A plea hearing for Antolin Garcia Torres, the Morgan Hill man accused of kidnapping and murdering missing teen Sierra LaMar, is scheduled for Monday at the Hall of Justice in San Jose.
The hearing is scheduled to take place at 9:30 a.m.
Garcia Torres, 21, is charged with murder and a special circumstance of kidnapping in relation to the disappearance of Sierra, who was 15 at the time she went missing March 16.
Garcia Torres was arrested in May for his alleged involvement in Sierra’s disappearance. He has declined to appear in court for his last three scheduled hearings, which were continued.
And last month, the Santa Clara District Attorney’s office also charged Garcia Torres with three felony counts of attempted kidnapping during the commission of a car jacking, in relation to three incidents in 2009 in which he is suspected of attacking three women at two Safeway grocery stores in Morgan Hill.
Authorities have said DNA evidence linked Garcia Torres to at least one of the three kidnapping attempts. In one of the incidents, Garcia Torres is suspected of using a stun gun to subdue the victim. No serious injuries were reported in any of the 2009 incidents.
Sierra disappeared from her mother’s north Morgan Hill home March 16. Authorities think she was kidnapped while walking to her school bus near the intersection of Palm and Dougherty avenues.
Sierra’s body has not been recovered, and family and volunteers continue to search for the missing teen. No trace of her whereabouts has been reported by investigators since days after her disappearance, when police found a bag that belonged to her containing some of her clothing in a field less than two miles from her mother’s home.
Authorities think Sierra is dead based on her lack of contact with anyone she knows since she was reported missing.
Volunteers working with the KlaasKids Foundation continue to search for Sierra, who was a sophomore at Sobrato High School at the time of her disappearance, every Saturday starting at Burnett Elementary School, 85 Tilton Ave.
Anyone with information on the case can call the sheriff’s tip line at (408) 299-2311 or (408) 808-4431. Tips can also be sent by e-mail to
ti**@sh*****.org
, and via the sheriff’s office website at sccgov.org/portal/site/sheriff.
For more information about the case including how to volunteer in the search effort visit www.findsierralamar.com.
