Published in the Sept. 30 – Oct. 13, 2015 issue of Morgan Hill Life
More than four years after Sierra LaMar disappeared, the man accused by the Santa Clara County District Attorney of kidnapping and murdering the Morgan Hill teenage girl will undergo the process of justice in court.
Judge Thang Nguyen Barrett set a trial date of April 25 in the San Jose Hall of Justice for Antolin Garcia-Torres who has been in Santa Clara County Jail without bail since he was arrested in May 2012.
If convicted of the crime of murdering Sierra, the Morgan Hill resident could face the death penalty.
Garcia-Torres pleaded not guilty in February 2014 to the charges. The district attorney believes Garcia-Torres abducted Sierra and killed her on the morning of March 16, 2012, when the 15-year-old Sobrato High School student was walking to her school bus stop at the intersection of Dougherty and Palm avenues north of Morgan Hill. DNA material on Sierra’s clothing (which were found in a nearby field) and in Garcia-Torres’s 1998 VW Jetta provided evidence of his involvement in her disappearance.
The DA has also charged him with three attempted carjackings and assaults on women in the parking lots of two Morgan Hill Safeway supermarket stores in 2009. These are unrelated to the LaMar case.
What we find remarkable is, despite the pain and anger that many people in our community feel about losing a child, Sierra’s disappearance has brought hundreds of people together and helped them to become better human beings. Initially when the search for her began, more than 750 people turned up at the search center. They came from not just Morgan Hill and Gilroy but throughout the Bay Area. Some came from as far away as San Diego and a few from other states.
Many of the searchers continued the quest for her remains until the effort was officially closed March 14, 2015. According to some of the search organizers, it was the longest continuous search for an individual in U.S. history. The volunteers had undergone more than 1,130 searches in a 15-mile radius from the site of Sierra’s home — for a combined 50,000 man hours of search time. They faced hot summer days, and rainy, cold winter days, scanning local woods, ravines and thickets for any clue that might help find her. Many of them got poison oak rashes or bee stings as they tramped through tall weeds or under brush.
Those who could not participate in the actual search found other ways to help. Among them were the “kitchen ladies” who cooked breakfast and lunch for the searchers. A family atmosphere was created in the search, one that helped many people to heal from personal losses in their own lives. Among them was Trudy Parks, whose son died of suicide and was missing for a short period of time.
We’ll remember Sierra LaMar as a vibrant young woman who loved people and lived her life to the fullest. She loved to sign and dance, sometimes imitating female rap artists.
She was also an accomplished performer at Yoko’s Dance Studio in Fremont, which helped her as a cheerleader at Sobrato.
On the week of her disappearance, Sierra was planning to write an essay about suicide and depression for one of her classes. A friend was going through a trying time and she wanted to express thoughts about sadness we all at times feel.
No doubt, unpleasant emotions will come during the trial of Garcia-Torres. People who attended previous court hearings said his facial expressions were “angry” and “disturbing” as he glared at them and the media cameras.
But we must remember that in the United States, according to the Constitution, everyone has a right to a fair trial according to the standards of law.
If the DA has put together a solid case based on evidence, then we hope justice will be served next year through the trial of Garcia-Torres. It’s a time for closure in this case and a time to move forward and remember Sierra LaMar and the promise of her young life.
