Deceased/Not Found CA - Sierra LaMar, 15, Morgan Hill, 16 March 2012 #19 *A. Garcia-Torres guilty*

[rosesfromangels]

I keep wondering if LE may not have bothered to run DNA or fingerprints on whatever evidence they had collected until AGT was implicated in Sierra's disappearance.

As I recall, a lot of California agencies were under severe budget constraints in 2008-2009, due to the economic disaster. Running DNA tests costs money. It may be that if the sketch had brought in a good suspect, they would then have run DNA to see if it matched.

Could be wrong here, but because of all the resources LE has put against this, and because the guy is such a smug jerk....they will do what it takes to pull resources together to convict the scumball.

 

[rosesfromangels]

just thought I would drop in a see if anything has happened. Sad to say no, please already AGT just give it up and let her family have closure.

Similar to that pond scum Scott Peterson, AGT is just sitting in prison hoping Sierra doesn't appear.

 

[rosesfromangels]

No one can ever say they haven't tried their very best to find Sierra's body.

It is so hard to find a body. Many say it is like looking for a needle in a haystack and that isnt an unrealistic analogy. When the suspect had from 7:15am until 5:00pm before she was reported missing it gave him so much time to discard her anywhere.

I do believe LE has evidence showing Sierra is deceased but truthfully they may never find her remains. Carrie Culberson's mother still looks for her daughter's remains even though the suspect has been tried and convicted many years ago now.

I dont believe Torres will ever offer up where he put Sierra's remains.

I believe with all my heart that she will be found, and that he is going to be convicted to the fullest extent of the law. He is too stupid to cooperate, and he will pay dearly for that mistake.

 

[Ransom]

CODIS is collected locally, updated to the state and federal level weekly and scans are run weekly to match perps with crimes.

UR correct, if his DNA was in the system in 09 and the assaults in 09 have DNA, he shouldn't have been on the streets to abduct Sierra.

Do we have the dates for 1) When DNA was collected for the felony arrest of AGT in '09? 2) Date(s) of the attack(s) at the Safeway '09?

 

[ozazure]

Do we have the dates for 1) When DNA was collected for the felony arrest of AGT in '09? 2) Date(s) of the attack(s) at the Safeway '09?

The first two attacks were March 19th 2009
http://www.gilroydispatch.com/news/...4-69a2-5357-bb17-4c1f6e37ce8b.html?mode=story


The next was March 26th 2009
http://www.gilroydispatch.com/news/...cle_9c1ab8b5-d928-5eda-a359-aa8e93188b77.html

The incident that DNA wa staken for was May 29th 2009. Here are some documents, I quickly scan read them but didn't see anything specific to when his dna was taken
http://losaltos.patch.com/articles/...ct-court-records-reveal-06670e88#pdf-10030186

 

[weneedjustice]

Aw people really stopped talking about this case I see. Sierra is on my mind every day. I wake up googling "Sierra Lamar Update" and I don't see anything new. I hope that they find her soon. I have a feeling there is something else to the story something only Sierra knows. I think ATG isn't talking because he is afraid of someone. He doesn't look like a killer, he looks like a dumb&^% wanna be that reside in the general SJ area. He couldn't of done anything by himself.

 

[Annie1004]

Aw people really stopped talking about this case I see. Sierra is on my mind every day. I wake up googling "Sierra Lamar Update" and I don't see anything new. I hope that they find her soon. I have a feeling there is something else to the story something only Sierra knows. I think ATG isn't talking because he is afraid of someone. He doesn't look like a killer, he looks like a dumb&^% wanna be that reside in the general SJ area. He couldn't of done anything by himself.

I'm still interested, it is just that a lot of us have discussed the case thoroughly with the evidence provided by LE and our takes on what happened. With no Sierra found and the perp not talking, things are at a standstill. My feeling is that AGT isn't talking because he is positive that Sierra will not be found and there is no urgency as she is no longer with us. I have no doubt, along with LE, that he is a lone perp and there is more than enough evidence to convict him for murder with special circumstances. At this point, AGT has nothing to lose by remaining silent.

Who knows, there may be other victims hidden along with Sierra.

BTW, what DOES a murderer look like? IQs of convicted serial killers range from 60 up to 150, so intelligence is not a requirement for these monsters to be successful... until they screw up. And most do. JMO.

 

[GrainneDhu]

In support of this...http://www.rainn.org/news-room/news/rape-kit-backlog. Not specific to CA but like GrainneDhu said...

That's actually what I was thinking of!

If there are so many rape evidence kits that haven't been processed (in some states, there were hundreds of kits for which the statute of limitations had already passed!), what chance would a kit from an attempted assault have during a time of drastic budget crunch?

 

[GrainneDhu]

Could be wrong here, but because of all the resources LE has put against this, and because the guy is such a smug jerk....they will do what it takes to pull resources together to convict the scumball.

I was speculating as to the reason he hadn't been previously connected to at least one of the Safeway attacks, since his DNA (and, I assume, fingerprints) were already in CODIS. If LE has either DNA or fingerprints, they should have been able to match him 3 years ago.

I'm sure they've thrown hundreds of thousands of dollars into the investigation so far... but why wasn't he caught in 2009?

 

[melley]

Yes Sierra's case seems to have died down here on the board But trust me, it has NOT died down here where we live. The search is on and in full force. I thought I broke my leg on Sat, but now it just seems bruised and battered.

I wanted to comment about CODIS... yes if his DNA were in the system it would have gone through the auto match thing. So, I don't think they had dna from the 2009 stuff. Just my opinion. Now for my facts... our DNA match to my bro took almost 9 months. So basically they had his dna, then took ours... but they do not do direct comparison. They upload everything independently then run for matches. And it is NOT instantaneous. They get hits, then re run then an actual person does sample to sample comparisons... it takes a **** load of time in the end to allow them to say "I am 99.9999999999998% sure" It's not as simple as it might seem.

 

[ozazure]

I was speculating as to the reason he hadn't been previously connected to at least one of the Safeway attacks, since his DNA (and, I assume, fingerprints) were already in CODIS. If LE has either DNA or fingerprints, they should have been able to match him 3 years ago.

I'm sure they've thrown hundreds of thousands of dollars into the investigation so far... but why wasn't he caught in 2009?

Smith said the May 09 incident is what got him into CODIS. So this is one scenario that fits the facts

1. march 2009 attacks do not yield any dna to put into CODIS
2. may 2009 arrest causes identified DNA sample to be put into CODIS
3. dna found on sierra's bag is entered into CODIS in March 2012, matching his identified sample

Perhaps dna from march 2009 is available but not processed and entered, but she did not specify it was dna, just forensic evidence that links him to those attacks.

 

[melley]

In support of this...http://www.rainn.org/news-room/news/rape-kit-backlog. Not specific to CA but like GrainneDhu said...

This is interesting... because I have known that DNA kits, uploading and CODIS entry is actually FREE to local law enforcement agencies for old, cold or unsolved cases... I am wondering if current cases, sexual assaults, etc do not qualify.

edited... the article I was quoting is not available... but I KNOW I read it

 

[melley]

And now I just remembered they got his dna (last year>) for a felony arrest... no charges, etc. We have the law here that takes dna from people arrested on felony charges even if nothing comes of it. So his dna was in CODIS since that arrest or when it was processed after that arrest.

 

[twall]

AGT's DNA was not entered into CODIS until his felony arrest that occured on 6/16/2010. That was the incident with his sister and her bf over the non-payment of rent. He was charged with felony battery but he pled down to a misdemeanor and took the anger management course.
During this incident LE discovered his underage gf was pregnant and he was charged with misdemeanor sex with a minor.
Even though he was never convicted of the felony his DNA was entered into CODIS because of the felony charge in 2010 as that is the law in CA.

Page 57 of the below linked documents states he was in violation of PC 243(d) (a felony) and placed under arrest.

http://losaltos.patch.com/articles/...ct-court-records-reveal-06670e88#pdf-10030186

 

[ozazure]

AGT's DNA was not entered into CODIS until his felony arrest that occured on 6/16/2010. That was the incident with his sister and her bf over the non-payment of rent. He was charged with felony battery but he pled down to a misdemeanor and took the anger management course.
During this incident LE discovered his underage gf was pregnant and he was charged with misdemeanor sex with a minor.
Even though he was never convicted of the felony his DNA was entered into CODIS because of the felony charge in 2010 as that is the law in CA.

Page 57 of the below linked documents states he was in violation of PC 243(d) (a felony) and placed under arrest.

http://losaltos.patch.com/articles/...ct-court-records-reveal-06670e88#pdf-10030186

Oh gosh, I really need to hone my reading skills, you are right, it was the 2010 that got him in the database when I read the transcript again :doh:

 

[BeginnersLuck]

There is a wealth of information here about the backlog of DNA evidence. It is VERY complicated. http://www.nij.gov/nij/topics/forensics/lab-operations/evidence-backlogs/welcome.htm

I attended a conference several months ago in which forensic experts spoke. The technology of DNA processing continues to rapidly increase, along with the accuracy. Now, more samples can be analyzed in greater volume. There are tons of rape kits and other crime evidence dating back many years, sitting in storage all over the country. Although it has been saved, the volume still exceeds the resources available to analyze it.

As technology continues to increase eventually (hopefully) they will catch up with the backlog and future crimes can be linked to cold cases. Also, cold cases can be linked to criminals already in the system. Solving new cases takes presidence over old and the more severe the crime the higher presidence it will take. This is where the resources are used.

LE made a statement that they were looking back at crimes that have been committed in Morgan Hill, over the last 5 years to see if AGT can be linked to them. IMO, they had evidence sitting in storage from the Safeway attacks that hadn't been forensically analyzed. Now that they have a suspect, it justifys going back and analying that evidence and putting it in the same classification as a new case would be put.

The forensic evidence they have from the Safeway attack could be anything from DNA from under the victims fingernails from fighting him off to many other things that others have mentioned here.

 

[mocity]

I have been reading here praying they will find Sierra and give her family some peace. I thought I would post re DNA and my family's experience for what its worth. My stepsister was murdered and raped in 1990 along with her boyfriend and the case has never been solved. Now, over 20 years later the news willl still do updates and it was on AMW a couple of years ago. Anyway, several years ago there was a match in CODIS - after all this time. It was a match to a rape that happened a couple of months within when my stepsister was killed and it had just been put into the system. The person has never been caught. So, if it took over 15 years to get one in the system I am guessing it happens in countless others. JMHO

 

[OtherEyes]

I have been reading here praying they will find Sierra and give her family some peace. I thought I would post re DNA and my family's experience for what its worth. My stepsister was murdered and raped in 1990 along with her boyfriend and the case has never been solved. Now, over 20 years later the news willl still do updates and it was on AMW a couple of years ago. Anyway, several years ago there was a match in CODIS - after all this time. It was a match to a rape that happened a couple of months within when my stepsister was killed and it had just been put into the system. The person has never been caught. So, if it took over 15 years to get one in the system I am guessing it happens in countless others. JMHO

OmGosh! I am so sorry for all you have been through!
May justice come soon.:hug:

 

[Annie1004]

I have been reading here praying they will find Sierra and give her family some peace. I thought I would post re DNA and my family's experience for what its worth. My stepsister was murdered and raped in 1990 along with her boyfriend and the case has never been solved. Now, over 20 years later the news willl still do updates and it was on AMW a couple of years ago. Anyway, several years ago there was a match in CODIS - after all this time. It was a match to a rape that happened a couple of months within when my stepsister was killed and it had just been put into the system. The person has never been caught. So, if it took over 15 years to get one in the system I am guessing it happens in countless others. JMHO

Oh, I am so sorry. I can't think of anything so heartwrenching and devastating. Did this occur in Orange County? I ask because there are several connected cases I have followed over the the past 30 years that started in Sacramento and moved south..

 

[PlainJaneDoe]

I have been reading here praying they will find Sierra and give her family some peace. I thought I would post re DNA and my family's experience for what its worth. My stepsister was murdered and raped in 1990 along with her boyfriend and the case has never been solved. Now, over 20 years later the news willl still do updates and it was on AMW a couple of years ago. Anyway, several years ago there was a match in CODIS - after all this time. It was a match to a rape that happened a couple of months within when my stepsister was killed and it had just been put into the system. The person has never been caught. So, if it took over 15 years to get one in the system I am guessing it happens in countless others. JMHO

I am so sorry to hear about your experience and the long, long wait. I hope your sister, her boyfriend, and the other victim will soon have justice.