Forensic evidence found on property belonging to a missing California teenager led authorities to a Latino suspected of kidnapping and killing her

Sierra LaMar, 15, has been missing since March 16, 2012 when she left her mother's home to walk to her school bus stop. Police have arrested Antolin Garcia-Torres, 21. He faces charges of murder and kidnapping in LaMar's disappearance. Santa Clara County Sheriff Laurie Smith said that investigators believe LaMar is dead, although they have not located her body. "We continue to pray until she's found," LaMar's mother, Marlene, said. "Our search still is not going to end." She implored Garcia-Torres to "come forward and say where she is." Smith said that Garcia-Torres has not been forthcoming with authorities. "We have gained some value from our interviews with him, but nothing substantive," she said. LaMar's purse and phone were found at different locations on the side of the road within two miles of the house. The purse had clothes neatly folded inside. Forensic evidence was found "in multiple places" on LaMar's possessions, Smith said. She would not divulge the nature of the evidence. Physical evidence also links LaMar to Garcia-Torres' vehicle, which was seized on April 7, 2012. Garcia-Torres was identified on March 28, 2012 after forensic evidence was run through a law enforcement database. Garcia-Torres was in the database because he had a prior felony arrest for an assault. Forensic evidence has also linked Garcia-Torres to one of three unsolved assaults in March 2009.