High School Girl Kidnapped on Her Way to the Bus: The Case of Sierra LaMar
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Hello everyone and welcome back to True Crime with Kendall Rae. Thank you so much for joining me today. I'm so happy to have you and if you are new then welcome. So guys before we get into today's case I do have an exciting announcement. I am finally launching some new merch. I know it's been a minute but

But I am very excited about these new items. They are very fall. They are giving cozy. And there's something in there that I've never done before. So I'm really excited to tell you about that. But what I'm most excited about is from now on a percentage increase.

on all merch sales across all of our different shows at mile higher media will go to the higher hope foundation so it's a very easy way to support our foundation while also treating yourself and supporting my show of course so if you are interested in picking up any of that it's all available at kendallray.shop but moving into today's case we're going to be talking about sierra lamar now her case is solved however it's been 12 years

and her remains have never been recovered. And so her family has never been able to lay her to rest after they and their community have spent tireless hours searching for her throughout all of those years. And I've seen it reported that between police searches, rescue crews, and volunteers just going out and searching for her, over 50,000 hours have been spent looking for Sierra, which is actually equivalent to about five and a half years. And

Still to this day, nothing has been found, which is just so heartbreaking to think about. The community of Morgan Hill, California has never forgotten about her. It's really amazing how they've all come together. And I hope that you see after I tell you how amazing Sierra was,

Why it's so important that we continue to talk about her until her remains are found and she can be laid to rest properly. So with that, let's go ahead and get into the case. So Sierra Mae Lamar was born on October 19th, 1996 in Fremont, California to her parents, Marlene and Steve. And she also had one older sister named Danielle. And if you're tuning into this episode the day it goes live or the day after, you probably have realized that her birthday is just around the corner.

And she would actually be 28 years old if she was still alive today. October 19th should be a day that she would be spending with loved ones, but instead...

it's a day that they will again be mourning her loss. And let me just tell you, losing Sierra has been a major loss. From what I know about her, just from learning about her, the way she's described, Sierra was a small but mighty type of girl who, you know, really above all else, wanted to make other people laugh. She was that type of person who...

was always looking for how to bring joy out of other people. She was incredibly goofy. I loved looking back at some of her old pictures and videos, and really at any given moment, it seemed like she would be doing something to get a laugh out of whoever she was with. She also loved social media and technology in general, and really was a true teenager in the early 2010s era. She loved recording these little silly videos of herself and her friends

on a laptop, which is something that I did. I know so many of you probably did that as well. It's very relatable, very, like I said, 2010s era. She just seemed like such a fun, easygoing person. And it's...

all those qualities about her that made her so easy to love. And growing up in Fremont, she had no problem making friends and was definitely a very well-liked person among her peers. In her freshman year of high school, she had joined the cheerleading squad and all things considered was just generally really happy. The

The friendships that she had in Fremont, you can tell she just treasured so deeply. And I mean, being a teenager, your friends, your friendships are everything. And she had some really great friends. And I bring all this up because she ended up having to move away from them, which, as you can imagine, was very, very difficult for her. And the reason she had to move is because in October of 2011, 1820,

A judge actually ruled that Sierra had to live full time with her mom and her mom was planning on leaving Fremont and moving 35 miles away to Morgan Hill. Now, obviously, that's not a huge move when you think about distance. But at that age, having to leave behind all these great friendships and this life you've established, you know, cheerleading as well was really, really hard on her.

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That's Nutrafol.com spelled N-U-T-R-A-F-O-L dot com promo code Kendall Ray. That's Nutrafol.com promo code Kendall Ray. Obviously, you guys are probably wondering, why did a judge order that she lived with her mom? And I'll warn you ahead of time, this is disturbing, but it turns out that Ciara's dad, Steve, was caught acting inappropriately with one or more of her friends during a sleepover. And

He ended up being arrested, thankfully, and charged for what he had done. And Marlene, Sierra's mom, didn't want to stay with him after that, so the two of them got divorced, which is when and why a judge ruled that Sierra had to move with her mom. And it was just Sierra that was ordered to move with her mom because she was only 15 at the time.

And her sister was four years older, so, you know, she wasn't ordered to move as well. So it was just Sierra and her mom, and obviously it was a huge transition. So in October of 2011, she and her mom made that move from Fremont to Morgan Hill, California. And it was only about a 45-minute drive away, but...

Like I said, for a teenager, this was a drastic change and she was really bummed about it. She ended up having a really hard time just adjusting to the move and also adjusting to being at a new school. I mean, that can be really, really hard. So now she's a sophomore in high school and had to essentially start over when it came to her friendships and that life that she had once known.

And I'm sure so many of you out there can relate to that, you know, moving at any age in your childhood, but especially in the high school years, I feel like that can be really difficult. Or just in, you know, in the middle of middle school or the middle of high school, middle of elementary even, making that move can be really difficult. I had changed schools as a kid too, and I know that it's just...

You know, it's a lot at that age, a lot to get used to and to readjust, rebuild your life kind of. Yeah, it can be really hard and I really feel for her going through that. I will say that she seemed to be a very tenacious person and like I already mentioned, she was very funny and very likable. So she was able to make some new friends or was like starting to build some new friendships and

and had also joined the cheer squad at her new school, so that was helpful as well. But overall, she wasn't thrilled about the move to Fremont, and this was no secret to her friends and family. But given everything

everything that her mom had been through, I completely understand wanting to have a new start in Fremont. And it wasn't just because she wanted a new start. She had also started a new relationship with a man named Ricky, and the two of them had gotten to the point where they wanted to live together. So that was also part of the reason for the move. So Morgan Hill was supposed to really be a fresh start for the two of them, but

Sadly, Morgan Hill is where Sierra's life was senselessly taken. And that brings us to the morning of March 16th, 2012. As Marlene was getting ready for work, she walked into her daughter's bedroom to make sure that she was awake and getting ready for school.

It was right around 6 a.m. It was a completely normal day. Sierra was up and was about to start getting dressed for school. And Marlene gave her $5 for lunch, told her she loved her and said her goodbyes, not knowing that this would be the last time she ever saw her daughter, which just tears my heart up thinking about this.

She left for work that day and assumed that Sierra was going to catch the bus and go to school like normal. Her high school, Anne Sobrato High School, was not that far away. It was actually only about 10 minutes down the road, but Sierra typically rode the bus because her mom and Ricky often left for work before they could drive her. And her bus stop was pretty convenient. It was less than a half a mile from her house, and it always picked her up at 7.25 a.m. So in order to get there on time, she normally left her house around 7.10 a.m., which is what investigators believe she did that day.

At 6.57 a.m., Marlene had texted Sierra to ask her to wipe down the tub before she left for school, and then she sent her another text asking if she was meeting up with a friend after school. However, she never ended up getting a response from her, although we do think she received these messages and just didn't reply because...

We also know that at 7.11 a.m., she had texted another friend, which of course it's pretty common for teenagers to not respond to their parents. I mean, I still at 31 still sometimes don't respond to my parents as quickly as I probably should. But that text to her friend at 7.11 is super important because it's actually the last known contact that Sierra had with literally anyone before.

And it's also important because it tells us that she was planning to go to school that day. In this text message, she was responding to her friend who had asked her to bring the stuff, which the stuff was just horrible.

homework and makeup. So pretty typical teenage text messaging. I guess the two of them were going to like compare notes when it came to their homework and then also share some makeup, but they never got that opportunity because Sierra never made it to school that day. In fact, she never even made it onto the bus. Later that afternoon at 3.45 p.m. when Marlene got off of work, she called her daughter like she always did to check in after the school day and she

she actually didn't answer the phone. And at first she didn't panic or anything. She figured, you know, she's probably busy doing something probably with a friend and didn't even look at her phone. But then she tried calling her seven more times in the next hour from 345 to 445 and all of

of those calls went unanswered and that's when she started to seriously worry and that worry turned into genuine fear when she got home and realized that Sierra wasn't there and she had no idea where she was motherly instincts at this point were telling her that something was seriously wrong but she tried to you know calm herself down a little bit

try to see if she could locate her on her own before jumping to conclusions. So first, she of course went to her high school, thinking that maybe her daughter had just stayed behind with some friends, but she didn't see any sign of her there. Next, she called her ex-husband to see if maybe Sarah had gone to Fremont to see him, but he let her know that she wasn't there either. And then at about 6 p.m., she got an email from the school, and that's when she learned something that made her realize that her original instincts were right.

She learned from the school that day that Sierra had never made it to any of her classes. And so she decided to call all of her friends one last time, see if she happened to be with any of them, and she wasn't. So at that point, she went ahead and called 911. And of course, Marlene is completely panicked by this point, as any parent should be. And she starts begging them to issue an Amber Alert. And this whole part really confuses me. I've worked on several cases where Amber...

Amber Alerts were not issued, and I always have trouble figuring out exactly why. I know there's certain qualifications that have to be met, and that was the case here. Apparently, Sierra didn't meet the qualifications for an Amber Alert, which I just don't understand. I could just go on and on about that, but...

I did not see any reporting as to what qualifications she didn't specifically meet, why they wouldn't issue an Amber Alert, which is incredibly frustrating. That being said, though, luckily, the Santa Clara County Sheriff's Office did jump right into action. That evening, an officer was dispatched to Marlene's house, and by that point, Steve had driven up from Fremont as well because he was equally concerned about their daughter, and together, they answered the officer's questions. And...

At first, I'm sure this won't surprise you, we hear about this all the time, the officer thought that Sierra had run away. And I understand why it is very common for teenagers to run away. It does happen quite a bit.

So I see why they have to go through this process of asking questions about their personal life. Did they have any fights going on? Were they upset? Is there any reason they wouldn't want to be home? Things like that to determine if there would be a reason they would possibly want to run away. Now, luckily, in this case, they didn't hang on to that theory and make it their main theory because we've heard of way too many cases where they have done that and

And then things were missed or things weren't prioritized or the case was straight up neglected because they were assumed to be a runaway. That is not the case here. But like we know, Sierra was not happy living in Morgan Hill. In fact, she did mention to some of her friends at school

several different points that she was considering moving away or at least wanted to move away which who knows if she was saying that in a more you know sarcastic emotional way or if she actually had any plans but that is absolutely not what happened here and like

And luckily, detectives did look at her case with a critical eye and take it very seriously. So they started their investigation. And of course, everyone is hoping that maybe she did run away and that she's OK and that they'll quickly be able to locate her. So the plan was to look for evidence to make sure that there was no foul play.

But very quickly, the evidence showed otherwise that there was in fact foul play involved in this case. Beginning on the morning of March 17th, officers began canvassing the immediate area surrounding Sierra's house and detectives were working to establish a timeline and here's what they were able to put together. Based on Marlene's statement, Sierra was awake and in the house around 6 a.m. when she left for work.

After this, they determined that she had posted on social media around 6.30 a.m. and then texted that friend at 7.11 a.m. And just as a reminder, that text was about meeting up with this friend at school that day. So she planned to go.

and just never made it. And then after this text, her communication with the outside world, as far as we know, just completely shut off. Now, to try and figure out where she may have gone, the officers that were canvassing the area tried to find surveillance cameras, but the thing is, and this is crucial to the case, this bus stop was located at the intersection of two very rural roads, Palm and Doherty Avenue. Morgan Hill, and specifically where Sierra was living, has...

a lot of vast open fields and farmland and orchards and actually it's really what the area is known for and while it's beautiful it means that there were no cameras even remotely near where she walked the bus but investigators weren't at a complete loss because it turns out that sierra's school bus was equipped with security cameras and when they looked at those well they

They saw nothing. And for as frustrating and scary as that was, it actually told them a lot because it told them that she never got on the bus, which helped them establish a window of time where they think she disappeared. And that window was a 14-minute span between 7.11 a.m.

when she sent that final text and 7 25 a.m when the bus showed up and she did not get on now since there were no cameras in the area the next best thing that law enforcement could do was continue to canvas the area as well as look into her last known movements and luckily because sierra was such a big social media person she had actually posted a selfie that morning and so it gave investigators a rough idea of what she was wearing that day

And it wasn't much, but they could tell that she had on a black sweatshirt with a partial logo, which they quickly identified the logo as the San Jose Sharks hockey team's logo. And that ended up being incredibly helpful, which I will explain why later on. And in the meantime, while investigators are just starting their investigation and figuring out all of those details,

The local media jumped right on to spreading the word about Sierra, which is fantastic. You don't always see that. You don't often see that most of the time when it comes to disappearances. So it's great that they were getting the word out and the community was, you know, hearing about it very quickly. And it wasn't long before a massive search was made.

was kicked off. On Saturday, March 17th, less than 24 hours after she had been reported missing, more than 300 people were already out looking for her or for any sign of her, really. And they were really focused on the grassy fields that surrounded her house. And on that day and every day that followed, people from Morgan Hill and all over the Bay Area as well

came together in an effort to try and find Sierra, and a local elementary school even set up a search center where volunteers would gather to share information and talk about where to look next. And starting on the 17th, the police started looking into sex offenders in the area. And unfortunately, turns out there were a lot. The thing is, though, each and every one of them had a solid alibi that law enforcement was able to confirm. And

I'm sure a lot of you are wondering about Sierra's dad, and he actually told police about his history right away. I mean, he knew that they were going to look into their entire family, so they were going to find out anyway, and he wanted them to hear it from him, and they were able to clear him. I mean, when they first found out about his history, they were definitely shocked and concerned, but yes, they were able to clear him pretty quick.

And there was something else that came up that shocked them even more, and that was Sierra's cell phone. Her phone was actually discovered less than 24 hours after she went missing, and the circumstances of them finding it are pretty strange. On the night that Sierra was reported missing, so literally just the night before, that first deputy who arrived to speak with the family tried calling Sierra's phone multiple times. But every time he called, it went right to voicemail. Until...

about 3.48 a.m. on the 17th when it didn't go right to voicemail, meaning that now it was turned on and that they would be able to track the cell tower that it was pinging off of.

which was huge. And while they were looking into the data, they saw that her phone had turned on and off several times. Now, it was only ever on for a few seconds, but it was just long enough that they were able to get an approximate location for it. And later that day, with the help of search teams, they located her Samsung Galaxy phone, which had been laying on the wet ground. And basically what was happening is because water had seeped into the phone and into the battery itself,

which I'm sure many of you have spilled water on your phone or submerged it into water and have experienced it turning on and off or the screen blinking, you know, the mic going in and out, things like that. But it basically tricked the phone into thinking that it was charged. And so it would turn on for just a second, just long enough for them to get that ping. And then that was it. So it was never actually turned on by anybody. It had been laying there on the wet ground that entire time. ♪

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But the other really important element to note here is where the phone was found. It was only a few blocks away from her bus stop, meaning that whoever took her...

had ditched her phone pretty much immediately. So of course, the phone was sent off to the crime lab pretty much right away. And while it was being processed, the search continued. And another huge discovery was made a day later on Sunday the 18th. A search crew was looking in this area that is sort of like a barn structure out in an open field. And they ended up finding Sierra's juicy couture bag lodged between some cacti.

And inside her bag, they found neatly folded clothing, including a pair of jeans and the black San Jose Shark sweatshirt that they knew she was wearing on the morning she disappeared because of that selfie. They also found a bra, a pair of underwear, a sock, her shoes, and some of her school paperwork. And this is just a horribly sad detail, but...

They also noted that her jeans smelled of urine, and I'm pretty sure we can all figure out why. But of course, all of these things were immediately sent in for forensic testing, and even though it took a little bit of time to get the results back, the wait was worth it. For one, they found lichen on Sierra's clothing. Now, lichen is an algae. It grows on rocks and in the soil. And while that might sound like a pretty minor problem,

sort of strange discovery it actually had the possibility of being really helpful because

They brought in a botanist who explained that that type of algae, that lichen, only grows in certain areas. So the hope was that maybe they could track down Sierra based on where this lichen grows. And then another discovery that they made when they found her belongings were these little glass beads that were found embedded into her jeans. And these little glass beads match the reflective beads that you would find on the road, like

The lane markings or the markings that separate a bike path, for instance, which indicated that Sierra had likely been dragged by her abductor. And then lastly, the biggest and most important discovery that they made was foreign DNA found on Sierra's jeans. And foreign meaning it is not Sierra's DNA. So of course they ran it through CODIS and they found DNA.

not only one match, but 12 potential matches. Luckily though, a CODIS administrator was very quickly able to take a closer look and eliminate 11 out of those 12 potential matches and determined that that DNA belonged to just one person. And on March 28th, 2012, 21-year-old Antolin Garcia-Torres was identified as the contributor to the DNA, which coincided

Mind you, was determined to be semen. And based on phone records and other factors that proved they didn't know each other, it led investigators to the strong belief that he was the man responsible for her disappearance. Because had they known each other, there might have been a reason for his DNA to be on her. I mean, really, it's just a formality because obviously there is no fucking reason whatsoever that a 21-year-old male's DNA should be on a

especially semen, should be on a 15-year-old girl, period, point blank. But this just proved without a doubt that his DNA being on her meant he was responsible. Now, from the public's perspective, this information was not released. This discovery was kept private to law enforcement, which totally makes sense. This is often done

And it's because they don't want the suspect to know that they're onto them and have good evidence against them. And of course, at this point, there also was a possibility that Sierra could have been alive and being held captive and they definitely didn't want to spook him at all. And so instead, they were hoping that he would lead them to her.

And starting on the 28th, they did 24-hour surveillance on him. They literally followed his every move, wiretapped his phone, put a tracker on his car, even had two officers go undercover and move into a trailer adjacent to the trailer that he had been living in with his girlfriend and their child. If Sierra was alive, they strongly believed that at some point he would need to get to her, but he never did.

And at no point during the next six days that they were watching him 24-7 did Antolin do anything that brought them any closer to finding Sierra. However, during that time, they did end up finding more evidence that suggested he could be involved in her disappearance, which is pretty obvious at this point, right? But it turns out that the RV park that he lived in had a single security camera, which recorded cars entering and exiting the area. And there was only...

only one way to get in and out, so it recorded any possible comings and goings. And when they looked at it from the morning of March 16th, they saw Antolin's red Volkswagen Jetta leaving the RV park. Here's the thing, though. At first, it looked like he didn't leave that morning until 8 a.m., and we know...

that it's believed at least that Sierra was abducted between 7.11 and 7.25 a.m., meaning that he couldn't have been responsible. So of course that was confusing to everyone at first, but then they realized that the cameras hadn't been adjusted for daylight savings yet,

which means he left at 7 a.m. And the RV park where he lived just so happened to be 10 minutes away from Sierra's bus stop. The security footage also showed that he didn't return home until right before 1 p.m., giving him about six hours where he was unaccounted for. And because of this, and because Antolin had never led investigators to her over that six days of constant surveillance, they decided that

it was finally time to speak to him. So on April 4th, two detectives show up at his RV and let me tell you, this guy is one cocky son of a bitch because they start talking to him very casually, asking if he was aware that there was a missing girl in the area. And his response was, I would like you to get to the point.

fucking asshole. And then, of course, they ask him if he knew who Sierra was. And he responded saying, I doubt it. Why? And for as arrogant of a response as this is, it was the perfect response because it was now separating him from the victim. If he is saying that he doesn't know her, that means that there is no reasonable explanation why his DNA should have

been on her jeans. So three days later on the 7th, they decided to bring him in for questioning and they also obtained a search warrant for his car and his house. And I will get into those results here in a bit.

But while he was in questioning, Antolin provided a description of what he did back on March 16th, which included leaving his house around 7.10, 7.20ish a.m., going fishing alone, followed by a trip to the bank. Now, we know that they had checked his time of departure, which was actually 7 a.m., but because he said he went fishing alone...

That obviously can't be corroborated. He did, however, no shock here, say something incredibly stupid, which was that on his drive to the reservoir, he missed his turn and had taken a different route. And what road do you think he said he was on? Palm. Palm.

which is the road that Sierra's bus stop was located on. So this idiot literally placed himself on the exact road that she was abducted on around the same time, and they were able to figure out that it would have been around the same time based on how long it would have taken for him to get there from his home. So just unbelievably dumb. ♪

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And that's not all because the sergeant who was questioning him then asks him if there is any reason that his DNA would be on any of Sierra's belongings. And let me be clear, he said DNA. That was it. There was no mention of semen or sperm or anything like that. And his response was asking if sperm could be a source for DNA, which, dude, awesome.

Obviously. And then this freak goes into this incredibly bizarre story about how he masturbates in his car and then uses tissues to clean himself up. And then his nasty ass says that he sometimes throws these tissues out of his car window. So if there was any sperm found on her, it was probably because of that. Which, what? What are you talking about? First of all, I just can't get over the fact that he says all of this before sperm or semen is...

Even mentioned. But you're telling me that your nasty sperm-soaked tissue that you threw out of your window somehow floated and found its way all the way to this field and got itself onto Sierra's jeans. Okay. Makes total sense, right? Especially because her jeans were found inside of her back. But for as stupid and outrageous as his statement was and...

how he is definitely connected to her disappearance. It still wasn't enough evidence at this point to make an arrest, and so he was flabbergasted

Free to leave that day. Meanwhile, though, his car was still being processed and the bank that he said he went to was being looked into as well. And it turns out that he did go to the bank. Security cameras placed him at Bank of America around 12.50 p.m. And although the footage was grainy, it looked like the bottom of his jeans were a darker color than the top of his jeans. They couldn't say for certain.

And I know it sounds like sort of a weird thing to point out, but investigators speculated that that dark part of his jeans was an indication that he may have been near a body of water. Now, of course, he did say he went fishing. So if they're assuming that's true, that could also explain the water. But of course, they're thinking that maybe he was at a body of water because he was disposing of Sierra's remains somewhere wet.

which would make sense when it comes to the algae as well but in the countless searches that have been done to find her reservoirs ponds and lakes were searched with the help of expert dive crews

And even on days with terrible weather conditions and low visibility, they never stopped looking. But each and every search to this day has ended with no sign of Sierra. One search did turn up an empty box that was labeled handcuffs and also some used condoms, but that was the last of what they ended up finding. Even cadaver dogs who scoured miles and miles of land were not successful. And during all of this, Sierra's family even offered a $10,000 reward for information, but

That reward went untouched. Thankfully, though, it wasn't too much longer before the results from Antolin's car came back. And what they found was incriminating to say the least. Inside Antolin's car, they not only found Sierra's DNA on the rear driver's side door and on a pair of gloves, but they also found a piece of her hair, which was located on a rope that they discovered in his car.

And they were also able to match fibers from the floor mats to fibers that were located on Sierra's jacket. They did not, however, find any evidence of blood. And finally, with all of this evidence to suggest that Sierra had been inside his car and likely inside his trunk, they decided to arrest him. On May 21st, 2012, Antolin Garcia-Torres was arrested for kidnapping and for first-degree murder. And his one and only response to being placed in handcuffs was,

Really? Um, yeah, really. Now, the announcement of his arrest was not technically the first time that investigators had shared that they had a suspect in mind. Earlier that May, they did release a photo of his red car to the public, asking if anyone had any information about it because it belonged to someone that they thought was involved. But his arrest was the first time that anyone following the case, any of her loved ones, had heard Antolin's name. And they were super confused because...

Antolin was not someone that any of them knew. It wasn't someone that they thought Sierra knew. So what did he have to do with her murder? And to this day, that remains a bit of a mystery. Despite his arrest, and this isn't surprising because he is such an awful person,

But he has not shared any details when it comes to his involvement in Sierra's murder. So investigators and prosecutors have had to come up with their own theory as to what happened, and they truly believe that this was just a random attack, just a case of wrong place, wrong time. They believe that he had either been watching her at her bus stop and learned her routine and just...

struck when he thought the moment was right, or this could have really just been a crime of opportunity. The thing is, though, Sierra wasn't his first. I mean, his first murder, as far as we know, but she wasn't his first violent attack.

Because while investigators were looking into him, they obviously wanted to run a background check and look to see if he had any history of violence. And for starters, it looked like he had a prior conviction for interfering with an officer, which didn't look great, but it wasn't the worst of it. What they ended up finding was much, much worse. Because back in 2009, there were three women who were attacked twice.

out in the parking lot of a Safeway, and it just so happened to be a Safeway that Antolin had worked at at that time. And at the time, police weren't able to figure out who was responsible for those attacks, but with the help of those women, they were able to create a composite sketch of

of the attacker. And when investigators were digging around, they saw this sketch and realized it looked a hell of a lot like Antolin. So of course, they reopened those cases and found out that during one of those attacks, the guy had dropped his stun gun. And while after running some testing on it, they determined that a partial fingerprint was left on the battery of the device and it was a match to

So on top of facing charges for kidnapping and killing Sierra, he was also facing charges related to this string of attacks in the Safeway parking lot. But the biggest hurdle that prosecutors are facing now is the undeniable fact that they still don't have Sierra's body. But of course, that was not going to stop them from trying to pursue justice. So on January 30th, 2017...

Antolin's trial began. He had pleaded not guilty back in February of 2014, and in the years that he awaited trial, he never said a word. The searches continued day in and day out, but were officially suspended by law enforcement in May of 2015.

That being said, though, the community searches went on, and loved ones never gave up on finding Sierra, and that remains true to this day. Balloon releases and candlelight vigils were held repeatedly in her honor. And like I said earlier, the way that this community came together for Sierra and her family was something...

That was just so incredibly beautiful to see, and I wish that was always the case for victims of violent crime. Now, as for his trial, that went on for quite some time, from the end of January through the beginning of May, and to nobody's surprise, the defense argued that Sierra had, in fact,

And they even believed that they had evidence to back up that theory. And that evidence was one of Sierra's old school notebooks. And in this notebook, there was a note that read, Now, mind you, 3-16-12 happens to be the day that she went missing. So this seemed like a crazy coincidence, right? Plus, they also had another note that had also talked about running away. And they said,

And so in the eyes of the defense, this seemed like plenty of evidence that she really willingly left her life, which I definitely found to be interesting and confusing at first. But then I found out that a handwriting expert testified as well and said that none of these notes were in Sierra's handwriting. And the prosecution argued that these messages were actually written by other students as some sort of a prank, which I don't, I don't get the joke. I don't get the prank. It's incredibly weird. Um,

I don't know what kind of...

kids even, I mean, kids can do some dumb things, but really to make a prank for a case like this. I mean, I believe it happened because I do not believe that these were written by Sierra. It's just, God, really? But luckily for the most part, these notes seem to be discredited during the trial. And luckily the jury agreed with the prosecution. And on May 9th, 2017, after two days of deliberation, they found Antolin Garcia-Torres

And although he was facing the death penalty, they decided to spare his life and ultimately recommended a sentence of life in prison without parole, which was a decision that Sierra's dad disagreed with and...

I completely understand where he's coming from there. He believes that the man responsible for his daughter's death should not be afforded the opportunity to live and wished that they had chosen a different conclusion. As for Marlene, she said that although they are grateful that the jury chose to convict Antolin, nothing will take away the pain and sorrow that they experience every single day.

- Antolin Garcia Torres showed little emotion, but he bowed his head when the jury's verdict was read aloud. Guilty for the kidnapping and murder of Sierra Lamar. Guilty on all counts. - Truly we've been praying for the chapter to have this type of ending, justice. - Supporters and Sierra search team members embraced and high-fived each other. Sierra's friends and family wept. Victory in the courtroom, but the loss goes on. - Nothing will take away the pain

and the sorrow that we experience every day. - It took just 12 hours of deliberations for this jury to reach a verdict, a huge victory for the prosecution tasked with proving murder, even though Sierra's body was never found. - And since the time that Antolin was arrested, he refused to speak about what happened to Sierra besides maintaining his innocence.

Several news outlets had written to him in jail to try and see if he would talk, but he never did. That is until December of 2020, when, for whatever reason, he decided to reply to a reporter, and although she asked him many different questions, he responded to only one, and it was one about his innocence. And no shock here, but he says that he holds fast to his innocence and that he is not going to talk about the case. He also mentioned not trusting people and that his days of having his voice are long gone.

And truly, that is the last time he has spoken out. But talk about how many other people because of you can't trust anybody. Now, the Lamar family still holds out hope that one day Sierra will be found and they'll finally be able to give her a proper burial. It pisses me off beyond belief that this guy won't just tell them where she is.

Obviously, that would make him have to admit that he was involved. But at this point, dude, come on, just give them that at the very least after everything you took from them. All we can hope is that one day Sierra's family is able to find her and to put her to rest and that they don't have to go another 12 years, if not longer, not having that type of closure.

Like I mentioned at the beginning of this episode, thousands and thousands of hours have gone into searching for Sierra that equal about five and a half years of searching for her, which is just insane that nothing has been found. But I wish that that type of search effort and that type of community support would

you know, would be available to all victims who are missing out there. But that's just unfortunately not the case. But this week in Sierra's honor, I wanted to make an additional contribution to the Higher Hope Foundation, my new foundation. If you haven't heard about it, you can check out my last couple of episodes where I speak about what we're doing and

Thank you.

your ability to keep fighting, to keep searching after all of this time is just really inspirational to me and I hope that one day I can update you all that her remains have been found and her family is able to get that closure.

That is going to be it for me today, guys. Thank you for joining me for another episode and make sure you follow the show on Spotify and Apple podcasts. It really does help me out. If you want to watch the video version of this show, you can find it on my YouTube channel, which will be linked, or you can just search Kendall Ray. I will be back with another episode soon, but until then stay safe out there.