Deceased/Not Found CA - Sierra LaMar, 15, Morgan Hill, 16 March 2012 #17 *A. Garcia-Torres guilty*

BeginnersLuck said:

Oh I agree and it is probably a common reaction for family to do this. His mother seems to be totally distraught by this and from her interview at least she is being honest about her feelings. She even states that she doesn't believe he would do this (what mother would want to admit that) but she can't be 100% sure because she was not there.

OMG, one son just died, the father is in jail for a sexual offense, now this!!!! Bam!! I can't even imagine! The best thing the family can do is be completely cooperative with LE if they truely believe he is innocent. If they make up lies and give false statements, this is telling to me that they have their doubts deep down inside. They are pulling at strings with the defense that he was framed by LE. Now what LE is going to frame someone when they think a child killer is on the streets? The family and AGT don't have any knowledge of DNA and forensic evidence, which is understandable, most people don't.

It would be interesting to know after he committed this crime, if he came home and had scratches on him, what shape his cloths were in and if the car was filthy. Of course he could just explain all of this as being due to him fishing. What vehicle did he drive the next day? They have said all along that those were Sierras cloths in the juicy bag but if they hadn't made that statement, I would be speculating that maybe they were his.

I would like to know how long AGT's father has been in jail as the way it is stated in the media he hasn't been convicted yet. I would be nice to verify this so that we can eliminate him from having anything to do with Sierra.

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GrainneDhu said:

Keep in mind that out of the cases that go to trial, the prosecution wins 90+%. So the odds are against the defence from the beginning.

Personally, I admire and support fully the work of defence attorneys. Without strong, aggressive defence attorneys, we would live in a virtual police state. They are the guardians of the system, as much as the prosecutors are.

To me, living in a (relatively) free society has value, it has worth. But in every situation, there is always a trade off. In this case, the trade off to living in a society where only 5% of the people convicted and in prison today are actually innocent is that a few guilty defendants will go free.

Sure, as a society we could tighten down the system to ensure even more convictions. The trade off for that, though, would be that we'd have to be willing to accept even more falsely convicted prisoners.

As it is, I'm really uncomfortable with the thought that 1 in 20 prisoners is actually innocent of what they were convicted of. It's easy to look at the stats because I'm not one of those innocent prisoners. I'm absolutely certain that if I were one of those 5%, I would find cold comfort in the idea that I was an acceptable price to pay in a system that balances the rights of the citizen against the powers of the state.

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PinkiGreen said:

Sierra's home is the one at the end of the Ct with the pool, correct?

He was driving to work DIRECTLY behind her house? Maybe he saw her out by her pool one day? JMO

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katydid23 said:

Apparently, there is some confusion surrounding those charges. ATG is only a year and a half older than his gf, so even though she was under age, he would not have been charged with statutory. Someone posted upthread that the victim was someone else, who was a friend of his little sisters. I am not sure if that has been verified, however.

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Lava said:

What I find interesting is that most likely her parents pressed for the charges right? I wonder if they have some real things to say about him.

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Cottontop said:

This is off subject, but I guess the Tennant Avenue Safeway in Morgan Hill has been having a bit of an uproar by customers. They are coming in and complaining about Safeway's hiring practices and lack of background checks. I guess they are losing a lot of business.

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Eclipse33 said:

"His father is in jail, suspected of sexual abuse. His brother died of alcoholism. Antolin Garcia Torres was considered to be the good son, the one who was fiercely protective of his family, the one trying to work his way out of the cramped trailer in Morgan Hill he shared with four others, including his pregnant wife and toddler daughter." (See link below)

http://www.mercurynews.com/sierra-l...ered-sierra-lamar-suspect-good-son?source=rss

My apologies if this has already been posted. I still haven't found the father's name, but think it's interesting that he is accused of sexual abuse...hmmm....AND AGT was considered the good son! Guess they were off just a bit!

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thevineyarder said:

I was thinking the same thing. I'm not sure if he took that route but on google maps, there is a road directly behind Sierra's house where one could have a clear view of the back of her house and swimming pool. He may have seen her out by her pool one day and returned on a week day early in the morning when he knew she would be going to school to see if she took the bus or not. When he learned that she did, he realized this would be the perfect girl to abduct given her long walk from her home to the bus stop.

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BeginnersLuck said:

You made a good point there about the cell pings. I don't think he was knowledgable about what LE can do with forensics so I doubt he covered his bases there.

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mamamia54 said:

I thought that possible until I went down there to the road, Monterey I think it is, and there are what looks like railroad tracks directly behind the fenceline of her home. The trees are there, and the pool can't be seen from the highway. At least on my google earth, unless it looks different now?

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thevineyarder said:

Also, something interesting I just thought of that was mentioned by a few others is that a few weeks before Sierra was kidnapped, she made a tweet about some guy driving by and harassing her. This happened a few times and the 2nd or 3rd time it seemed to really set her off. I wonder if this was Antolin...I hate to generalize but a lot of hispanic men tend to be very bold and have no problem hollering at girls to get their attention, but i'm sure this is also the case for many young men regardless of race. I wonder if Sierra yelled at him or flipped him off and this pushed him over the edge? Not implying that this was his reason for kidnapping/murdering, just something that may have happened.

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Hisimage said:

I just read on a news website, in the comments section of this story , that when he was arrested at safeway a friend of Sierras happend to be there. Has any body heard this?
Can I post a link to the news story? Perhaps this is why they arrested him, he was stalking her? that has been my thought on their reason to arrest him then and there.

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GrainneDhu said:

In families of alcoholics, the children often take on roles, such as the hero child, the black sheep, the comedian and the good kid. Those roles are how each child is viewed within the family system but outsiders often see a very different picture.

For instance, in my ex's family, I was confused for years because the "black sheep" brother seemed to me to be doing pretty darn well. He'd risen from an entry level position to management of several facilities in record time, he was living frugally and did things like buy his cars with cash rather than loans, he had a stable longterm relationship with a really nice woman, etc.

But to hear his own family talk about him, he was one step away from jail and about to step on a banana peel! He'd never been in legal trouble but they all predicted it was just a matter of time. The sad looks, the shaking of heads, the squeamish refusal to even mention his name on important occasions... you'd think he was an axe murderer.

I know that the dynamics of alcoholism vary from culture to culture but since the family lived in the US for at least several years, I suspect that some of those dynamics common to USAn families of alcoholics may have come into play.

AGT had the role of "good son."

And now that his character is being questioned, it is likely to shake up the whole family. They're likely to feel profoundly threatened and to want to defend him as a means of easing their own feeling of being under threat.

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willow1 said:

Are their screen shots of those tweets anywhere? I looked but didn't see them.

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