Tag: morgan hill

After a suspect was arrested in connection with the disappearance of 15-year-old Sierra LaMar, the community’s reaction has ranged from shock to relief to sorrow. 

Antolin Garcia Torres, 21 of Morgan Hill, was charged Thursday with murdering Sierra LaMar, 15, who has been missing since March 16.

UPDATE: The arraignment hearing for Antolin Garcia-Torres, the Morgan Hill man accused of kidnapping and murdering Sierra LaMar, was continued one week and will now take place at 2 p.m. May 31, at the Santa Clara County Superior Court Hall of Justice in San Jose.

Antolin Garcia-Torres' mother, Laura Torres, sobbed outside her home at Maple Leaf RV Park when she thought about her son being taken away and charged with the murder of 15-year-old Sierra LaMar, a crime she is certain he didn't commit.

Police arrested a man in connection with the disappearance of Sierra LaMar who has prior arrests and has been linked to at least one incident in a string of unsolved assaults against women in 2009 at two Morgan Hill grocery stores. 

Sheriff’s search and rescue personnel will be conducting a search effort in the area of south Morgan Hill this afternoon, according to Santa Clara County Sheriff spokesman Sgt. Jose Cardoza. The ground search operation will focus on open fields and construction sites and zones in south Morgan Hill.

Anyone who saw a red Volkswagen Jetta with a black hood in north Morgan Hill or south San Jose around the week of March 16 is asked to contact the Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Office, because investigators have linked the vehicle to the disappearance and kidnapping of Sierra LaMar.

Since the Dispatch wrote an April 24 story about a 77-year-old Gilroy man who claimed he was scammed by a crook under the guise of a friendly tree pruner, 10 others from Gilroy and Morgan Hill have come forward with similar stories of a man by the name of Michael Oliveira who collected money for work he never completed, prompting police to launch an investigation.

A Morgan Hill man was arrested for allegedly choking and punching his girlfriend, sending her to the hospital with multiple injuries including cuts and bruises throughout her face and head, a bloody nose and bloody lip.

The family of Sierra LaMar increased the reward for information leading to the missing Morgan Hill teen’s safe return home.