might have passed in traffic two months ago. It's mind boggling ever since they came up with this out of a cold blue Monday.

Thank you, askfornina, you do monumental work.

 

[dog.gone.cute]

This is all heresy, but one of my neighbors is a police officer around here. He told my husband that after the announcement about a red jetta with black hood was put out there, they received lots of calls in the first two hours. So, if that is correct I don't think they had the car already when putting out the stock photo. JMO!!!

:seeya:

BBM: This makes total sense ... and WHY waste time and energy putting something "out there" when you already have it in your possession ?

Now, this is JMO, but I think LE is at a "stand still" ... and this vehicle is all they have right now to go on ...

Going back to lurking for the evening ... will check for updates in the morning, and hopefully by then, Sierra will be found ...

:moo:

 

[Annie1004]

How can LE state that Sierra's disappearance is not linked with the other attempted abduction unless they know who are one or both of the sickos?

I think LE must have a suspect, but they believe he might have gone to Sierra's home with another person. LE wants this other person's name. This may be why LE has asked about the occupants (plural) of the red car.

Maybe because after the SO reached out to WCPD, the evidence and modis operandi didn't match. For instance, the car in the WC case was "faded," plus an older man driving the "race-type" red Jetta differs from the SCC SO's suspect profile. Then there's so much (?) we don't know about both cases. Was ruled out pretty fast by LE, probably in order to keep the spotlight on Sierra's case. I dunno.

 

[LinasK]

Maybe because after the SO reached out to WCPD, the evidence and modis operandi didn't match. For instance, the car in the WC case was "faded," plus an older man driving the "race-type" red Jetta differs from the SCC SO's suspect profile. Then there's so much (?) we don't know about both cases. Was ruled out pretty fast by LE, probably in order to keep the spotlight on Sierra's case. I dunno.

I agree, all along I've thought linking the Walnut Creek case was grasping at straws. Walnut Creek is nowhere near Morgan Hill, and there is more than one sicko out there!

 

[DarkSparkle]

My dad is retired LE, and he was on the dive team for 20 years. I gave him a brief rundown and asked what he thought they'd be diving for if they thought she was alive. He said weapons or a wallet/id are most likely.

FWIW he also said if it were a gang kidnapping and she were cute, he would lean towards her being held somewhere and used/pimped out for use, but probably alive and in ok physical shape.

 

[Pensfan]

Welcome to Websleuths, DarkSparkle!

:welcome:

 

[TheDoormouse]

I'll eat crow if I'm wrong but...

I really, really, really, really don't think this is gang related.

Sure, this area has gang activity, but %95 of it is 13-17 year old kids that spray paint "XIV" on dumpsters and shop lift candy bars. I've lived here my whole life and I think I've heard of one instance of a gang shooting (not saying it's never happened, I'm just saying we're not detroit)

I think that the car was red is a coincidence, and I don't think gangs are up and prowling at 6 in the morning.

 

[MtnDweller]

The one neighbor told reporters that LE took his security camera video after he noticed TWO cars that he "didn't understand" on the day Sierra disappeared around 7:00am-7:15 am. What would cause LE to not release info about the other car? If it didn't belong in the cul-de-sac or neighborhood at that time of the morning, it is hinky.

Wow, I missed that. Is it on a news video that we can watch?

 

[Pensfan]

Wow, I missed that. Is it on a news video that we can watch?

Yes, it's also transcribed. Check post 649.
http://www.websleuths.com/forums/showthread.php?t=170717&page=26

 

[Janeumayer]

The one neighbor told reporters that LE took his security camera video after he noticed TWO cars that he "didn't understand" on the day Sierra disappeared around 7:00am-7:15 am. What would cause LE to not release info about the other car? If it didn't belong in the cul-de-sac or neighborhood at that time of the morning, it is hinky.

I think the other car was the white 80's or 70's one LE showed Sierra's friends?

 

[sorrell skye]

My dad is retired LE, and he was on the dive team for 20 years. I gave him a brief rundown and asked what he thought they'd be diving for if they thought she was alive. He said weapons or a wallet/id are most likely.

FWIW he also said if it were a gang kidnapping and she were cute, he would lean towards her being held somewhere and used/pimped out for use, but probably alive and in ok physical shape.

Welcome to Websleuths, DarkSparkle!

Thank You for your input about what the dive teams may be looking for if LE believes Sierra is alive.

Question: Wouldn't a wallet be extremely difficult to find underwater, since wallets are small? Can the side sonar scanners detect such a small item on the bottom of a deep reservoir amidst all the other types of debris that might be down there? Regarding an ID, I think that item would float, since it's laminated and lightweight.

I can understand looking for weapons such as firearms, since these are larger & of course oftentimes used in crimes. I think that an owner of a registered firearm might be more likely to dispose of one in a lake in the hopes it won't be found & traced back to them & their crime. Career criminals tend to use black-market unregistered firearms, so they don't have to worry about being linked to them during the commission of a crime, therefore they're less likely to pitch one into a lake after they kidnap someone.

Personally, I think LE is saying they think Sierra is alive because they haven't discovered any forensic evidence to support a homicide scenario.

After almost 8 weeks, I doubt that any of the investigators truly believe she's alive if she's been abducted, unless they're theorizing about a human trafficking scenario. If they are, they haven't said so.

ETA: If LE is searching the ponds, lakes, and reservoirs for weapons, this must mean that they believe Sierra is no longer alive. Why would a kidnapper need to dispose of a gun or a knife or any other type of weapon if their victim is alive & physically unharmed?

I think LE is looking in the water for Sierra, unfortunately.

 

[MtnDweller]

Yes, it's also transcribed. Check post 649.
http://www.websleuths.com/forums/showthread.php?t=170717&page=26

Thank you for the link ... Pensfan.

 

[LadyNorCal]

Whoever owned this car appears to be souping it up, so I doubt it was an old lady. Thinking more along the lines of gang-type activity myself. The hood probably is carbon fiber (custom) and the wheels (front) were also custom. The sun-roof may have been custom also. Whoever owned it probably abandoned it and got out of Dodge, but I would think if they really thought anyone would find anything out, they would have the car "disguised," dismantled or hidden.

Red/black = Nortanios (spelling?), a prominant San Jose gang, and that was my first thought, initially, the day Sierra came up missing. It is possible if she was abducted by gang members she is alive. I am still praying she is not deceased.

Dragging reservoirs? I saw some posts about that earlier. Waterways and reservoirs being dragged...I personally think they are excluding them as dump sites for her body.

It could go either way, imo.

I believe that the owner of the car was not known. I do think he's associated with Willow Glen's attempted kidnapping (no matter what the papers say) and I believe he is also associated with 2 other kidnapping attempts, and possibly 2 more I read about in neighboring communities...car color makes no difference, imo, as the perpetrator in all the instances sound almost identical by MO.

 

[TheDoormouse]

Personally, I really don't see this perp going from a grab in the sleepy hours of the morning in the under-developed, less populated town of Morgan Hill, to the early evening in the suuppper populated Willow Glen. Especially in 10 days. To me that's a huge escalation of what that person is willing to risk.

IMO this person is not hunting in San Jose (Willow Glen is a neighborhood in San Jose.) San Jose is densely populated, heavily lit, and pretty much always awake. I think the police were on the right track asking for information about sightings in the San Benito area. I would concentrate on Morgan Hill and south. (Gilroy, Hollister, Salinas)

 

[TheDoormouse]

Has someone gone out and taken pictures yet, by the way? I'm moving tomorrow, but I was thinking of doing that when I get some time (hoping my bf has a camera)

 

[MtnDweller]

Red/black = Nortanios (spelling?), a prominant San Jose gang, and that was my first thought, initially, the day Sierra came up missing. It is possible if she was abducted by gang members she is alive. I am still praying she is not deceased.

Dragging reservoirs? I saw some posts about that earlier. Waterways and reservoirs being dragged...I personally think they are excluding them as dump sites for her body.

It could go either way, imo.

I believe that the owner of the car was not known. I do think he's associated with Willow Glen's attempted kidnapping (no matter what the papers say) and I believe he is also associated with 2 other kidnapping attempts, and possibly 2 more I read about in neighboring communities...car color makes no difference, imo, as the perpetrator in all the instances sound almost identical by MO.

An abduction by gang members may not be so far fetched.

http://abcnews.go.com/m/story?id=16046155

Gang Members Arrested on Charges of Sex Trafficking Suburban Teens

By PIERRE THOMAS and MARISA TAYLOR
March 31, 2012

Sex trafficking is moving to the suburbs.

Federal prosecutors have charged five alleged gang members with trafficking teenage girls into prostitution in suburban Northern Virginia, one of the wealthiest areas in the United States, according to an FBI affidavit unsealed this week in U.S. District Court in Alexandria, Va.

The five young men, who were arrested beginning Tuesday, were allegedly members of a Fairfax, Va.-based affiliate of the Crips, the notorious gang with Los Angeles roots that is known for shootouts, drugs and prostitution.

Perhaps the most surprising admission from the affidavit was that the alleged gang members recruited teens from wealthy suburbs, though they targeted rural areas, too.

 

[JDB]

I'll eat crow if I'm wrong but...

I really, really, really, really don't think this is gang related.

Sure, this area has gang activity, but %95 of it is 13-17 year old kids that spray paint "XIV" on dumpsters and shop lift candy bars. I've lived here my whole life and I think I've heard of one instance of a gang shooting (not saying it's never happened, I'm just saying we're not detroit)

I think that the car was red is a coincidence, and I don't think gangs are up and prowling at 6 in the morning.

I will join you in that crow eating if this is. To me it does not feel gang related either.