Deceased/Not Found CA - Sierra LaMar, 15, Morgan Hill, 16 March 2012 #18 *A. Garcia-Torres guilty*

Status
Not open for further replies.
I hope they can give him the max if he is found guilty, but if they can offer any kind of leniency in exchange for closure for the family I sure hope they do that, too. I'm talking maybe from death penalty to life without parole or something like that.

DP is life w/o parole here, LOL. Personally, I think Death row inmates have it better. They get a single cell.
 
]]

BBM

Hair itself does not carry DNA. The only DNA (mitochondrial and otherwise) comes in hairs that still have the hair bulb attached. These are hairs that have falled out naturally or hairs that have been plucked from the scalp.

I doubt that the braid has any hair bulbs in it because it was almost certainly cut from his mother's head. Cutting the hair shaft means leaving the hair bulb behind.

You have nuclear DNA in mind, resident in the hair bulb but I am talking about mitochondrial DNA resident in the hair shaft and quite well protected after the hair is shed. The mitochondrial DNA is present and protected by the shaft even in a cut hair.
 
If I were kidnapped and thrown in the trunk of a car, or tied up in the car, I would do everything I can to get DNA everywhere. I would vomit, pee, scratch my nails through places, rub my body everywhere...something...if you know you are going to die and you are tied up and cannot escape what do you do? I would hope I did that but FEAR can paralyze ones thinking process
 
If I were kidnapped and thrown in the trunk of a car, or tied up in the car, I would do everything I can to get DNA everywhere. I would vomit, pee, scratch my nails through places, rub my body everywhere...something...if you know you are going to die and you are tied up and cannot escape what do you do? I would hope I did that but FEAR can paralyze ones thinking process

Hoping adrenaline made the glands kick in, i.e. perspiration, saliva, etc...

Argh...WS acting up again.
 
I hope they can give him the max if he is found guilty, but if they can offer any kind of leniency in exchange for closure for the family I sure hope they do that, too. I'm talking maybe from death penalty to life without parole or something like that.

IIRC Sierra's family has stated recently that they are not at this time wanting any deals offered. They would like Sierra found but are not presently willing to deal with this perp for that. I will have to call that JMO though, until I find the article that quoted the statement.


http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/story?section=news/local/south_bay&id=8673979

"Sierra's family is hoping that Garcia-Torres tells detectives where they can find Sierra. But if not, at least at this point, the family says it is not willing to make any deals for that information."
 
Noticed in arrest reports and complaints, A.G.-T. punches. He punches even his female victims if he is the party identified to the Safeway assaults. I've always thought that there was considerable perspiration on the clothing Sierra had been wearing, later displaced to the Juicy sac. Due to the violence of the accused, I think there would be tears too. What a monster!
 
IIRC Sierra's family has stated recently that they are not at this time wanting any deals offered. They would like Sierra found but are not presently willing to deal with this perp for that. I will have to call that JMO though, until I find the article that quoted the statement.

I think this could change, that eventually they may want Sierra found badly enough, although it is not usually up to the family to make a deal as far as I know. They would be consulted, but if LE feels it is the best thing to do, they could do it anyway.

It depends, IMO, on whether and when the family accepts that Sierra is not coming back. Right now, they don't accept that. I wonder if LE has shared all of their evidence or just what they have made public.
 
I don't like to compare too much to those crimes, because they were so long ago. I have a hard time believing he has not done anything since then, so I think he just got smarter about it.

I am still open to the possibility that he is just a serial rapist and not a murderer. This *might* have been an accident, which could explain the folded clothing and careful placing of the bag. But its also possible he has just escalated in his crimes.

JMO

Well if he was just a serial rapist, I think a lot of women would have been crawling out of the wood work by now, since they have not, that we know about it seems his abductions have escalated. JMO
 
I have no problem whatsoever with a circumstantial evidence case. I believe kidnapping could be proven if LE really has videos of this car in enough situations and at the right times and if Sierra's DNA is in that vehicle, especially if any was found in the trunk.

I am at this time concerned with what evidence LE has that says Sierra has died. They claim not to have any blood evidence but blood is not the only bodily fluid that might indicate a victim has died. So, does LE have something else?

I have thought about hairs but I do not know how long a person would have to be deceased for a death band to show up on a hair. So a hair with a death band on it is possible in this case, but is certainly not a given.

It appears as though something came back from the crime lab that points to Sierra having been in that vehicle most likely alive, and possibly after death. But what would that be? It seems reasonable to assume AGT cleaned out his car after the crime, but could he possibly be so far removed mentally from his criminal deeds that he didn't even bother to do that? Not probable, IMO. But still remotely possible.

Imo, to charge so soon they have an overwhelming amount of strong circumstantial evidence and far more cases are tried with convictions based on CE than case that have only direct evidence in them.

The DA is going to lay the case out link by link. The entire puzzle may not be there. It usually isnt in any case but it will have enough of the pieces there for the jury to see that no one other than this defendant did the things the DA is accusing him of.........

I do not believe that Sierra left with this man willingly but lets say for speculation sake she did. It still would not matter one iota. At anytime if Sierra wanted to go home and was held against her will by this then that is legally kidnapping someone. And not one juror is going to believe Sierra did not want to get away from this man who had intentions of doing grave bodily harm to her.

Imo, no jury is going to believe she even went willingly with a man she did not know and his defense attorney isnt going to find any link either between the suspect and the victim. So what reasonable juror is going to think she went willingly? CE are cases where common sense and logic will be in the forefront while connecting the dots. Does it make sense Sierra would go with a strange man and is never heard from again? Or that her own clothing that she was wearing that day wound up discarded along with her other personal possessions including her medication and has the suspect's DNA on it?

Not only do they tie him to Sierra's discarded items but they put Sierra in his car. So if he did not murder her then where is Sierra? The answer is obvious, imo. He kidnapped, raped, and murdered this young pretty girl because he could. There is no other logical explanation.

If they never find Sierra's body I dont think one person will question what his true motive was in committing this heinous crime. Why would he kidnap this young girl if it was not to rape her?

I dont know if he has murdered before but there is always a first time and violent people tend to esculate their violence especially if they arent caught right away.

No longer does it take many years in a missing body case. Regular citizens are more and more aware of them and these people will become potential jurors.

We have a beautiful girl on her way to the bus stop who never made it. We know now who she was with and imo, it was by force. This very social young girl who never went a day without social communication with either her family or friends and is gone but not without a trace. LE now knows who took Sierra away from her family and friends and in what vehicle.

What did you do with Sierra's body, Torres?
 
I agree with all that you have said, oceanblueeyes. Most cases are circumstantial evidence cases, which is often the best evidence for a prosecutor to have other than videotape. And in this case it sounds like LE has both.
 
did LE talk about any pictures that were on the phone? Maybe she took a few pictures while in the car, he grabs it and throws it out the window clearly his anger took over and left critical evidence to be found. This could be the case, for we don't know. I agree, LE has something pretty damning if you ask me to charge him without a body this FAST too. Many cases they don't charge that quickly either.
 
did LE talk about any pictures that were on the phone? Maybe she took a few pictures while in the car, he grabs it and throws it out the window clearly his anger took over and left critical evidence to be found. This could be the case, for we don't know. I agree, LE has something pretty damning if you ask me to charge him without a body this FAST too. Many cases they don't charge that quickly either.

I agree, it is very quick for a case without locating the victim. However, whatever they have shown the family apparently has not convinced them, so I am hoping they have not yet shared everything with them. I know, of course, the family is likely to want to resist the worst, but if LE had shown them definitive proof, it would be less likely for them to be saying they believe she is still alive, IMO.
 
did LE talk about any pictures that were on the phone? Maybe she took a few pictures while in the car, he grabs it and throws it out the window clearly his anger took over and left critical evidence to be found. This could be the case, for we don't know. I agree, LE has something pretty damning if you ask me to charge him without a body this FAST too. Many cases they don't charge that quickly either.

Im gonna guess Torres' fingerprints/possible DNA are on Sierra's phone also.
 
Good point...that would be helpful, since it was not found near her bag.

Yes it alludes to the fact he was with her before and after she went missing. Not good for Torres. Very incriminating.
 
BBM
None of this directed at your post, SurfieTX .. just using it as a jumping off point.

FWIW I am in no way defending him, but it does bother me that many posts here do not use the above bolded word .. allegedly or alleged. He seems to have already been convicted in this forum. Isn't he innocent until such time as he is proven guilty in a court of law?

All of the above is just my opinion and am prepared for all flame throwing!

That's just it - this isn't a court of law - it's a forum - for missing persons - not a court of law. We have/can have our own opinions on what is presented by LE... :fence:
 
Im gonna guess Torres' fingerprints/possible DNA are on Sierra's phone also.

I could be thinking of something else I read but I thought in the beginning they said the phone had NOTHING on it.

So he might have been wearing gloves, at least in the beginning when he grabbed Sierra and ditched the phone.

jmo, and I could be wrong, about the phone.
 
I agree, it is very quick for a case without locating the victim. However, whatever they have shown the family apparently has not convinced them, so I am hoping they have not yet shared everything with them. I know, of course, the family is likely to want to resist the worst, but if LE had shown them definitive proof, it would be less likely for them to be saying they believe she is still alive, IMO.

I do not think LE has discussed in detail the evidence they have against the suspect.

When one of my coworkers was murdered years ago they did not tell her mother the particulars. She didnt even know until the trial that her daughter's blood had been found in the master bathroom on the walls and tub in the home.

She was also told not to comment to the media about who she thought was responsible.

The day they arrested the husband they gave R's mom a quick call and told her they were enroute to make an arrest. It took them four months to finally arrest him.

IMO
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Members online

Online statistics

Members online
106
Guests online
2,656
Total visitors
2,762

Forum statistics

Threads
590,014
Messages
17,929,004
Members
228,038
Latest member
shmoozie
Back
Top