The Disappearance (and presumed murder) of Sierra Lamar

The last image of Sierra Lamar, taken on the morning of March 16th, 2012

On the morning of March 16th, 2012, 15-year-old Sierra Lamar snapped this selfie on her computer’s webcam before leaving her house in Morgan Hill, CA, to head to her bus stop. Unfortunately, Sierra never made it to the bus stop or to school that day. Nobody has seen or heard from her since she sent her final text to a friend at 7:11 AM that morning. Days later, her cell phone was found in a nearby field. Her school bag, with the clothes she had worn that morning folded neatly inside, were found behind a shed in separate nearby location.

In May 2012, two months after Sierra disappeared, authorities arrested Antolin Garcia-Torres for Sierra’s kidnap and murder. Garcia-Torres was 21 years old at the time. Authorities were able to link him to Sierra after finding her fingerprints inside Garcia-Torres’ car, and her hair on a rope found in Garcia-Torres’ trunk.

Antolin Garcia-Torres (2012)

After years of delays, Garcia-Torres finally went to trial in February 2017. Despite Sierra’s body never being found, the jury still found him guilty on all counts of kidnapping and murder. Garcia-Torres was also found guilty of an attempted kidnapping from a local Safeway parking lot that happened in 2009. He was sentenced to life in prison.

Throughout the years, Garcia-Torres has maintained his innocence. In February 2026, nine years after his conviction, the state of California's Sixth District Court of Appeals overturned Garcia-Torres' conviction. According to reports, the court made this decision because " it was an error to try the murder case alongside the attempted kidnappings from a previous, unrelated case. The court said the error was prejudicial, requiring the reversal of all of Garcia-Torres' convictions."

The reports also note that this overturned conviction has "opened the door for [Garcia-Torres] to receive a new trial." However, at this time, no new trial has been scheduled.

The news of the overturned conviction has inevitably been upsetting to both Sierra's loved ones and the Santa Clara investigators who worked hard to find justice for Sierra. It does not appear that any evidence has been found that points to another suspect in Sierra's case. 

More updates will be provided if/when they become available.