Antolin Garcia-Torres, age 21 (Santa Clara County Sheriff)
Sierra LaMar Suspect Watched for Weeks Hoping He Would Lead Them To Teen
By ALYSSA NEWCOMB (@alyssanewcomb) , KEVIN DOLAK (@kdolak) and DEAN SCHABNER
abcNEWS / May 22, 2012
Santa Clara County police said today they had been following the suspect in the kidnapping and murder of Sierra LaMar since March 28, hoping he would lead them to the missing teen.
Antolin Garcia Torres, 21, was arrested Monday and booked into the Santa Clara County Jail on suspicion of murder and kidnapping, according to the sheriff's department.
Police said he was not being cooperative and they are still looking for LaMar.
The girl's mother, Marlene LaMar, made an emotional plea to Garcia-Torres at a news conference today.
"Please give the information that you have to lead us to Sierra to help end this nightmare. I would like you to come forward and say where she is and end this nightmare for us as a family." she said.
LaMar said she is holding out hope her daughter is still alive.
"Until she is found,our search is still not going to end," she said. "As a mother, still I am hopeful because her body has not been found and that gives me hope."
The cheerleader disappeared on March 16 on her way to a school bus. Two days later, authorities found her cellphone and Juicy brand bag containing a pair of folded jeans and a T-shirt two miles from her home.
DNA was found on several of the teen's belongings and was run through a state database, said Santa Clara County Sheriff Laurie Smith. That DNA was a match for Antolin Garcia Torres who had a submitted DNA during a felony arrest that had not been prosecuted, she said.
BREAKING NEWS: ANTOLIN GARCIA-TORRES TIED TO MISSING SIERRA LaMARR