MORGAN HILL, Calif- Police belive that the Sierra LaMar murder suspect may be linked to more crimes. Antolin Garcia-Torres is facing murder and kidnapping charges in the Sierra LaMar disappearance. Now Morgan Hill Police say he may also be linked to 2 assault cases on two different women in 2009.
Sgt. Troy Hoefling says these crimes happened back to back and he believes they are all connected. "All three of these incidents happened within a 7 day period," said Hoefling.
On March 19, 2009, a woman was attacked with a stun gun at Safeway on Dunne Ave. Minutes earlier at the same parking lot a man followed a woman to her car and tried to break in. Then days later, on March 26th another attack occurred, but this time a woman was assaulted by a man with a knife at the Safeway on Tenant Ave.
Investigators say Garcia-Torres is a suspect in one of these cases and a person of interest in the other two.
A sketch was made from the description one of the victims gave police. If you compare the sketch and the photo of Garcia-Torres' mug shot, they look very similar.
Now police hope evidence found in the disappearance of Sierra LaMar will link Garcia-Torres to all three attacks. "Evidence that the Morgan Hill Police Department recovered back in 2009 was turned over to the sheriff's department and that evidence was directly linked to our suspect," said Hoefling.
Morgan Hill Police and Santa Clara County Sheriff deputies won't say what the evidence is and which crime they can already link Garcia-Torres to, but in May 2009 police arrested him for resisting arrest and obstruction a police officer. Over the next three years Garcia Torres had several more run ins with police, mostly for vehicle infractions.
Now they're taking another look at evidence for crimes dating back three years to see what else he could be responsible for. "We do have evidence of video surveillance from the Safeway stores in 2009," said Hoefling.
Right now Antonin Garcia-Torres is in the Santa Clara County Jail facing charges of murder and kidnapping.
