Former Fremont Student Missing From Morgan Hill,California

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Santa Clara County sheriff's deputies interviewed former and current classmates of a Morgan Hill high school sophomore today as they continue to search for the missing teen.

Sierra Lamar, 15, was last seen leaving her home near Palm and Dougherty avenues in unincorporated Morgan Hill early Friday morning. She did not show up for school that day, Sgt. Jose Cardoza said.

According to media reports, Sierra grew up in Fremont and was a student at Washington High School in Fremont last year, where she was a cheerleader. She moved to Morgan Hill earlier this year.

Sierra's mother was notified that her daughter had not attended classes by the school's automated attendance system at 6 p.m. Friday.

Investigators located Sierra's cellphone along a local roadway but there is still no sign of the teen.

"The cellphone was intact, it wasn't broken," Cardoza said. "There's no evidence to lead to a crime after that."

Cardoza said that while investigators have found no signs of foul play, they have also not seen signs that are common in a runaway situation.

According to Cardoza, there have been no fights at home or any sign that Lamar was unhappy.

"Everything was status quo at home," he said.

Investigators are searching her cellphone and her computer for possible leads, Cardoza said.

At least two teams from the sheriff's Sexual Assault Felony Enforcement task force took to the streets this afternoon to make contact with every registered sex offender in the area to confirm their whereabouts at the time of Lamar's disappearance, Cardoza said.

Authorities were stationed at Ann Sobrato High School this morning speaking to students and gathering information.

"We're all working together to get Sierra back home," school Principal Deborah Padilla said this morning.

Deputies also interviewed students at Washington High School in Fremont, where Lamar was previously a student.

Padilla said students have been helping to post fliers and contribute information to the investigation.

Posters bearing Lamar's picture and a description covered utility poles and the windows throughout the Bay Area.

Sierra is described as 5 feet 2 inches tall, with a thin build. She was last seen carrying a Juicy brand black-and-pink purse.

Anyone with information about Sierra or her whereabouts is asked to call Santa Clara County communications at (408) 299-2311. During business hours, tipsters can call sheriff's investigators at (408) 808-4500 or the anonymous tip line at (408) 808-4431.

http://newark.patch.com/articles/for...-hill-95fe1786

See also: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...=feeds-newsxml

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Missing Morgan Hill teen's father is registered sex offender, but not a suspect in disappearance

As the search for a missing Morgan Hill teenage girl continued, investigators from the Santa Clara County Sheriff's Office spent Tuesday re-canvassing the area by her house and interviewing students from her current and former high schools.

Sierra Lamar, a 15-year-old sophomore, has been missing since 6 a.m. Friday when she left her home near the intersection of Dougherty and Palm avenues, west of Monterey Highway, according to sheriff's officials. Sierra did not show up for school and was reported missing when she did not come home.

Tuesday, the sheriff's Sexual Assault Felony Enforcement Task Force was still in the process of contacting the 267 registered sex offenders in Morgan Hill, San Martin and Gilroy to confirm their whereabouts at the time Sierra disappeared, Sgt. Jose Cardoza said.

The Sheriff's Office also confirmed Tuesday that Sierra's father, Steve Wayne Lamar, of Fremont, is a registered sex offender but is not a person of interest in his daughter's disappearance. Lamar has "been fully cooperative since the beginning of the investigation," Cardoza said.

Forensic investigators are still examining Sierra's cellphone, which was found Saturday about three-quarters of a mile from her house, and her computer for information that could be beneficial to the case. Sierra's phone was found at the northeast corner of Scheller Avenue and Santa Teresa Boulevard.

Investigators spent a second day Tuesday interviewing students at Sobrato High School, where Sierra is a sophomore, and Fremont's Washington High School, which Sierra attended before transferring to the Morgan Hill school last fall.

At Washington High, Sierra's friends taped hundreds of fliers to walls around campus. A huge white banner about Sierra, saying she is missing and listing a police phone number to call with information, is attached to the marquee of the school's entrance in the city's Centerville district.

"She's always been a happy person who wears her emotions on her sleeve," said Jacqueline Lambiase, 17. "If she was upset, she would cry. So, she wouldn't want to run away and just be by herself. If she just wanted to run away from Morgan Hill, she would have come here to Fremont and told her friends here or contacted her dad."

Friends said Sierra was a cheerleader as a freshman at Washington and moved to Morgan Hill last fall with her mom.

Sean Moffatt, assistant principal at Washington High School, said school counselors trained "to give support" during these kinds of incidents are available to students.

"I think making fliers and signs and posters and putting them up is helping students cope with the idea that their friend has gone missing," Moffatt said.

Moffatt described Sierra as a "typical student" who did cheerleading, got along well with peers and had a lot of friends, whom she remained close with even after she moved.

"We just want to see her home and safe," Moffatt said. "I can't imagine what her family is going through."

Sierra's disappearance was scheduled to be discussed Tuesday night on the "Nancy Grace" show.

Police said Sierra is 5-foot-2, with a thin build, olive complexion and long dark hair. She was last seen carrying a purse with a black-and-pink design with the brand name, "Juicy," written on it. Police did not say what she was wearing.

Investigators said results from Monday's interviews did not provide useful information to the investigation.

A candlelight vigil for Sierra was scheduled for Tuesday night at the Morgan Hill Presbyterian Church.

The Sheriff's Office has set up a special email address to receive tips on the case: tips@sheriff.sccgov.org.

Anyone with information on this case may also contact Santa Clara County Communications at 408-299-2311. During normal business hours please call sheriff's investigators at 408-808-4500 or the anonymous tip line at 408-808-4431. Information or tips can also be sent via the Sheriff's Office website at http://www.sccgov.org/portal/site/sheriff.

Information via text message can be sent to 408-421-6760.


http://www.mercurynews.com/crime-cou...ce=most_viewed

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Hundreds of volunteers join search for missing teen


MORGAN HILL, Calif. —
Hundreds of volunteers showed up in Morgan Hill Tuesday to lend a hand in the ongoing search for 15-year-old Sierra LaMar, who went missing a week and a half ago.

The KlaasKids Foundation, an organization that provides search-and-rescue services for families of missing people, was on hand at Burnett Elementary School to manage the search.

By 9 a.m., more than 200 people had registered to help look for Sierra and provide administrative support for the effort, KlaasKids founder Mark Klaas said.

Klaas' 12-year-old daughter Polly Klaas was kidnapped from her Petaluma home in 1993. Searchers looked for Polly for about two months before police arrested a suspect in the case, Richard Allen Davis, who led them to her body. Davis was later convicted of her murder.

Volunteers stood in a long line that wound around Dougherty Avenue as they waited to be checked in at the school.

"This is an amazing turnout," Klaas said, glancing around the school's multipurpose room, which was converted into a makeshift command center.

"We're lucky if we get this many people during an entire search," he said.

KlaasKids, which in 2011 alone provided search-and-rescue services in more than 200 missing persons cases nationwide, was summoned by Sierra's parents last week to assist in their case, Klaas said.

"They asked us if we would help them find their daughter," he said.

Klaas said three search-and-rescue experts flew in from Florida and Texas over the weekend to help prep for the search efforts. KlaasKids is teaming up with similar organizations, including Bay Area Missing and the Laura Recovery Center, for the Sierra LaMar case.

One Bay Area Missing volunteer who turned out in Morgan Hill was Michael Le, whose sister, nursing student Michelle Le,disappeared from Kaiser Permanente Medical Center in Hayward last May.

Her body was found in a remote area between Pleasanton and Sunol in September, and a former high school classmate and friend has been charged with her murder.

KlaasKids helped in the search for Le, which included hundreds of volunteers.

"I wanted to do something to pay it forward and be able to do the same for another missing person's family the way they helped us," Michael Le said.

Volunteers, who were required to be at least 18 years old, were processed in the multipurpose room and some were given orange vests. They were organized into teams of about 15 people before heading out to scour the area.

Sierra LaMar left home for school the morning of March 16 but never showed up to class.

Investigators later found her phone and her Juicy-brand purse containing a neatly folded pair of pants and a T-shirt belonging to the teen. The phone and purse were found separately about two blocks apart along Santa Teresa Boulevard, less than two miles from Sierra's mother's home.

The disappearance is being investigated by the Santa Clara County Sheriff's Office, and is considered simply a missing-persons case since there is still no evidence that she either ran away or was abducted, investigators have said.

http://www.ktvu.com/news/news/crime-...ng-teen/nLdmL/

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Sierra LaMar: Search For Missing California Teen Goes Underwater


Nearly a month after her disappearance, the search for missing teen Sierra LaMar has moved underwater.

Divers searched two reservoirs near the teen's Morgan Hill, Calif., home but did not find any signs of the missing cheerleader.

Investigators plan to analyze underwater sonar images taken earlier this week.

Despite the severe weather much of the state experienced on Friday, volunteers plan to spend the weekend searching for LaMar, 15, who disappeared on March 16 while on the way to catch her school bus.

Police have received more than 1,200 tips but have few leads, the San Jose Mercury News reported.

The teen's parents reached out to her friends, and grew more anxious when one friend said she wasn't in class earlier that day.

They decided to contact authorities around 5 p.m., after her high school sent them an email saying Sierra hadn't shown up for school that day.

"We want you to come back home. We know you will find your way back to us," Sierra's mother, Marlene LaMar, said at a vigil a week after her daughter's disappearance.

Marc Klaas, whose daughter Polly was kidnapped and murdered in 1994, is also on the case and has helped LaMar set up a search center.

Police found a bag belonging to the teen discarded near an intersection close to her home two days after she vanished.

Santa Clara County Sheriff's Sgt. Jose Cardoza said her Juicy brand bag contained a neatly folded pair of pants and a T-shirt.

Investigators also found Sierra's cell phone on the side of a road in the opposite direction of her bus stop a day after her disappearance.

The charger for the teen's cell phone was found in her room at home, and the phone looked as if it had been tossed.

Authorities said the phone provided no clues, nor did investigators find any helpful clues on her computer.


http://abcnews.go.com/US/sierra-lama...ry?id=16139366