Sheriff’s deputies plan to conduct dozens of interviews with Morgan Hill teens who might know anything about missing Sobrato High School student Sierra LaMar, who was reported missing Friday.
LaMar, 15, has not been seen since she left for school the morning of March 16, according to Santa Clara County sheriff’s Sgt. Jose Cardoza. Deputies and Sobrato Principal Debbie Padilla held a press conference outside the school on Burnett Avenue Monday morning to report updates in the search, which is ongoing and has not turned up any major leads.
LaMar’s cell phone, a Droid smart phone, was found Saturday night in a field near Scheller Avenue and Santa Teresa Boulevard, authorities said. That spot is in the opposite direction from which LaMar usually walks to catch a Morgan Hill Unified school bus to go to school each morning.
Her bus stop is near the intersection of Palm and Dougherty avenues, just south of her home on Paquita Espana Court. Her cell phone was found northwest of her residence, about half a mile away from the home.
Other than the discovery of the phone, police have found few clues to explain the teen’s disappearance, Cardoza said. Police have also recovered LaMar’s laptop computer, and continue to watch her Facebook and Twitter accounts to watch for clues.
LaMar has not updated the social network accounts since she was reported missing, Cardoza added.
As of Monday, police had not found any “obvious signs” of foul play, or any evidence to suggest that a crime has occurred, Cardoza said.
“It’s frustrating from our standpoint that we haven’t found any clues,” Cardoza said at the press conference.
Police said LaMar was last seen about 6 a.m. Friday. Her last “tweet” on her Twitter account was posted at 6:29 a.m. that day. Iris Wise, a neighbor of LaMar’s and her family on Dougherty Avenue said she has seen LaMar walking past her house to the school bus stop before, but it was usually “closer to 7 (a.m.).”
The neighbor said she saw LaMar Thursday afternoon, but did not see her walking Friday morning. However, Wise said she does not pay close attention, and when she sees her it is usually when she is coincidentally outside at the same time as LaMar. She added she has talked to her briefly when she has walked by, but only to say “Hi.”
LaMar moved to Morgan Hill with her mother and mother’s boyfriend about October 2011, according to police and neighbors.
Deputies said at the Monday morning press conference that they planned to spend the day conducting “several dozen interviews” with students at Sobrato High. They might later contact teens who know LaMar at Washington High School in Fremont, the school from which LaMar transferred.
School administrators are also encouraging students to share any information they have about the teen, and have been busy posting flyers with her picture and vital information throughout Morgan Hill, Padilla said.
“It is devastating for me any time we have a student who might be in any type of dangerous situation,” Padilla said.
LaMar is about 5-feet, 2-inches tall with a thin build and dark hair. She was last seen with a black and pink “Juicy” brand purse, authorities said. She has no prior history of running away.
Cardoza added police have exhausted all search and rescue efforts that are typical in the immediate aftermath of such disappearances, including tracking dogs and foot-based searches of the foothills and other areas surrounding LaMar’s home.
The teen was reported missing by her family about 5 p.m. Friday. She did not attend school that day.
