Deceased/Not Found CA - Sierra LaMar, 15, Morgan Hill, 16 March 2012 #9 *A. Garcia-Torres guilty*

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Statistically, a teen is far more likely to die in their mother's car than to be a victim of crime during a walk of a couple blocks - especially in a rural area. Just sayin'.


:moo: Now that is interesting ... I am not familiar with the statistics regarding automobile accidents involving the death of a teen ...

But do you have a link for this statistic ? TIA !

BBM: JMO ... but IF Sierra was NOT a victim of a crime when she was walking a few blocks from her home to her bus stop ... THEN ...

According to statistics, it had to be someone "close" to her ... <modsnip>...

:moo::moo::moo:
 
Yes she perhaps could have found out if she followed through. (meaning Marlene) but I don't see she was negligent in any form when it came to her reactions and how she was advised and when she was advised. I think she reacted as most of us would. In hindsight we can all say we could do something different to change a bad situation. But we cannot watch our kids 24/7. We do the best we can. There are tons of latchkey kids, kids who walk to school and nothing happens. I am not saying we should not watch our children. I am just saying, when it comes to what has been made public about this mom, I feel she did nothing out of the ordinary that showed negligence of a fifteen year old girl. IMHO

The intersection where Sierra stood to catch the bus is a main thoroughfare for commuters on Palm Ave. For a 7 mile stretch on Santa Teresa Blvd and Monterey Road, there are only 3 short streets that run between these main roads. Thus, Palm is a busy street.

It was still dark for most of those 5 months that Sierra walked to the bustop. The sun would come up at 7:15am until March 11, daylight saving time change.

Personally, I would not let my child walk to the bus stop or stand there by themselves. (I know, for part of that time, there was another child at the bus stop until January or so?)

It only takes one perp, one time, one child, and sadly, it was Sierra that morning.
 
:moo:

Let me see if I can express what I previously posted a little more clearer :

You have a child/teenage student who has to walk a few blocks down the road from the house to catch the school bus -- keep in mind, NO ONE is walking with the student as in Sierra's case -- she is ALONE going to her bus stop.

The parent LEAVES the home BEFORE the student leaves the home and walks to the school bus stop to take her to school.

So parent goes to work ... in the meantime, the student is heading to the school bus stop a few blocks DOWN THE ROAD from the home and student walks there ALONE !

Any parent who is concerned about their child's SAFETY would check and make sure their child got to school safely -- especially when they walk alone to the school bus!

This is NOT about "skipping school" ... or "cutting classes" ...

This is plain and simple "common sense" in the DANGEROUS "day and age" we live in !

:moo::moo::moo:

There are many many children that fit that same situation. I doubt parents are checking on 15 year olds or older to see if they arrived at school unless their child is prone to skip school.

It isnt as dangerous as it is made out to be. Most all children are very safe going back and forth to school whether they catch the bus up the road from their home or not.

Way more children are killed in vehicle accidents than from being abducted from in front of their home on the way to a school bus stop.

That is like trying to blame the parents for what the sickening evil abductor did when they were the ones lurking in an a neighborhood when no one was aware they were there.

Children can be abducted at the mall yet the parents still let them go or school or walking from or to school. In fact more are abducted in those areas than rural areas. They are abducted from a myriad of places. Nabbed right off the street or in a parking lot.

IMO
 
I've been reading since Sierra's first thread but haven't posted yet - lots of good information and many good sleuthers, for which I'm grateful.

Just wanted to weigh in on one thing - I'm a high school teacher and my school system also has the Parent Assist Module that allows parents to view grades and absences, although it doesn't send out automated messages. A parent can log on and see that their child has a 93 in my class and 4 absences, but I don't *think* it tells them which specific days a child is absent, so the only way a parent could tell if it's that specific day is to know how many absences they already had and notice the change in number. Fewer than half of the parents at my school (an affluent, very involved community, so a fairly informed parent population) use the system, and it's not reliable at all. On any given day, I guarantee you that a few teachers get preoccupied and forget to turn in attendance within the first five minutes of class, or a kid goes to Guidance between classes and gets to class 15 minutes late, or a teacher counts a kid absent by mistake, or... you get the picture. If our system notified parents right away every time a kid was marked absent or attendance wasn't turned in quickly enough (and I'd be curious to know if Sierra's school required attendance within 15 minutes of class starting before notifying parents, etc.), it would make parents CRAZY with the sheer volume of notifications. I'm not saying it's OK for teachers to be negligent about this kind of stuff, but I'd bet my salary that the forgetfulness isn't limited to just the faculty of my school.
 
Sightings of Missing Teen Reported Over One Thousand Miles from LaMar Home

&#8220;The tips and leads continue to come in that's something that our team of detectives follows up on every day, including weekends,&#8221; Cardoza said. &#8220;We could get a tip today or tomorrow that could point us in the right direction and that could change the focus of the investigation, but for now it's just tips and leads.&#8221;

http://gilroy.patch.com/articles/si...orted-over-one-thousand-miles-from-lamar-home
 
The intersection where Sierra stood to catch the bus is a main thoroughfare for commuters on Palm Ave. For a 7 mile stretch on Santa Teresa Blvd and Monterey Road, there are only 3 short streets that run between these main roads. Thus, Palm is a busy street.

It was still dark for most of those 5 months that Sierra walked to the bustop. The sun would come up at 7:15am until March 11, daylight saving time change.

Personally, I would not let my child walk to the bus stop or stand there by themselves. (I know, for part of that time, there was another child at the bus stop until January or so?)

It only takes one perp, one time, one child, and sadly, it was Sierra that morning.

I get what you are saying, I do.

But at this point, we are not sure whether she was abducted by a stranger, or went willingly (at least initially) with someone she knew.

Matter of fact, we're not even sure she got past the end of her own driveway.
 
IMO,

Sierra is not in kindergarden. If there have been no issues with skipping school there is no need for her mom to call the school or go online everyday to make sure she has shown up. And not checking with the school every morning in no way makes her mother not concerned about Sierra's safety. And it doesn't mean she doesn't have any "common sense".

Again, My own opinion!


:moo:

I agree that Sierra is not in kindegarten ... but she is a MINOR ... she may be a 15 year old "teenager" ... but she is still a "minor" under the law ...

And JMO ... but teenagers -- especially today -- need to be watched and monitored carefully ...

BBM: We do not know IF there were any school issues as there has been no verified reports on whether or not there were any school issues ...

:moo::moo::moo:
 
If Marlene would have found out at 10 am she would have probably started looking for Sierra on her own. Even if she had contacted LE earlier chances are they would not have acted any quicker as they typically don't with teenagers considering they skip school. LE a lot of times will only file a report and do nothing until 24-48 hours has passed. I think LE did a great job by taking this seriously as quickly as they did.

And even IF they did start looking for her by 10 am, chances are the perp was already hunkered down somewhere or very far away already. There are so many freeways and highways and back roads all through that immediate area.
They would not have known where to look first.
 
Why?

Millions of kids catch the bus in remote rural areas all across the country and countless ones catch the bus alone at a particular stop and make it to school safe and sound.

Sierra has had no problems arriving safely for almost 6 months. Why would Marlene think this day would be any different?

imo

It's also possible that Marlene did not have access to the internet while at work. Many people have jobs that don't use computers, or it's only on a company network, not the internet.
 
Missing teen Sierra LaMar: Reservoir search to expand this week

Cardoza said Monday that dives into the Chesbro Reservoir and the Uvas Reservoir last week, both within a few miles of Sierra&#8217;s home, turned up &#8220;nothing related to the case.&#8221; Cardoza said Monday that authorities will begin some &#8220;pre-operation type work&#8221; to prepare for dives later this week into the Calero and Anderson reservoirs.

Those two reservoir are located from five to 10 miles from the home, and Cardoza said they are the only two remaining in the county.

&#8220;It&#8217;s just to be as thorough as possible,&#8221; Cardoza said. &#8220;The investigators just want to be sure.&#8221;

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2012/04/missing-teen-sierra-lamar.html
 
I never checked on my daughter's school attendance until the day came that she gave me reason to check. I checked twice a day after that, mid-morning and again after lunch. Daughter hated me for it but so what. Checking gave me peace of mind and her knowing I was checking made her hesitant to do what she had done that day that was a game changer. But my point is, I never checked until I needed to. I will admit that she could have been missing or murdered had things gone differently on game-changer day. And I will also admit that that possibility stayed with me all through her remaining high school days.

School personnel got to thinking of me as a pest because I called twice a day. But again, so what.
 
I get what you are saying, I do.

But at this point, we are not sure whether she was abducted by a stranger, or went willingly (at least initially) with someone she knew.

Matter of fact, we're not even sure she got past the end of her own driveway.

I agree, we don't know what happened. I was trying to give a locals perspective on how busy Palm Ave gets during commute time even though she lives in a rural areal. Commuters are coming from all areas and neighborhoods and these commuters from all over could potentially drive down Palm.
 
dog.gone.cute I couldn't agree more with you about this issue.. Some may say that Sierra was 15 and plenty old enough to not have to be watched over with this type of check in with mom.. I say no way, Jose is it too much to ask, too overbearing, or overly protective.. Not in the very least..

My son is almost 1 year younger than Sierra he's 14, halfway to 15 yrs old and is in his last year of middle school.. We live literally 200+ yards away from the front door of his middle school.. So extremely close that he is not even eligible to ride the bus.. Literally 2 football fields away from the entrance door, tho due to the fact that there is about a 90* left turn between our house and the school I cannot however visually see him make it the full distance onto school property and through that front entrance.. He walks nearly EVERY SINGLE DAY OF THE SCHOOL YEAR(in Memphis so our winters are mild) this is his preference.. The only time he does not walk to/from school is of course on days that it's raining(and honestly even sometimes on those days he calls and says don't come pick me up we're all walking home in the rain..lol.. Go figure it's three boys..lol).. There are two other boys that live on our street that he walks along with to/from school every day..

And let me say that even so we are so craZily close in distance from our house to the front door of the school.. And even so he's almost 15 and about to start highschool.. And even so he is walking this extremely short distance accompanied by 2 other 14yr old fully capable boys.. Even so all of that my son IS REQUIRED TO TEXT MESSAGE ME THE MOMENT HE IS AT THE FRONT ENTRANCE THAT IS FULLY STAFFED, along with off duty sheriffs deputy, and two crossing guards.. This is not an option and he is well aware of its importance from learning there would be consequences if he chose to not be diligent in making certain to do this without fail EVERY SINGLE DAY OF THE SCHOOL YEAR(he forgot twice at the beginning of the year and lost his privilege to walk to school and use of his phone for a week)..and so that's exactly what he does without fail everyday, Mon-Fri..

With the same being true on his way back home after school in that he is to text message me the moment he's out the front entrance before he walks over the cross walk to let me know they're on their way home..3 mins later he's walking through my front door..

I do not want my child to have to suffer because of the evil all around us and I have found for me personally I feel as tho he is still being allowed to be a kid who likes walking to school with his buddies..but that we have a system in place that would allow me to know within 5 minutes of my son leaving home if something were to have happened to him such as being abducted.. If I've not heard from him in 5-6mins I call his phone.. When he didn't answer that one time early on that I mentioned he'd forgotten.. Within 5mins of my last having seen my son I was on the phone with the front office having them check to make sure he had made it to school.. And he had but with school rules being that once in school his phone is to be kept on silent not only did he forget to text me that morning, but when I called his phone I of course got no answer due to the ringer being off..

Now you factor in the setting and situation of Sierra's walk to the bus each morning with the area being extremely rural, her not accompanied by anyone, but rather walking all alone, a much much much further distance than the couple hundred yards my son walks, and on top of it all once arriving at the bus stop she is STILL COMPLETELY ALL ALONE IN A QUITE REMOTE AREA.. It is my opinion only that for there not to have been some type of check in with mom, dad, Rick, anybody for that matter.. Just to have her check in with somebody the moment her butt hit the seat of that school bus to let it be known she's safe and sound.. I just cannot personally fathom how I as her mom would be able to go throughout my day not having a clue if she made it on the bus that day.. And not just an abduction but my God a dog attack, her trip and fall and break an ankle..or hell had a severe asthma attack.. Lose consciousness.. And be alone at the house and never even was able to get to the bus stop.. No one would even find her til that evening when mom or Rick returned.. IMO too much to risk to not have a check in policy in place..

But all in all these are nothing more than jmo, tho!!


Still posting via mobile so plz forgive the large number of errors in my posts;)


:rocker: Excellent Points, Smooth ! :rocker:

:moo:
 
:moo: Now that is interesting ... I am not familiar with the statistics regarding automobile accidents involving the death of a teen ...

But do you have a link for this statistic ? TIA !

BBM: JMO ... but IF Sierra was NOT a victim of a crime when she was walking a few blocks from her home to her bus stop ... THEN ...

According to statistics, it had to be someone "close" to her ... like family ...

:moo::moo::moo:

I have to get a few hours of sleep in before work, so I don't have time to find links that are up to my usual standards, but here is one that gives an overview on the top ten teen causes of death:
http://www.lovetoknow.com/top10/causes-of-teen-death.html

I'll have to make some time & use some mad google-ninja skillz to figure out how to come up with odds on the specific scenario I outlined, if you still wish me to.
 
:moo: Now that is interesting ... I am not familiar with the statistics regarding automobile accidents involving the death of a teen ...

But do you have a link for this statistic ? TIA !

BBM: JMO ... but IF Sierra was NOT a victim of a crime when she was walking a few blocks from her home to her bus stop ... THEN ...

According to statistics, it had to be someone "close" to her ... like family ...

:moo::moo::moo:

http://www.cdc.gov/Motorvehiclesafety/Teen_Drivers/teendrivers_factsheet.html

Top cause of death for teens has been car accidents for a while...FWIW
 
I never checked on my daughter's school attendance until the day came that she gave me reason to check. I checked twice a day after that, mid-morning and again after lunch. Daughter hated me for it but so what. Checking gave me peace of mind and her knowing I was checking made her hesitant to do what she had done that day that was a game changer. But my point is, I never checked until I needed to. I will admit that she could have been missing or murdered had things gone differently on game-changer day. And I will also admit that that possibility stayed with me all through her remaining high school days.

School personnel got to thinking of me as a pest because I called twice a day. But again, so what.


:seeya: You did the "right" thing ... :rocker:

I think it is much better to be a "pest" and SAFE than "sorry" ...

:moo:
 
I see where you are going with this line of thinking.... I may be alone in my beliefs ,but I think the families owe the public NO explanations. As long as they are forthcoming and cooperate fully with LE, they should not have to be cross examined by the public in giving interviews. They are in the midst of a life changing event .

As far as Clint is concerned , perhaps LE already felt he did state clearly what he saw, and were satisfied with his answers. It became a nightmare when he and his family began being interviewed by various media outlets. I have always believed there are things about that day we the public are not and should not be privy too. Confusion sets in when normal people are asked by LE to withhold information that may damage the investigation. Without these key pieces their story will NEVER make complete sense. This in turn invites suspicion.

MOO-----Don't do interviews, leave that to the professionals. It only muddies the waters.....but that's just me.:moo:


What are we doing here?
LE isn't going to give info in some cases.
The media can say pretty much whatever it wants and get
facts turned around and disagree with other reporters info
on the same station, newspaper, etc. Let alone their competition.
So misinfo abounds.

Unfortunately more often than not, family is a factor in disappearances.
They are not going to be suspiciuos of other family members.
Often they are too distraught to think clearly about what
their info may be pointing to. In denial, in other words.

If they have nothing to hide, what's the problem?
More information is always better than less.
Sometimes there are families who give lots of info and LE, too.
And it doesn't lead to the missing person.
Sometimes there are families who clam up and say nothing, likewise
LE. And it doesn't lead to the missing either.
What do you suggest as an alternative?
 
Statistically, a teen is far more likely to die in their mother's car than to be a victim of crime during a walk of a couple blocks - especially in a rural area. Just sayin'.

Yep, those pesky statistics again. :floorlaugh: But I agree. Also, there is such a thing as paranoia, which tends to embarass most teenagers. I can just picture a mom calling the school every day at a certain time to ask if their child made it to school that morning. (Some schools may not have that automated call system or the website to check attendance.) And word gets around to other teens, and pretty soon she is laughed at and teased.
"Mooooom... you are embarrasing me. PLEASE stop calling the school every single day!!!"
Not to mention that a lot of moms work, and simply don't have time to check up on their child's attendance every morning, and as I mentioned earlier, no computer access at work. It's just not practical to expect parents to do this, IMO.
 
You know, I really don't see how second guessing & character assassinating a crime victim (Sierra's mom is a victim until LE tells us otherwise) just because they are a parent should in any way be a part of discussions on a victim-friendly forum. I keep seeing this happen, and as a parent it hurts for me to see them re-victimized by 'shoulda coulda woulda' attacks.

Sorry if this comes across as too harsh, and Mods, if it is inappropriate please delete it and admonish me.

I completely understand where you are coming from, hindsight is 20/20, and no matter what our opinion is about who, what when or why, we have a 15 year old girl that is missing, and that is so heartbreaking!
 
The information is from the Morgan Hill Times News article, I posted and came directly from the superintendent.

http://www.morganhilltimes.com/news...cle_3b606aa4-7d3b-11e1-a833-001a4bcf6878.html

Morgan Hill Times
Posted: Monday, April 2, 2012 8:15 pm | Updated: 8:52 pm, Mon Apr 2, 2012.

Teen’s disappearance opens questions about district’s notification system

"MHUSD has two systems currently in place to notify parents of an absence at the high school level: an automated voice call that goes out about 6 p.m. and a system called the Home Access Center."

"The Home Access Center is a website where parents can log on online and see in real-time if they're child did or did not show up to a class that day. They can see, for example, if their child cut class during fifth period, or check on their grades. The system can also notify them by email in real-time."

The link you keep posting doesn't take me to what you " ". Did you c/p that from something else?

The link just takes me to a "comment" section. ?????
 
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