Grand jury testimony details DNA evidence, self-incriminating tale with Sierra LaMar kidnap-murder suspect

SAN JOSE -- The man charged in the presumed killing and disappearance of 15-year-old Sierra LaMar was indicted on the strength of recovered DNA and alleged self-incriminating statements that revealed knowledge about evidence before detectives knew it themselves.

That was the thrust of the case that compelled at least 12 of 18 members of a criminal grand jury to indict Antolin Garcia-Torres in the murder of Sierra, whose body still has not been found, and in three prior attacks on women that surfaced after his 2012 arrest in the teen's case.

The new details about the evidence against Garcia-Torres are contained in 1,900 pages of secret grand jury testimony released late Friday. This newspaper bore the cost and successfully fought to make the transcript public as Garcia-Torres' attorneys sought to keep it under wraps. Before the release of the transcript, little was publicly known about Garcia-Torres' arrest other than that it was based on DNA evidence.

"It's vital for the public to understand what occurred during the secret grand jury proceeding, particularly since the prosecution is seeking the death penalty in this case," said David J. Butler, editor and senior vice president for news at the Bay Area News Group.

Garcia-Torres' defense team could not be immediately reached late Friday.

Sierra disappeared March 16, 2012 while walking to a school bus stop near her home in an unincorporated area near Morgan Hill. While Sierra's body has not been found despite exhaustive searches by officials, family and volunteers, prosecutors believe they have a strong enough case to seek the death penalty -- the first such case in the county since District Attorney Jeff Rosen was elected in 2011.

Sierra's DNA was found inside the suspect's car, while his was on her clothing, discarded in a field not far from where she was headed on the foggy morning when she disappeared.

More specifically, testimony from 50 witnesses painted a picture that included the discovery of DNA consistent with Garcia-Torres on LaMar's pants, which first led Santa Clara County Sheriff's detectives to suspect him. A hair from Sierra was found on a rope inside his car trunk, and black polyester fibers from the floor were similar to fibers found on her clothing.

During one of multiple interviews with sex-crimes detectives, Garcia-Torres preemptively tried to explain away the evidence against him. That peculiarity, they testified, continued to the point where Garcia-Torres was giving them new insight into the crime.

When the detectives mentioned they had DNA evidence, Garcia-Torres purportedly told them that on the way to a fishing trip at the Uvas or Chesbro reservoirs, he masturbated and ejaculated into a tissue and threw it out the window, which he claimed was a regular practice. But the detectives had not yet specified that the trace DNA they found was from semen.

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Grand jury testimony details DNA evidence, self-incriminating tale with Sierra LaMar kidnap-murder suspect