Was teen’s hair found in man’s trunk?
The evidence is key because Garcia-Torres, 25, told police he had never met Sierra, whose body has not been found.
SAN JOSE — Prosecution witnesses spent much of Thursday defending how they gathered some of their most crucial evidence against the man charged with killing missing Morgan Hill teen Sierra LaMar — a rope found in the trunk of his Volkswagen that they say had the girl’s hair on it.
The witnesses — all crime scene investigators with the Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Office — testified they wore latex gloves and took other precautions to avoid contaminating the long white, neatly coiled rope and dozens of other items found in defendant Antolin Garcia-Torres’ red Volkswagen Jetta. Prosecutors allege that one of the many strands of hair found on the rope had Sierra’s DNA.
The evidence is key because Garcia-Torres, 25, told police he had never met Sierra. Although DNA consistent with the teen’s also was found inside Garcia-Torres’ car, the genetic
evidence on the rope suggests a scarier scenario — that Sierra may have been tied up and put in the trunk.
But based on an evidence photo taken by a crime scene investigator with the Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Office, Garcia-Torres’ lawyers dispute that there was any hair on the rope when investigators first found it.
In opening remarks earlier this month to the jury of six men and six women in Santa Clara County Superior Court, Garcia-Torres’ lead lawyer, Al Lopez, questioned how 58 strands of hair got on the rope since they aren’t evident in the crime scene photo.
On Thursday, Lopez repeatedly brought up the possibility of cross-contamination, possibly by crime scene investigators who unknowingly transferred hair — including Sierra’s — to the rope. He also left open the possibility that the hair evidence could have been planted.
However, prosecutor David Boyd suggested Thursday that there may be other reasons why the strands of hair were not visible in the photo, including low resolution, poor lighting or that it wasn’t taken close up.
Sierra has not been seen since she set out from home in the rural community north of Morgan Hill to take the bus to school March 16, 2012. Without her body, the genetic evidence is crucial to the prosecution’s case in the capital murder trial in Santa Clara County Superior Court. Garcia-Torres has pleaded not guilty to charges of murdering Sierra and attempting to kidnap three other women three years earlier. He could be sentenced to death or to life in prison without parole if convicted.
Under questioning earlier this week, one of the investigators, Sgt. Sanford Fisher said he had not been to Sierra’s house and would not have had an opportunity to have picked up and transferred one of the girl’s hairs. He said he used new brushes to dust the vehicle for fingerprints.
Other items in the trunk included a tent, archery gear, a paintball gun, a bag of marbles, and two pairs of gloves. Earlier this week, a tree surgeon who employed Garcia-Torres said he gave him the long white rope so he could practice making secure knots with it.
On cross-examination by Lopez, Fisher said Garcia-Torres’ car appeared as though it hadn’t been cleaned in a while. By eliciting the testimony, Lopez implied that Garcia-Torres made no effort to remove evidence — and therefore may not be guilty.
Later in the afternoon, Garcia-Torres’ ex-girlfriend, who had two children with him, took the stand. Frances Sarmiento testified she met Garcia-Torres in 2007 and that he had tattoos on each arm: “lucky” on the right, “riddle” on the left. At least one of the three women he is charged with attempting to kidnap said her assailant had arm tattoos.