Facebook.com/help.find.sierra
Police suspect Sierra LaMar -- seen in images posted on Facebook.com/help.find.sierra -- has been murdered.
By NBCBayArea.com and msnbc.com staff
A 21-year-old man was arrested late Monday in connection with the murder and kidnapping of missing California teenager Sierra LaMar, NBCBayArea.com reported.
Antolin Garcia-Torres, from Morgan Hill, was booked into jail Monday evening after being taken into custody at a Safeway in Morgan Hill, according to the Santa Clara County Sheriff's Office.
Sources told the NBC Bay Area Investigative Unit that the suspect has been under surveillance for several days.
LaMar, 15, also from Morgan Hill, had been missing for more than two months.
“We have arrested a suspect in the kidnapping of Sierra LaMar,” said Santa Clara County Sheriff Laurie Smith.
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“He was arrested today because this is how we thought the arrest should be done and public safety is our main concern," Smith added. "We don’t want anyone else hurt -- we don’t want any more little girls taken."
Not only was it the first public declaration of an arrest or a suspect in the case, it was also the first time detectives have said what the community has feared since LaMar vanished on her way to school on March 16: That they think LaMar was murdered.
Search for missing teen Sierra LaMar intensifies in California
However investigators said they had not found her body.
The sheriff acknowledged this has been a very difficult time for the LaMar family and asked that the family be left alone Monday night.
The Santa Clara County Sheriff's Department is holding a news conference Tuesday morning when investigators are expected to release more information.
The Lamar family is expected to attend the news conference.
Volunteers, officials searched
Volunteers and sheriff's officials have continuously searched the fields, open spaces and reservoirs near Morgan Hill since her disappearance, The Associated Press reported.
A Facebook page was set up to try to help find her.
The KlaasKids Foundation, founded by Marc Klaas, whose 12-year-old daughter Polly was kidnapped from her Petaluma home and murdered in 1993, has been organizing volunteer searches on Wednesdays and Saturdays, the news service added.
Investigators found Sierra's handbag with clothing and a cellphone along the side of the road near her home on March 17, the day after Sierra's mother reported her missing.
Earlier this month, investigators located a red Volkswagen Jetta they said may have been connected to Sierra's abduction given that surveillance cameras and witnesses put the car near the area where authorities believe she disappeared.
Sheriff's officials have released few details about leads in the case, including what, if any, evidence they found in the car.
The Associated Press and msnbc.com staff contributed to this report.
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