Crime

The answers to the following questions should help summarize what’s happened so far in the Sierra LaMar investigation, inform how the community can help, and provide some useful  background to the case.

Used condoms and an empty handcuff box were found Thursday by a volunteer searcher at the west end of Palm Avenue, about a mile from missing teen Sierra LaMar’s bus stop in Morgan Hill, though Santa Clara County Sheriff Laurie Smith said Thursday night that “it’s possibly nothing.”

The plea hearing for the five suspects accused of killing Tara Romero, 14, and trying to kill three other teens Nov. 4, 2011 was postponed.

Divers from the Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Office spent the afternoon searching a group of percolation ponds along Coyote Creek for evidence that might lead them to the whereabouts of Sierra LaMar, 15, who has been missing since March 16.

A shallow magnitude 3.0 earthquake was reported Tuesday afternoon two miles from Pinnacles National Monument, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. The temblor occurred at 5:30 p.m. Pacific time at a depth of 1.9 miles.

Two simultaneous drug awareness presentations held in February at San Benito High School have created a divide of perceptions, with one district trustee in attendance that night calling it a display of racism and questioning why English and Spanish programs conveyed different messages.

The sentencing of the former San Jose policer officer from Gilroy who pleaded no contest to two counts of unlawful sexual contact with two teen boys is slated for Friday.

A fire destroyed much of a San Juan Bautista area house Saturday afternoon, while one of the two occupants was treated for smoke inhalation.

Sierra LaMar, 15, remains missing nine days since she was last seen before leaving to catch her bus in Morgan Hill and now the public is being asked to volunteer in a search party organized by KlaasKids Foundation that could attract hundreds of people.