Volunteers Mark 4 Years Since Sierra LaMar Disappearance With Search
MORGAN HILL (CBS SF) – About two dozen volunteers are expected to search this weekend for any signs of a 15-year-old girl who has been missing for four years in southern Santa Clara County.
No one has heard from Sierra LaMar since March 16, 2012, when she left her home in unincorporated Morgan Hill in the morning and missed her bus for school.
Sierra's body hasn't been recovered and formal weekly searches for her with help from the KlaasKids Foundation ended in March 2015.
Antolin Garcia-Torres was arrested two months after Sierra's disappearance on charges of murdering and kidnapping her. He is set to stand trial next month.
While the organized efforts have suspended, search coordinator Roger Nelson said groups have occasionally been looking for Sierra.
On Saturday morning, about 20 to 25 volunteers will meet at Eastman Canyon and Uvas roads to search the area and mark four years since her disappearance, Nelson said.
"The goal of the searches of course is to bring Sierra home to her family and if that brings any major closure to the family, that's our prime motivation," he said.
There have been more than 1,150 recorded searches and 55,000 hours logged by volunteers in the past four years, Nelson said.
"I've been inspired by the strength of the LaMar family and compassion of these amazing volunteers," Nelson said.
On the morning Sierra disappeared, she sent a text message to her friend that didn't indicate she was in distress and her cellphone was later found in an agricultural area south of San Jose, according to Santa Clara County sheriff's deputies.
Two days later, her Juicy-brand bag was found with her clothes folded about 2 miles away from her home.
Garcia-Torres was arrested on May 21, 2012, after investigators found Sierra's DNA in his red Volkswagen Jetta. He has been held at Santa Clara County Main Jail in San Jose without bail.
In February 2014, a criminal grand jury indicted Garcia-Torres on the charges in Sierra's case, along with kidnapping and carjacking charges involving three women at supermarket parking lots in Morgan Hill in 2009.
In May 2014, Santa Clara County District Attorney Jeff Rosen sent a letter to Santa Clara County Superior Court stating his office is seeking the death penalty in the case.
Garcia-Torres is scheduled to appear in court this afternoon for a hearing at the Hall of Justice on a defense motion regarding DNA evidence in the case.
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