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Tuesday, June 18, 2013 | 5:42 p.m.

Posted: 6:52 a.m. Thursday, May 31, 2012

Garcia-Torres delays entering plea again in Sierra LaMar case

sierra lamar suspect garcia-torres court 0524
KTVU.com Staff
sierra lamar suspect garcia-torres court 0524

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By KTVU.com and wires

SAN JOSE, Calif. —

The man accused in the disappearance of missing 15-year-old Morgan Hill girl Sierra LaMar made his second court appearance Thursday, but he did not enter a plea.  

Antolin Garcia-Torres was charged with the murder and kidnapping in LaMar last week. He appeared briefly with an attorney in Santa Clara County Superior Court and was ordered back in court on July 10.

The 21-year-old former Safeway clerk accused of kidnapping and killing LaMar asked the judge for a delay in his arraignment during his first court appearance one week ago.

The judge ordered him to be held without bail.

District Attorney Jeff Rosen said after the hearing that Garcia-Torres is eligible for the death penalty, but that his office hasn't yet decided whether to pursue capital punishment.

"My office and law enforcement, aided by many volunteers in this county, continue to devote all available resources to finding her body," Rosen said of 15-year-old Sierra.

"We hope that will happen soon to give her family some measure of peace," he said.

A probable cause statement from the sheriff's office that was released by the district attorney's office last week provided more details about the morning of Sierra's disappearance.

Sierra woke up at 6 a.m. on March 16 and began getting ready for school. Her mother's boyfriend had left for work, and her mother left a short time later, according to the document.

Sierra posted a photo of herself on a social media website at 7 a.m., and text-messaged a classmate at 7:11 a.m. to make plans to meet at school that day to compare their schoolwork and share makeup, according to the statement.

She typically left home by 7:15 a.m. and caught the bus to school at an unmarked bus stop several blocks from her house at 7:24 a.m., according to the document. However, she never made it to school that day.

Her cellphone was found the next day in a field within a mile of her home, and two days after her disappearance, her black-and-white Juicy-brand purse was found near a shed in a field less than 2 miles from her house. The purse contained schoolbooks, clothing and other items.

DNA collected from the clothing was found to have a "strong association" to that of Antolin Garcia-Torres, who lived 7 miles from Sierra's home, according to the statement.

Sierra's body has yet to be found and there's no murder weapon. Yet the district attorney's office says it has enough evidence to go to trial.

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