Authorities arrested a man in the abduction of a Northern California teenager who has been missing for more than two months. Antolin Garcia-Torres was responsible for 15-year-old Sierra LaMar’s disappearance and has been booked into the Santa Clara County Jail on suspicion of murder and kidnapping.
Sierra hasn’t been seen or heard from since she left her home in Morgan Hill to go to school on the morning of March 16. Authorities believe the high school sophomore was kidnapped while walking to a school bus stop.
Garcia-Torres, 21, was arrested at the Safeway store in Morgan Hill where he worked at around 6 p.m., KTVU-TV reported.
Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Sgt. Jose Cardoza declined to offer any additional details on the arrest or Garcia-Torres’ relationship to Sierra but said more information will be provided at a news conference Tuesday morning.
Volunteers and sheriff’s officials have continuously searched the fields, open spaces and reservoirs near Morgan Hill since her disappearance. The KlaasKids Foundation, founded by Marc Klaas, whose 12-year-old daughter Polly was kidnapped from her Petaluma home and murdered in 1993, has been organizing volunteer searches on Wednesdays and Saturdays.
Investigators found Sierra’s handbag with clothing and a cellphone along the side of the road near her home on March 17, the day after Sierra’s mother reported her missing.
Earlier this month, investigators located a red Volkswagen Jetta they said may have been connected to Sierra’s abduction given that surveillance cameras and witnesses put the car near the area where authorities believe she disappeared.
Sheriff’s officials have released few details about leads in the case, including what, if any, evidence they found in the car.
