Family, friends seek closure as jury selection begins in Sierra LaMar's murder case
MORGAN HILL, Calif. (KTVU) - It’s arguably the most high-profile criminal case in Santa Clara County; one the district attorney has called his top priority. Now, after four and a half years since an arrest, the first day of jury selection begins this week in the case of missing Morgan Hill teen Sierra LaMar vanished on her way to school back in 2012.
Prosecutors have charged Antolin Garcia Torres for murder despite Sierra’s body never being found. The capital case has seen multiple delays with changes in judges and defense attorneys.
We spoke to Sierra’s family, best friend and volunteer searchers who have been waiting for this day. Also, a father who knows their agony far too well.
In southern Santa Clara County lies the small town of Morgan Hill, population 41,000. Known as a suburb for Silicon Valley, it’s also a rural part of town.
Tucked in the farm land at the intersection of Palm and Doughtery Avenues pink ribbons still cling to poles, tattered but still intact. They symbolize the search for Sierra
"There's a sadness here that you feel, that you can't help but feel as you drive by,” says Roger Nelson a volunteer search coordinator.
The spot marks where the 15-year-old girl would catch the school bus. But on March 16, 2012 she never made it. A desperate search for the girl followed. A lingering feeling remains, full of questions. Hundreds of people went looking for her. There was no sight of Sierra except authorities found her cell phone and then her bag. It was tossed in a field two miles from the bus stop.
The majority of searchers never met Sierra.
“There’s been over 1,150 searches, over 55,000 person hours involved in this from the beginning,” Nelson says.
“I just put myself in their shoes. It’s a horrible feeling. No parent should have to go through that feeling,” says Renee Figueira.
This group, among the original searchers, come from different walks of life, yet they’re united and motivated to find the Sobrato High School sophomore with a smile as big as her glowing personality.
Her best friend Channah Foreman, a year older than Sierra, is now graduating college. She keeps a keychain of a red shoe with her to remember Sierra
"The hardest part is knowing you can't wake up and call her and say, ‘Hey what are you doing? You want to hang out? Oh you're 21 now...let's finally experience all these first things.’ The hardest part is she won't be able to experience all these firsts we got to experience,” says Foreman.
Two months after Sierra went missing, authorities arrested then 21-year-old Antolin Garcia-Torres, calling it a stranger abduction. Investigators pointed to his DNA on Sierra’s clothing in her bag. Her DNA was found in his red Volkswagen Jetta. Garcia-Torres has pleaded not guilty.
Sierra’s father Steve saw Garcia-Torres for the first time in August for a preliminary hearing.
“It’s kind of grief, overwhelming grief along with being in limbo,” her father says.
The most difficult part for him were grand jury transcripts where prosecutors reveal Sierra’s hair was found on rope in the trunk of Garcia-Torres’ car and markings on Sierra’s clothes that indicate she had been dragged.
Steve Lamar says he has a hard time looking at Garcia-Torres in court.
“I just focus on what’s happening in the courtroom. I don’t look over there very often,” he says.
Recently though, he says he has been able to watch home videos of Sierra, even though he may never know what happened to her.
“I’ve come to terms with maybe I will never know that, but I’m still trying to find out,” says Lamar.
Marc Klaas’ 12-year-old daughter Polly was kidnapped from her Petaluma home in 1993 and killed by a stranger Richard Allen Davis who confessed to the crime.
"It's so sad it's horrible he would come to that. He would have to conclude that, but he's absolutely right. Steve and I belong to a club no one wants to belong to,” says Klaas who founded KlaasKids Foundation.
Klaas’ daughter’s case took three years to go to trial with a change of venue.
"Am i shocked by the glacial pace of the criminal justice system? No. I think it's pretty obvious we have a broken criminal justice system,” says Klaas.
A justice system that he says plays to the defendant. He expects defense attorneys will try and discredit Sierra as well as examine Garcia-Torres’ mental state. The one big difference between the two cases is that Polly Klaas’ body was found two months after she disappeared.
A committed group of a dozen volunteers meet once a month to search for Sierra. All of them are searching for answers.
“I hope he finally says something. That’s all we want is closure,” Foreman says referring to Garcia-Torres.
As for Sierra’s father Steve, his hope is for justice, although he says he lost a part of himself the day Sierra was taken.
“It’s never full closure. It will only be helpful answers,” he says.
Prosecutors have also charged Garcia-Torres with attempting to kidnap three other women in Morgan Hill prior to Sierra.
Sierra’s family says if he is found guilty, they want the death penalty and that the penalty fits the crime. Jury selection begins two days from what would have been Sierra’s 20th birthday.