SIERRA LAMAR - 15 yo (2012)/ Suspect: Antolin Garcia-Torres - Morgan Hill CA

Authorities are looking for a
15-year-old Morgan Hill girl reported missing since Friday morning, a
Santa Clara County Sheriff's Office spokesman said.


Sierra Lamar, a resident of an unincorporated area near Morgan Hill, was last seen
about 6 a.m. when she left her home near the intersection of Dougherty
and Palm avenues, west of Monterey Highway, Sgt. Jose Cardoza said.
That is the usual time that Sierra leaves each morning to travel to Sobrato
High School, where she is a 10th-grade student, Cardoza said.
But she did not show up to school and did not come home Friday, and her family called authorities, he said.
Police described Sierra as a teen girl, 5-foot-2, with a thin build, olive complexion and long dark hair.
Police did not provide a
clothing description but said she was last seen carrying a purse with a
black-and-pink design with the brand name, "Juicy," written on it.
Authorities said the girl does not have a history of running away from home.
Anyone with information about her whereabouts can call the Sheriff's Office at
408-299-2311 or 408-808-4500, or the anonymous tip line at 408-808-4431.

http://www.insidebayarea.com/oaklandtribune/localnews/ci_20197055/police-searching-missing-morgan-hill-girl

A teenager disappeared after she left home to walk to the school bus stop last week.

Police were hunting for Sierra Lamar, 15, who was last seen by her mother when she left her house at 6am on Friday.

Santa
Clara County Sheriff's deputies
were searching the area in Morgan Hill, California with dogs, teams of
volunteers and a helicopter but have so far found no trace of the
missing girl.





Mystery: Sierra Lamar, 15, disappeared on the walk to school last Friday in Morgan Hill, California



Miss Lamar is 5ft 2inches, slim with long dark hair and was last seen carrying a black and pink bag made by Juicy.

Her
mother Marlene Lamar told NBC that she has not seen her daughter since
waving her off to Sobrato High School early on Friday.
Mrs Lamar also told
KTVU.com her daughter walks to a school bus stop but did not get on that
day, according to the driver and other students.

She added that her when she called her daughter's cell phone, it went straight to voicemail.

Miss Lamar's friends have also been unable to help police with her whereabouts.
Police told the San Jose Mercury News
yesterday that Miss Lamar did not appear to have a troubled home life
and no witnesses have reported anything suspicious from the time or
location of her disappearance.

Anyone with information as to the girl's whereabouts was asked to contact the Santa Clara police department on 408-299-2311.


Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2116965/Teenage-girl-15-goes-missing-walk-school.html#ixzz1pXL5aKow

The cell phone of a missing Morgan Hill teen was found close to where she was last seen.

Sierra Lamar has been missing for three days since she disappeared early Friday morning on her way to school.

The 15-year-old never made it to school.
Search
teams combed the creek beds and fields in the area all weekend which
spanned a two-mile radius. Police dogs lost Sierra's scent at the
driveway of her Morgan Hill home.
The family's confusion and worry
intensified Sunday with the discovery of Lamar's cell phone, tracked by
its electronic ping. Police found her phone in a field a few miles from
her home alongside a road.
Her cell phone charger was found in her room.

"We're hoping she's alive and that's the most important thing right now," said Marlene Lamar, Sierra's mother.

Students at Washington High School in Fremont, where Lamar used to live
and attend school, will be notified about Lamar's disappearance first
thing Monday.

"Sierra has a lot of friends down there, that she
still keeps in contact with," said Sierra's sister Danielle Lamar.
Danielle said she doesn't beleive her sister ran away. "She's always in
contact with family and friends. She wouldn't leave everyone out of the
loop."
Neighbors don't know what to think, with no evidence of an abduction, but no explanation either.

"My heart goes out to the family," said Vicki Osuna, one neighbor. "I
have a 13-year-old daughter, I don't want her to be missing, so we're
praying that she comes home."

Sierra moved from Fremont to
Morgan Hill this year, transferring as a sophomore to Sobrato High
School, a few miles from her mother's house.

Friends from both
schools have been circulating her picture. Her former classmates said
Sierra missed Fremont, but was doing fine.

"I hung out with her
last week and she was happy," said Channah Foreman, Lamar's best
friend. "We celebrated my birthday. We don't understand what's going on.
It doesn't make sense."

The ground and air search is finished in Morgan Hill for now, unless new leads develop.

Detectives said they are turning their attention to interviews with Sierra's friends.

Both high schools will likely be buzzing with news of her disappearance when classes resume Monday.

http://www.ktvu.com/news/news/investigators-find-cell-phone-missing-morgan-hill-/nLXFk/

This isn't good. Most perps know that the victim's cell is the first thing you dump.
Like most teens her age it was not easy separating her from that phone.
Most have it glued to their palms.
Soon this will become a much bigger crime I am fearing.

Police on Monday were interviewing former and current classmates and
searching through a missing Morgan Hill teen's cellphone and laptop
computer in hopes of finding clues to her whereabouts.

Over the weekend, the Sanat Clara County Sheriff's Department found Sierra
Lamar's cellphone not far off the road, in a field about a half-mile from her house.

"We have confirmed that cellphone does belong
to Sierra, so we're doing some forensics on that cellphone, trying to
get any information we can off that cellphone, as well as her laptop,"
said Santa Clara County Sheriff's Sgt. Jose Cardoza.

The 15-year-old teenager, born and raised in Fremont, has been missing
since Friday morning from her Morgan Hill home.

Lamar's former high school, in Fremont, posted her name on a marquee
outside the school, and below friends also hung up a missing-person banner.

A group gathered on the campus of Washington High
School Monday afternoon in hopes that the missing-person case will have a
safe outcome.

"Now that all these days have gone by, we're
getting really worried," said Jacque Lambiase, a friend of Sierra Lamar.
"We know she didn't run away, because she's not the kind of person to do that."

Family members released new images Monday of a smiling Lamar.

"She was in an optimistic mood," said Marlene Lamar, Sierra Lamar's
mother. "She was very cheerful. She wished me a good day at work. I told
her I loved her before she left for school."

Investigators said there is no sign of a crime or that Lamar ran away and
are treating it as a missing-person's case.
Police interviewed about 30 students and staff at Sobrato High School Monday,
where Lamar transferred in October.

"We have encouraged all of our students if they have any information,
even if they don't think it might be very important, to come up and let
us know," said Deborah Padilla, principal of Sobrato High School.

Investigators also interviewed friends at Lamar's former high school
Washington High School in Fremont, where she was on the cheerleading team.

"I know she's going to come home," said her former
teammate McKenzie Lebon. "I don't want to think of anything else other han that."

Friends described Lamar as a happy teen and said most of her close friends were in Fremont.

On Monday, friends copied and distributed hundreds of fliers.

"I appreciate all the efforts," Marlene Lamar said. "God bless everyone
who's trying to help, even the people that don't know her. I hear
they're chipping in and they're trying to help out. God bless you all."

Authorities said Lamar's Facebook and Twitter accounts haven't been
used since Thursday and said they have little to go on, which is why
they're asking the public for help.

http://www.ktvu.com/news/news/police-search-missing-teens-cellphone-computer-clu/nLXqw/

All the indicators are pointing towards a nefarious situation.
Expect a big break in this case soon.
She did not go away willingly.

He pleaded no contest
in 2009 to "lewd acts" with a minor younger than 14 after he fondled a
friend of his older daughter's at a slumber party in 1999.

---Umm, err, ahhhh...is anybody else finding this just a bit suspicious. Cooperative and innocent is one thing...the other thing is Guilty and Lying.
We'll see, rabbit; we'll see....

Posted: 5:36 p.m. Wednesday, March 21, 2012
Search efforts by friends, authorities for missing teen ramp up

FREMONT, Calif. — As the search for Morgan Hill teenager Sierra Lamar by police, family and classmates continued Wednesday, the effort to find the missing South Bay teen has taken on a more ominous tone.

A second vigil was scheduled to take place at around 6:30 p.m. at Fremont Boulevard and Mowry Avenue for the missing teenager.

It is the latest of a series of events organized by friends trying to remain optimistic about the unresolved situation.

Joanna Isom and her family were passing out flyers Wednesday at Washington High School in Fremont promoting another candlelight vigil this Friday night on campus.

Washington high is where 15-year old Sierra Lamar went to school before moving to Morgan Hill last fall.

"These kids at Washington High are amazing. It's mostly them, said Isom. They've organized so much of this...and they just want to help..and they're all pulling together."

Joanna's daughter, Alexia, exchanged joking tweets with Lamar the morning of March 16th, the day she was reported missing.

"It's crazy, said Alexia. It's just weird. One minute you're, like, talking to somebody and they're there, and then the next minute they're gone."

On Wednesday, the Santa Clara County Sheriff's Department continued to interview residents in the Morgan Hill area where the Lamar family lives and where Sierra was last seen leaving for her school bus stop.

Officials report that no significant forensic evidence has turned up from Sierra's cell phone and laptop.

Neighbors said a lot of people now suspect foul play and believe investigators are doing the right thing in retracing their steps.

"Absolutely, said neighbor Sidney Flores. Whatever you can do to retrace yourself and hoping that there's something that you missed."

At Friday's vigil, friends of Sierra plan to wear the same kind of red Converse shoes the missing teen was known for wearing.

Alexia said students have not given up hope of finding Sierra, but that they were growing more concerned now that she has been missing for so long.

"We really believe she got taken, Alexia said. And as hard as it is to say and as hard as it is to admit, I feel like that's the reality of it."

Sierra's disappearance is still being investigated as a missing person case. The sheriff's department said it has gotten more than 150 tips, but so far none have led to Sierra.

http://www.ktvu.com/news/news/search-efforts-friends-authorities-missing-teen-ra/nLZMW/

MORGAN HILL, Calif.—Nearly a
week after a 15-year-old Northern California girl disappeared on her way
to school, family members and friends remained baffled about what
happened to her. Authorities disclosed Thursday that they had
found Sierra LaMar's purse a few miles from her home on Sunday but saw
no signs of foul play and were still treating her as a missing person, not a runaway.
"We're looking for any evidence of a
crime—clothing, weapons, tire tracks, anything suspicious that could
help out in the investigation," Santa Clara County sheriff's Sgt. Jose Cardoza said.
Meanwhile, search crews fanned out over a three-mile radius near the girl's home in Morgan Hill, a suburb of San Jose.
The teen was last seen at home getting ready for school last
Friday. With the exception of sending a normal text message to a friend, she hasn't been heard from since.
As many as 75 officers have been working the case and more than 150 tips have poured in as
family and friends frantically passed out fliers with an image of
Sierra's smiling face. Candlelight vigils have helped loved ones hold
out hope that she returns safely.
"Each day it gets more
real," Sierra's mother, Marlene LaMar, said during a vigil Wednesday in
nearby Fremont. "It's been six days and it feels like forever."
On Thursday, Cardoza said searchers found Sierra's pink-and-black Juicy brand purse about two miles from her home.
Inside was a neatly folded pair
of pants and a T-shirt, said Cardoza, adding that
authorities did not initially release the information until they could
confirm it belonged to the girl. He said police weren't sure if
Sierra was wearing the clothes found in the bag at the time of her
disappearance or if she was carrying an extra set of clothing.
It's the second item found that belonged to Sierra. On Saturday, searchers
found her Samsung Galaxy cell phone on the side of a road less than a
mile from her home.
Investigators have also contacted dozens of registered sex offenders living in the area.
Sierra's father, Steve Wayne LaMar of Fremont, is a registered sex offender. He
has been cooperating with authorities and is not considered a person of
interest in his daughter's disappearance.
He pleaded no contest in 2009 to lewd acts with a minor younger than 14.
"I understand the stigma associated with this in my background, and I
assure everyone it is not connected in any way to my daughter's
disappearance," Steve LaMar said in a statement on Wednesday. "I ask
that you please not shift the focus away from the investigation and from finding Sierra."
Another vigil is scheduled Friday, a week after her disappearance.
"The more days that pass, obviously the harder it is to handle," her sister Danielle LaMar told the San Jose Mercury News.
http://www.mercurynews.com/breaking-news/ci_20232809/cops-missing-n-calif-teens-bag-found-road

searchers found Sierra's pink-and-black Juicy brand purse about two miles from her home. Inside was a neatly folded pair of pants and a T-shirt

More ominous news I am afraid. It seems likely that she had brought a change of clothes with her. I dare say the perp would take the time to neatly fold the items if they were going to be tossed from the vehicle.
In other words, these were not the clothes she was wearing.

I visualize her being forced to throw the items from the car on the passenger side.

http://www.ksbw.com/news/central-california/hollister-gilroy/Mystery-still-shrouds-Sierra-Lamar-s-disappearance-in-Morgan-Hill/-/5738758/9691250/-/6aj57bz/-/

Mystery still shrouds Sierra Lamar's disappearance in Morgan Hill

UPDATED 4:33 PM PDT Mar 23, 2012

MORGAN HILL, Calif. -
It's
been one week since Sierra Lamar vanished while on her way to school in
Morgan Hill, but FBI agents and Santa Clara County Sheriff's deputies
said they still have few clues to go off of.

Investigators have not been able to determine if the 15-year-old girl was abducted or ran away from home.

But her family said they have no doubt that Sierra was abducted.
Marline
Lamar went on the "Today" show and asked anyone who was involved in
kidnapping her daughter to let the high school sophomore safely return
home.

"Please find it in your heart to release her," Marline Lamar said. "We love her so much and we are anxious to see her again."

"Sierra,
if you’re out there, please be strong. I know you can survive this.
You’re a strong individual, and you’re going to make it back to us,"
the mother said.

Police found Sierra's cell phone on the
side of a road less than two miles from her house the day after she
went missing. Sierra's family said the teenager loved her cell phone
and never went anywhere without it.

Sierra's father, Steve
Wayne Lamar of Fremont, released a statement to the media Wednesday
admitting that he is a child sex offender.

http://www.ksbw.com/news/central-california/hollister-gilroy/Mystery-still-shrouds-Sierra-Lamar-s-disappearance-in-Morgan-Hill/-/5738758/9691250/-/6aj57bz/-/

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2012/03/23/fbi-joins-search-for-missing-california-girl-sierra-lamar/

FBI joins search for missing California girl Sierra LaMar

Published March 23, 2012
FoxNews.com

• 
  These
  photos, taken from a missing persons flyer, show 15-year-old Sierra
  LaMar, who was last seen early Friday leaving her Morgan Hill, Calif.,
  home.
  

The FBI has joined the search for a missing
California girl last seen leaving her home to walk to a school bus stop
one week ago.

FBI agents could be seen Thursday night
combing the neighborhood surrounding 15-year-old Sierra LaMar's home in
Morgan Hill, Fox affiliate KTVU-TV reported.

LaMar was last seen leaving her home at
around 7:15 a.m., one week ago. Police dogs searching for the girl lost
her scent on the driveway of her home, authorities said.

The teenager usually walked from her home
to a nearby bus stop, but a bus driver said he saw no sign of her,
according to the station.

Police announced Thursday that the teen's
bag was found on Sunday a couple of miles from her home. LaMar's pants
and shirt were reportedly found neatly folded inside the Juicy brand
bag, though it's not known whether those are the clothes she was last
seen wearing.

LaMar's phone was recovered Saturday night
about three-quarters of a mile from her home after police tracked its
electronic ping. Sgt. Jose Cardozza of the Santa Clara County Sheriff’s
office said the last text LaMar sent out was shortly before 7 a.m. the
day she disappeared and that it was not a distress text. He also said
there was no forensic evidence on the phone.
There is currently no person of interest in the case, and police are still treating it as a missing person case.

Police said earlier this week that they
were interviewing registered sex offenders in the area near where the
teen was last seen.

Authorities are questioning the sex crimes
offenders who live close to where she disappeared. There are 276
registered sex offenders in the area.

The girl's father, Steve LaMar, who lives
some 40 miles away in Fremont, is a registered sex crimes offender but
is not considered a suspect in the case, according to the station.

Family and friends say it is unlikely that LaMar ran away, and her cellphone charger was found in her bedroom. Her Twitter and Facebook accounts also have not been used since Thursday, leading authorities to believe she did not plan her disappearance.
On Wednesday, hundreds gathered at the
Morgan Hill Presbyterian church for a candlelight vigil, including the
girl's father, who appeared distraught, KTVU reported.

"If you can hear me, just realize how much I love you and want you back," Marlene LaMar, the teen's mother, said at the vigil.

Sierra, a sophomore at Sobrato High School,
lives with her mother and stepfather. She transferred to the school in
October after the family moved from Fremont to Morgan Hill. She is
described as having a very good relationship with her family.

Police say they are also interviewing
faculty and friends at both schools for any clues into her whereabouts.
They say her family is cooperating with the investigation.
Sierra LaMar is described as 5-feet, 2
inches tall, with brown hair. She was last seen carrying a Juicy brand
pink and black purse.

Anyone with information on the teenager's
whereabouts is being urged to call the Santa Clara County Sheriff's
Department at (408) 299-2311.


Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/us/2012/03/23/fbi-joins-search-for-missing-california-girl-sierra-lamar/#ixzz1pzEmtnkw

Exactly a week after a Santa Clara County teenager disappeared, FBI
agents stopped motorists near her home Friday, asking them if they
routinely traveled in the area and whether they had noticed anything
suspicious.
The federal agents also scoured the neighborhood near 15-year-old
Sierra LaMar's home outside Morgan Hill on Thursday night, looking for
clues that could shed light on the girl's whereabouts. Investigators
still do not know whether Sierra was kidnapped or left her home
voluntarily March 16, when she was last seen by her mother at 6 a.m.

As they stopped cars
Friday morning, FBI agents asked motorists if they usually drove through
the unincorporated neighborhood and if they had noticed anything out of
place a week earlier. The agents are assisting search efforts being led
by the Santa Clara County sheriff's office.

"We are doing what we can to help them with their investigation," said Julianne Sohn, an FBI spokeswoman.

Sohn said the search was still being characterized as a missing
person investigation. On Thursday, Marc Klaas, who heads the KlaasKids
Foundation, met with Sierra's family to lend support.

"You want to reconstruct the exact scenario as closely as you
possibly can and get any information that can be derived from that,"
said Klaas, whose 12-year-old daughter, Polly, was kidnapped and killed
by career criminal Richard Allen Davis in 1993. "What better way than to
go exactly one week later and talk to everybody that you see?"

Although no clues have surfaced about Sierra's whereabouts, there have been some ominous developments.

A day after she vanished, searchers found her intact cell phone off
the side of the road near Santa Teresa Boulevard and Scheller Avenue. On
Sunday, her Juicy brand purse was found near Santa Teresa and Laguna
Avenue.

Inside was a neatly folded pair of pants, undergarments and a San
Jose Sharks shirt that resembles what the family believes Sierra may
have been wearing the day she disappeared, authorities said.

Both her phone and purse were found in the opposite direction from
her bus stop at Palm and Dougherty avenues, which is near her home.

At about 6:30 a.m. March 16, Sierra sent a picture of herself on
Twitter in which she was wearing the Sharks shirt, but it's unclear
whether the photo had been taken that day or earlier, said sheriff's
Sgt. Jose Cardoza.

She texted a routine message to a friend about 7:15 a.m., Cardoza said. The friend responded but never heard back from her.

Investigators have questioned Sierra's friends at Sobrato High School
in Morgan Hill, where she is a sophomore, and Washington High School in
Fremont, which she attended until she moved in October. Authorities
have also questioned registered sex offenders in the South Bay to
determine where they were last Friday morning.

Sierra is 5-feet-2 with a thin build, dark hair and an olive
complexion. Anyone with information is asked to call sheriff's
investigators at (408) 808-4500 or an anonymous tip line at (408)
808-4431, or text (408) 421-6760. People can also e-mail the sheriff's
office at tips@sheriff.sccgov.org.


Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2012/03/23/BAVR1NPD5H.DTL#ixzz1q02A8UQs

Sixty members of the county's Search and Rescue team and
four K9 police dogs will be searching a 12-mile radius from Palm and
Dougherty avenues in Morgan Hill Saturday in an attempt to locate missing Morgan Hill teen Sierra LaMar.


LaMar, 15, has been missing for eight days. She was last seen
Friday, March 16, at 6 a.m. as she was leaving to catch the buss to
school.


Numerous searches have yet reveal new leads, but Sheriff's Office deputies did announce Thursday that the teen's purse was found two miles from her home.
The purse was located Sunday, but officers were reportedly withholding
the information until they could confirm Sierra as the owner.


Thirty of the Search and Rescue workers participating in Saturday's
search are from other law enforcement agencies that are assisting via a
State Mutual Aid agreement, Sgt. Jose Cardoza of the Santa Clara County Sheriff's Office wrote in a statement released Friday evening.

Search teams will start at approximately 10 a.m. and will be searching until dusk. Their objectives are to:

• Locate and identify possible crime-scene areas
  
• Locate and identify possible items of evidentiary value
  
• Locate and identify any other items or information beneficial to the Sierra Lamar case.
  

http://gilroy.patch.com/articles/update-search-for-missing-teen-to-continue-saturday

The KlaasKids Foundation will launch volunteer
searches for missing Morgan Hill teen Sierra LaMar on Tuesday, the
nonprofit announced today.

LaMar's mother, Marlene
LaMar, has asked the organization, which is dedicated to assisting the
families of missing children, to organize the community volunteer
search, KlaasKids officials said.


LaMar, 15, left her home in
unincorporated Morgan Hill near Palm and Dougherty avenues to catch a
bus for school on the morning of Friday March 16th, but never showed up
to class, according to her family.
The Santa Clara County Sheriff's Office has conducted an extensive search of the area around
LaMar's home since her disappearance.
The search located her
cellphone 20-30 feet off the roadway near Santa Teresa Boulevard and
Scheller Avenue. The phone was examined for fingerprints but did not
yield any new leads, Sgt. Jose Cardoza said.
LaMar's last text was sent around 7 a.m. from her home to a friend at school
and did not indicate she was in any distress.
Her Juicy brand bag was
also located Sunday March 18th on the side of the road near Laguna
Avenue and Santa Teresa Boulevard, about two miles from her home.
Inside the bag,
investigators found a pair of pants and a T-shirt, both "neatly
folded," Cardoza said. It has been confirmed that the clothing and
purse belong to Sierra, he said.
He said that since no one
saw Sierra leave home that day, it has not been confirmed whether she
was wearing the clothes found in her purse or whether she had brought
extra clothing with her.
Cardoza has said Sierra
has a "very good relationship" with her mother, her mother's boyfriend
and her father, who lives in Fremont, and there is no indication she is a runaway.
The FBI is involved in the investigation and investigators have been contacting registered sex offenders in the area.
Anyone with information
about Sierra or her whereabouts is asked to call the sheriff's office
at (408) 808-4500 or the anonymous tip line at (408) 808-4431. Tips can
also be emailed to tips@sheriff.sccgov.org
Those interested in
volunteering for the continued search should check in at Burnett
Elementary School at 85 Tilton Road in Morgan Hill between 8 a.m. and 1
p.m. on Tuesday, March 27. Searches will continue throughout the week
everyday starting at 8 a.m., including on Sunday April 1, according to
the KlaasKids Foundation.
Volunteers must be at
least 18 years old and bring photo identification. They should dress
appropriately for the weather and wear long pants and study shoes with
covered toes.
KlaasKids is also asking for donations of bottled water and office supplies.
For more information on
how to volunteer or make donations, call Tricia Griffiths at (801)
560-1933, or email info@klaaskids.org.
http://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/local/KlaasKids-Joins-Search-for-Sierra-LaMar-144180515.html

For the geographic nature in all of us; here's a map of the area. The locations are:

A) General vicinity of disappearance
B) Cell phone recovery
C) Purse recovery

It would take mere minutes to cover this route and offload evidence.
If Sierra was in the vehicle at the time of the disposal I would be inclined
to check the Santa Teresa County Park which is just beyond (C).


View Larger Map

WATSONVILLE - Santa Cruz
County deputies on Sunday investigated a possible sighting of Sierra
LaMar, after a witness called 911 to report seeing a teen hitchhiking on
Holohan Road that looked like the missing 15-year-old Morgan Hill girl,
authorities said.

The witness reported that the girl had backpacks with her and was
near the intersection of East Lake Avenue when she got into a black
truck, sheriff's Lt. Bob Pursley said.

"The backpacks are what caught the person's eye," he said.

The teen, who was wearing black clothing, got into a black "lifted"
pickup with a work rack, driven by a white man in his 20s with
shoulder-length blond hair, Pursley said.

Deputies responded to the area and broadcast an alert,
but did not find the vehicle, he said. The truck was
last seen about 4 p.m. heading toward Airport Boulevard, Pursley said.

The possible sighting was reported to the Santa Clara County Sheriff's Office, he said.
http://www.mercurynews.com/breaking-news/ci_20254615/santa-cruz-deputies-investigate-unconfirmed-sighting-missing-morgan

MORGAN HILL, Calif. -
Ten days after Sierra Lamar failed to catch her regular
morning bus ride to school, sheriff's detectives are re-combing a 2 mile
radius around her mother's Morgan Hill house.


"Detectives
are continuing their investigative efforts (Monday) by re-canvassing
the 2-mile radius area from Sierra’s mother house," Santa Clara County
Sheriff's Sgt. Jose Cardoza said Monday afternoon.
-- PHOTOS: Missing Morgan Hill teen Sierra Lamar
Deputies
said they received more than 350 tips and are busy conducting follow-up
interviews with family members, classmates and friends.

Searches for the missing 15-year-old Ann Sobrato High School cheerleader are also being organized and conducted by volunteers.

The KlaasKids Foundation for Children teamed up with The Laura Recovery Center to organize a large search team on Tuesday.
KlaasKids founder Marc Klass said now is not the time to give up hope for finding Sierra safe.
Klass’
12-year-old daughter, Polly, was kidnapped from their Petaluma, Calif.
home and murdered in 1993. Ever since she was found dead, Klass has
dedicated himself to searching for other missing children across the
United States.
Klass' search for Sierra starts Tuesday at 8 a.m.
Volunteer searchers must be at least 18-years-old, dress for cold
weather, and wear good shoes for outdoor walking.
Investigators
have not been able to determine if the 15-year-old girl was abducted or
ran away from home. Sierra's family said they have no doubt she was
kidnapped while on her way to school March 16.

The last time
anyone heard from Sierra was when she sent a text message to her friend
at 7 a.m. Sierra's text message did not indicate that she was in
distress or doing anything out of the ordinary, Cardoza said.
http://www.ksbw.com/news/central-california/hollister-gilroy/Searches-for-Sierra-Lamar-suspended-by-sheriff/-/5738758/9705874/-/633wup/-/

More than 200 people gathered Tuesday morning in Santa Clara County to help search for missing teen Sierra LaMar.
The 15-year-old hasn’t been seen since March 16 when she left home at 6 a.m. to catch a school bus nearby.

Her family contacted Sausalito-based The KlaasKids Foundation last
week to ask for help in the search. Marc Klaas started the organization
after his daughter Polly Klaas was kidnapped and killed in 1993.

The group agreed to organize volunteers to scour areas near where
Sierra was last seen, said Klaas. They are expected to conduct searches
in the mornings and early afternoons for at least a week through April
1.

"Given the fact that this is our own community," said Klaas, "it
was a very natural fit... This is one of the things that the KlaasKids
Foundation does very well."

On Monday, Santa Clara County Sheriff Sgt. Jose Cardoza told the San Jose Mercury News
that he had no updates in the case. Tips about other attempted
abductions and possible sightings of Sierra so far have been unfounded,
he told the newspaper.

Detectives searching for a 15-year-old girl who went missing 12 days
ago near her South Bay home have ruled out the possibility that she left
home voluntarily and are treating the case as a likely kidnapping,
according to the Santa Clara County Sheriff's office.
Hundreds of volunteers embarked on the first of many searches on
Tuesday for clues into the disappearance of Sierra LaMar, and detectives
urged residents to report any suspicious activity that took place
around or after March 16, the day she was last seen.

"We feel the keys to the resolution in this case are in our community," the sheriff's office said in a statement.

Investigators said they ruled out the possibility that Sierra left on
her own after interviews with her friends and family revealed that she
had no history of running away and no family issues.

Her mother, Marlene LaMar, said she last saw Sierra at home at about 6
a.m. on March 16, an hour before she was to leave for a nearby bus stop
at Palm and Dougherty avenues in an unincorporated area near Morgan
Hill.

A day later, search teams found her intact cell phone off the side of
the road near Santa Teresa Boulevard and Scheller Avenue, in the
opposite direction of the bus stop. The day after that, they found her
Juicy Couture brand purse - the only item known to be with Sierra at the
time of her disappearance - near Santa Teresa and Laguna Avenue, a
short distance from where her phone was found.

Inside were the neatly folded pair of pants, undergarments and gray
San Jose Sharks sweatshirt that her family believes she may have been
wearing the day she disappeared, authorities said.

Although such developments are ominous in a case that has turned up
little to no leads as to her whereabouts, the community should stay
positive and keep looking, said Marc Klaas, who heads the KlaasKids
Foundation and organized the volunteer search effort.

He said police had less evidence at this point in the investigation
for his missing 12-year-old daughter Polly, who was kidnapped and killed
by career criminal Richard Allen Davis in 1993, and that there's still a
chance of bringing Sierra home.

"It's moving forward," he said. "It's just a matter of law
enforcement continuing their investigation, and we're trying to relieve
some of that responsibility."

Almost 600 people volunteered to help in the search efforts Tuesday,
including Michael Le, whose sister Michelle went missing in May. Her
body was found by volunteer search teams in September.

The search will continue from 8 a.m. until 5 p.m. for the rest of the
week, beginning at Burnett Elementary School in Morgan Hill with
experts training volunteers in what to look for and how to avoid
tainting evidence if they do find something.

Klaas said he fully supports the sheriff's statement about the keys
to the case being within the community. He said Sierra's home was in a
secluded area of Santa Clara County, where suspicious or
out-of-the-ordinary activity would be highly noticeable.

"People just need to continue to keep hope alive," Klaas said.


Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2012/03/27/BATI1NR2VL.DTL#ixzz1qNAXGvHz

MORGAN HILL, Calif. —

Community
volunteers fanned out around Morgan Hill again Thursday looking for any
clues to the possible whereabouts of missing teenager Sierra LaMar
Fifteen-year-old LaMar disappeared March 16 and is now considered a probable abduction victim.

Optimism rose at the The Klaas Kid Foundation volunteer center after
more than 500 volunteers showed up to help Thursday, nearly as many as
on Tuesday and three times as many as on Wednesday.
Founded by
Mark Klaas, whose 12-year-old daughter Polly Klaas was kidnapped from
her Petaluma home in 1993, the organization is managing the volunteers
and deploying its own search and rescue resources to help find LaMar.
The Klaas Kids Foundation said for many it was their first time volunteering.

The volunteers searched a 20-mile radius looking for any sign of Sierra.

Volunteers also posted newfliers emphasizing that Sierra is in danger.

"Maybe there's someone that's behaving a little differently, you know.
Obsessed with the story, or changing their appearance, cleaning their
car exceptionally thoroughly," said Sierra's father Steve LaMar.

Optimism dimmed when investigators reported Thursday that its search of
waterways didn't turn up any clues. But some hope returned when the
Klaas Kids Foundation announced later that the Intero Real Estate
collected $12,000 to fund continued search efforts for Sierra.
Klaas said Thursday's turnout and donation were overwhelming.

"Nothing like this has happened like this to us in any previous
search," Klaas said. "This thing is crazy. I mean, the response is
absolutely extraordinary on every level."

Klaas said big turnouts and the donation could help expand and lengthen the search for Sierra.
For
the first time since her disappearance, sheriff's dive teams with
specially trained rescue K-9s are took to the area's waterways Wednesday
to search for human remains, he said.
Dive teams scoured
waterways including Uvas Reservoir and Parkway Lakes, after searching
the Calero and Chesbro reservoirs Tuesday, Cardoza said.
No actual diving was set to occur unless search and rescue K-9s detect possible human remains in the water, he said.
Also
searching for Sierra Wednesday were more than 250 volunteers who
arrived at Burnett Elementary School this morning to assist in search
efforts, said Brad Dennis, a search-and-rescue expert working with The
KlaasKids Foundation.
On Tuesday morning, more than 600 volunteers lined up to help search for the teen, Dennis said.
"I
was not expecting 600 people on the first day you do the search -- we
want to be able to repeat that," the longtime search operations
director said. "The more teams we can put out here in the fields is
that much more land that we get to search."
Dennis said
volunteers have found a number of objects that were being examined by
investigators to determine whether they are linked to the case.
None of the objects found so far appear to be connected to Sierra's disappearance, according to Cardoza.
To
date, personnel from the sheriff's office, the Federal Bureau of
Investigations and other agencies have dedicated more than 3,000 hours
to the case, according to Cardoza.
Detectives continued to
investigate Wednesday more than 500 tips related to the case sent to the
sheriff's office via phone or email, he said.
The sheriff's office asked for the public's help to find Sierra after she was reported missing nearly two weeks ago.
Sierra left home for school the morning of March 16 but never showed up for classes, police said.
Investigators
later found Sierra's cellphone off of a roadway near her home around
Dougherty and Palm avenues as well as her black, Juicy brand purse,
which contained a folded pair of pants and a T-shirt belonging to the
teen.
Detectives have interviewed dozens of Sierra's relatives and friends since her disappearance as the search continues.
The
teen's classmates at Ann Sobrato High School have established a reward
fund for Sierra's safe return and placed a donation box in the
school's front office.
Checks can be made payable to Ann Sobrato
High School ASB and mailed or dropped off at the school, located at 401
Burnett Avenue.
The KlaasKids Foundation has also established a fund to help in the search. To contribute to the fund a link is available at Facebook.com/find.sierra.lamar or contributions can be made directly to the Sierra LaMar Fund at any Chase bank.
Donations of food, water bottles, office supplies or money are also welcome, according to KlaasKids.
Those
interested in volunteering in the search-and-rescue efforts were asked
to register at Burnett Elementary School located 85 Tilton Ave.
between 8 a.m. and 1 p.m. through April 1. Volunteers must be over 18
years old and bring a photo ID.
Anyone with information about the
case is asked to call sheriff's investigators at (408) 808-4500 or the
anonymous tip line at (408) 808-4431.
http://www.ktvu.com/news/news/ongoing-search-missing-teen-attracts-hundreds-volu/nLgY5/

The answers to the following questions
should help summarize what’s happened so far in the Sierra LaMar
investigation, inform how the community can help, and provide some
useful background to the case.

– What evidence do the police have that makes them think Sierra is involuntarily missing or perhaps abducted?

“The totality of the circumstances” gleaned so far
from more than 100 interviews with Sierra’s family, friends and
acquaintances; forensic examinations of her cell phone and laptop
computer; the fact that her cell phone, purse and some of her clothing
were found in two separate roadside locations just north of her home,
all reveal that Sierra has no history of running, had no known intent to
run away on her own and did not suffer from a troubled home or personal
life before her disappearance, according to Santa Clara County
Sheriff’s Sgt. Jose Cardoza.

Furthermore, these factors along with the fact that
Sierra and her family live in a “secluded area” at the end of a rural
cul-de-sac suggest the person responsible for her disappearance lives in
or are familiar with Morgan Hill.

– How can I assist the search?

The Sierra LaMar Search Center is open at Burnett
Elementary School through and including Sunday for any volunteers who
want to help search. The school is located at 85 Tilton Ave. Interested
volunteers can report to the search center from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Searchers must be at least 18 and present a valid photo ID.

The search center is organizing a “teen brigade”
volunteer search squad for the weekend. That effort will allow teens
younger than 18 to help, and those interested can report to the search
center at the times listed above.

The volunteer efforts are organized by KlaasKids Foundation,
a nationwide nonprofit that is devoted to finding missing children.

Searchers do not need prior search or detective
experience. Volunteers will be briefed on basic search techniques by
experienced KlaasKids staff before being deployed to specific locations.

The search center is also accepting donations of
supplies such as bottled water, food for the volunteers and first-aid
supplies. To contact the search center, call (408) 201-6364.

Anyone with information on the case can contact Santa Clara County Communications at 299-2311, or send an e-mail to tips@sheriff.sccgov.org.

During normal business hours callers can call
Sheriff’s Investigators at 808-4500 or the anonymous tip line at
808-4431. Information or tips can also be sent via the Sheriff’s Office
website at sccgov.org/portal/site/sheriff. Information can also be submitted by text at 421-6760.


– How many people have police interviewed?

More than 100 people, some of whom have been
interviewed more than once, according to Cardoza. Interviewees include
Sierra’s family, friends and acquaintances from both Morgan Hill and
Fremont, where Sierra moved from in October 2011. Interviewees also
include registered sexual crimes offenders in the South County area.


– How many children are abducted and never found in the U.S. each year?


From the FBI’s National Crime Information Center
website: “As of Dec. 31, 2010, NCIC contained 85,820 active missing
person records. Juveniles younger than 18 account for 38,505 (44.9
percent) of the records and 10,248 (11.9 percent) were for those between 18 and 20.

“During 2010, 692,944 missing person records were
entered into NCIC, a decrease of 3.7 percent from the 719,558 records
entered in 2009.”

Also in 2010, 18,754 missing persons younger than 21
were classified as “endangered,” and 9,948 of those younger than 21
missing were “involuntarily” missing, according to the NCIC.

The KlaasKids Foundation notes that the number of
missing persons reported to law enforcement increased from 154, 341 in
1982 to 876,213 in 2000. Of the 692,944 people of all ages reported
missing in 2010, 46,397 were found, according to the FBI.

– Do police think Sierra may have known the person who abducted her?

Sierra’s designation as an “involuntary missing
person” could mean one of a number of things, according to Cardoza: She
might have been kidnapped or abducted by a stranger, by force or threat;
or she voluntary ran away but ended up with someone who turned out to
have malicious intent.
No evidence found so far has pointed more heavily toward one of these options, Cardoza added.

– Did registered sex offenders check out?

Investigators plan on contacting all 267 registered
sex offenders in the South County area (144 in Gilroy, 101 in Morgan
Hill, and 22 in San Martin), Cardoza said. They have interviewed those
who live within a 10-mile radius of Sierra’s home. No one has been
arrested in relation to Sierra’s disappearance

Timeline Of Sierra’s disappearance
6 a.m. March 16 - Sierra LaMar’s mother Marlene, and her
mother’s boyfriend Rick Gardiner, left their home where they live with Sierra.
6:29 a.m. March 16 - The last “tweet” Sierra posted to her Twitter account.
7:10 to 7:15 a.m. March 16 - LaMar usually leaves home to start walking to her bus stop at Palm and Dougherty avenues.
7:11 a.m. March 16 - LaMar sent a text from her cell phone to a friend of hers. The content of the message is undisclosed.
6:30 p.m. March 16 - Sierra LaMar reported missing, after her family learned she did not attend school that day.
March 17 - Tracking dogs deployed at Sierra’s home, losing scent at the end
of the driveway. LaMar’s cell phone found near Scheller Avenue and Santa
Teresa Boulevard.
March 18 - LaMar’s “Juicy” brand purse,
containing pants, T-shirt and underclothes found near Santa Teresa
Boulevard and Laguna Avenue.
March 19 - Authorities begin
interviewing friends, classmates and former classmates of Sierra’s.
Interviews with sex offenders within a 10-mile radius of LaMar’s home
begin.
March 20 - Police announce they have interviewed more than
100 people and investigated more than 150 tips related to the
investigation.
March 21 - Search intensifies with more tracking
dogs, search-and-rescue volunteers and more personnel from multiple
agencies including the FBI. The search includes a wider land area
surrounding Sierra’s home.
March 24 and 25 - More than 60 sworn
search-and-rescue officers from Santa Clara County and three nearby
counties conducted a widespread search of areas within 12 miles of Palm
and Dougherty avenues, plus other remote areas in south county that
might be capable of concealing a crime.
Tuesday - The sheriff’s
office announced they are treating Sierra’s disappearance as an
“involuntary missing person,” declaring it is unlikely she is missing
because she wants to be. Also, the KlaasKids Foundation invited
volunteers to help in the search, attracting more than 1,400 searchers
throughout the week.
Wednesday - Investigators started another
intensified search-and-rescue effort, covering areas between Palm and
Bailey avenues. That effort included the sheriff’s office dive team, who
searched reservoirs and ponds in the area.
http://www.morganhilltimes.com/news/crime_fire_courts/search_for_sierra/a-guide-to-facts-behind-the-teen-s-disappearance/article_7d6bd4a8-7a00-11e1-8436-001a4bcf6878.html

Volunteers searching for missing teen Sierra LaMar may have stumbled on new clues in the case.

Investigators have
confirmed that today volunteers with the Klaas Kids organization found
an empty handcuff box at the end of Palm Avenue.

The box did not have handcuffs inside, but they did find at least two used condoms in the box.
Officials are collecting evidence and are sending it off to a crime lab to be analyzed.
The Santa Clara County Sheriff's office sent dive teams to Uvas Reservoir, Parkway Lake and Ogier perk pounds on Wednesday.
The Klaaskids Foundation is coordinating this search with guidance from the sheriff's office.
Sierra left home for school the morning of March 16 but never showed up to classes.
Investigators later found
her phone and her Juicy-brand bag containing neatly folded clothing,
which included a change of underwear, belonging to the teen.
The phone and purse were
found about two miles for Sierra's house on the first weekend after she
disappeared and two blocks apart.
Marc Klaas said after reviewing the evidence, he believes Sierra was likely abducted on the street where she lives.
"Whatever happened to Sierra happened on that block," he told Bay City News.
The family has set up a Facebook page.
Anyone with information
about Sierra or her whereabouts is asked to call the sheriff's office at
(408) 808-4500 or the anonymous tip line at (408) 808-4431.
Tips can also be emailed to tips@sheriff.sccgov.org.
If you want to help in the
actual search, you can go to Burnett Elementary school in Morgan Hill
any day between now and Sunday. The search center opens at 8 a.m.
Volunteers are given instructions and then go out in a group. They
finish their effort by early afternoon each day.
http://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/local/New-Clues-in-LaMar-Case-145011975.html

Authorities believe that cheerleader Sierra LaMar was abducted
outside her Morgan Hill home March 16. The effort to find her has drawn
more than 2,000 volunteers. 'It kind of takes a village,' said one.

MORGAN HILL, Calif. — Fliers bearing an image of the wide-eyed, smiling
teen are taped to every box that leaves Dutchman's Pizza, a high school
hangout. Pink and yellow ribbons adorn every tree on the median strip of
this quaint downtown. A local elementary school serves as a command
center, where more than 600 volunteers gathered beneath clearing skies
Friday to continue the search for Sierra LaMar.

The 15-year-old Northern California cheerleader, law enforcement
officials believe, was abducted outside her home the morning of March
16. Santa Clara County officers and FBI agents have interviewed dozens of Sierra's friends and family members.




The day after she disappeared,
deputies found Sierra's cellphone lying near a road less than a mile
from her home. The next day, her black and pink Juicy Couture purse
turned up — with her underwear and San Jose Sharks jersey folded neatly
inside.

So far officials have scoured the area within a 12-mile radius of
Sierra's home in this wide valley, dotted with farms, tract homes,
reservoirs and percolation ponds. Meanwhile, they have stationed a
liaison at the elementary school to collect leads from what Santa Clara
County Sheriff's Sgt. Jose Cardoza called "an outstanding community
effort."

Organized by the KlaasKids Foundation for Children, the effort to find
Sierra has involved more than 2,000 volunteers since Tuesday alone,
eclipsing any previous search campaign, said Marc Klaas, who founded the
group after his daughter Polly was kidnapped and murdered in 1993.

"It kind of takes a village," said Sandy Knight of Campbell, near San
Jose, who joined her husband, Gary, on his second straight day of
searching.

Also there Friday was Michael Le. His sister, Hayward nursing student
Michelle Le, was missing for months before her body was found last year.
She had been slain.

Then there was 20-year-old Midsi Sanchez of Vallejo, north of Oakland,
who escaped from her kidnapper at age 8 after a two-day ordeal. And Pat
Boyd, a retired police officer from Gilroy whose 28-year-old daughter
was killed after disappearing from a Sacramento casino.

"If the grass is high, get close — close enough to see a necklace," the
gray-haired Boyd instructed volunteers. Sierra is petite, he reminded
the searchers, while urging them to look out for clothing or the colored
rubber bracelets teens like to wear.

"I want you to search," Boyd said, "like she was your own family member."

The 5-foot, 2-inch Sierra was last seen by her mother, who had gone off
to work about 6 a.m. Marlene LaMar didn't learn that her daughter was
missing until 12 hours later, when she got an automated message from
Sobrato High School that said Sierra had been absent.

Officials said the teenager never made it to the bus stop.

"She's either the victim of an abduction or she voluntarily left the house and … is being held against her will," Cardoza said.

Boyd and a group of volunteers headed out early Friday to search a
weedy vacant lot surrounded by dilapidated wood fencing. Among the group
was Pamela Guerra, who grew up in Morgan Hill and now lives in Gilroy,
not far south. She too has a 15-year-old daughter.

"She's out there," Guerra said of Sierra. "We don't know if she's alive, but …her parents need some closure."

Guerra took a stick and poked the tangled grass as the group fanned out
at arm's length to span the field. She and a friend, who both work for
the Santa Clara County Department of Child Support Services, took the
day off to help. So did Patty Keith, a Morgan Hill office manager who
couldn't stop thinking about her own children, ages 5 and 8.

"If anything were to happen to them, God forbid, I would expect the
world to stop," she said. "This just hits too close to home. "

In the field, they found a blue latex glove. An old rope. Spare bits of duct tape. A long shoelace. The day wore on

Keith carefully tagged and noted each discovery.

Back at the school, Michael Le led a debriefing. The UC Berkeley senior
said he had dedicated his spring break to the search for Sierra.

"I know it's really long and tiring out there, but I appreciate you
going through it," Le told the volunteers. "Every single one of you who
comes out improves our chances of finding Sierra. And more than that, it
provides so much comfort to the family."

Sierra's father, 47-year-old Steve LaMar of Fremont, took it all in
with bewildered appreciation. Sierra had lived with him in the city
south of Oakland until moving to Morgan Hill to be with her mother in
October. She called him the night before she disappeared, asking him to
make an appointment to get her hair dyed.

"The support we're getting from the entire Bay Area, it's been
incredible," LaMar said."It helps us cope…. We love her. We're going to
find her, and she's going to come home. "
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-missing-20120331,0,6630459.story