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Candlelight Vigil For Missing Teen Planned for Tuesday Night

A group of local parents is organizing the vigil for 15-year-old Sierra Lamar, who has been missing since Friday morning.

Community members are planning to hold a candlelight vigil for tonight as authorities continue to search for her.

Sierra, 15, was last seen leaving her home Friday morning. Tonight, a group of local parents has organized the prayer vigil at Morgan Hill Presbyterian Church from 8 to 9 p.m., according to the church's pastor, Mark Inouye.

Sierra's family, friends and other community members have distributed fliers with her photo and description around town since she went missing. Sierra's mother received a notification around 6 p.m. Friday from Ann Sobrato High School about an investigation into her daughter's disappearance.

Over the weekend, police found Sierra's cellphone off of a roadway near her home.

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

Investigators are poring over the girl's cellphone records and examining her laptop computer in the hopes of finding leads, he said.

Cardoza said that while there is no evidence of foul play, there is also nothing to suggest that Sierra ran away from home. There were no fights at home or any signs that Sierra was unhappy there, he said.

On Monday, investigators from the Santa Clara County sheriff's Sexual Assault Felony Enforcement Task Force made contact with local registered sex offenders in the Morgan Hill zip code, according to an online national sex offender registry.

According to the same registry, Sierra's father, Steve Lamar, who lives in Fremont, is himself a registered sex offender who was convicted of charges of lewd acts with a child under 14 years old. Sheriff's officials have said, however, that Steve Lamar is not considered a suspect in the case.

Investigators on Monday interviewed some of Sierra's classmates at Ann Sobrato High to gather information, Cardoza said.

"We're all working together to get Sierra back home," school Principal Deborah Padilla said Monday. Padilla said students have been helping to post fliers and contribute information to the investigation.

Deputies also questioned students at Washington High School in Fremont, where Lamar was previously enrolled.

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 in During business hours, tipsters can call sheriff's investigators at (408) 808-4500 or the anonymous tip line at (408) 808-4431.

—Bay City News

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Just a short thought to get the word out quickly about anything in your neighborhood.
Share something with your neighbors. Write a new post... What's up? Make an announcement, speak your mind, or sell something
Mary Ann KannelyPuente May 21, 2013 at 04:30 pm
Also, it would take some work but couldn't the books be divided up and put into the classrooms? OrRead More is it because they were bought as library books with the library grant they have to stay in the library. It will be very embarrassing to tell book vendors that Luigi Aprea does not have a library anymore.
Mary Ann KannelyPuente May 21, 2013 at 04:26 pm
I don't know why the parents club can't run the library. They would have to be trained with theRead More computer library program but I'm sure there would be parents that would be willing to do that. It is very sad that just because we can't hire a librarian that the students have to loose out. That does not seem fair to me. I thought the students were supposed to come first and not be denied services due to a budget shortfall. We were promised that the budget would not effect the classroom. I guess in this case the union is more powerful than necessary. So all those books are going to collect dust. How sad and unacceptable.
R. Gabriner May 13, 2013 at 02:37 pm
Nice work Blanca. An excellent student in our program. Dr. Robert Gabriner, Director, EducationalRead More Leadership Doctoral Program San Francisco State University
Raymond Ruiz April 13, 2013 at 10:54 pm
It just don't matter how she dresses,whoo her parents are or aren't. Nobody and I mean Nobody hasRead More the right to rape or force a femsle to have sex with her,and then to make matters worse,they posted pictures of her on facebook ! Better we as a community should be asking,what would possess the young guys to do something like this ! That is why We have Our teenagers and kids passwords or no internet period ! As a parent my heart goes out to het and her parents !
Tamra~Kathleen April 13, 2013 at 05:51 pm
The offensive comment we're discussing shows a complete lack of respect for women that permeates ourRead More culture. That this person actually thought this poor young girl had culpability for her attack is a symptom of our societies disregard for women. I'm actually glad he made the comment so we can look at and discuss the problem.
Berto April 12, 2013 at 07:27 pm
From one of the interviews I watched online, it seems that many Saratoga High students knew whatRead More happened at the party and had seen the pictures. How is it that arrests did not follow the assault and the suicide for over 6 months? Could it be that the students who knew information about the felony chose to remain silent? I hope that is not the case; we will surely find out as the details of the case are revealed in the media over the next weeks and months. In the meantime lets make sure we are teaching our kids about the responsibility of living in community and caring about others. God forbid that any of the students have to live with the knowledge that they could have prevented the suicide, or with the knowledge that they helped cover up such a heinous crime.