Posted on 03/13/2015 10:40:19 PM PDT by nickcarraway
"It basically boiled down to just not having viable search areas at this point," Steve Lamar, Sierra's father said.
The Sierra LaMar Search Center has been conducting weekly searches since the Morgan Hill teen went missing on March 16, 2012. Volunteers have put in more than 50,000 hours of time looking for her body. The 15-year-old was last seen on her way to a school bus stop.
A new poster for Sierra LaMar will be introduced at the final search on Saturday. The poster, recommended by child advocate Marc Klaas and approved by the LaMar family, shows Sierra over a shot of volunteers sporting her favorite red sneakers.
"We always want people to know that Sierra matters for all of our girls," said Debbie Nunes, a volunteer who has helped in the searches. "Children in general, they're vulnerable -- they matter so much. And we need to be sure they're always safe."
Search coordinators emphasize a tip line will remain active with an on-call search unit ready to be mobilized.
"That helps a lot," said Steve LaMar, Sierra's father. "We don't have to feel like 'everything's coming to an end' and 'we don't have anything else' -- that type of thing thing. So yeah, that helps a lot."
The Santa Clara County Sheriff's Office said its investigation is still active and acknowledged the support it got from the search center over the years.
"We got a lot of help from them, we got a lot of tips," Sgt. James Jensen said. "They did a lot of hard work. They were out there for days on end, running and walking around in the mud. They were out in the sun. Extremely disappointing they are closing." ts.
Even without a body, 23-year-old Antolin Garcia Torres has been charged in her death. His lawyer last week told a judge he needed at least another six weeks to prepare for the murder trial. The district attorney is seeking the death penalty in the case. Torres is scheduled to return to court April 8 for another trial-setting date.
NBC Bay Area Legal Analyst Steven Clark said the end of the searches could impact the case, including speeding up proceedings.
"This is a very big watershed moment in the case. What this signals is the investigation is closing. And now it's time to try the case," Clark said in a previous interview. "As long as those searches were continuing, this was a 'fluid' investigation, which also encouraged some of these delays."
This story caused a lot of panic in the area. Poor girl. Hope she rests in peace.
bump
I’m very sorry that he killed her. Rest in peace for sure.
Antolin Garcia-Torres has been arrested, but not convicted, right?
Just terrible and right up the road from me.
Wish she were found and give the family some closure.
the guy deserves death penalty but maybe if the prosecutor offers to take death penalty off the table they can get him to say where the body is.
Last I’d heard was that they were going to try to get the death penalty even without the body. They found his DNA on her personal items. They kept moving back trial dates and stuff, so I stopped trying to keep up. I probably last looked for information on the case back in August or September.
Actually, I was only thinking that I’m so very sorry that she’s dead. I was sure she was dead from the beginning. I don’t know, nor care who killed her, but just that she’s dead.
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