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Nancy Grace
Teen Cheerleader Vanishes on Way to School
Aired March 20, 2012 - 20:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
RITA COSBY, GUEST HOST: And breaking news tonight. Live to California. A 15-year-old cheerleader who loves music and to dance set to leave home for the school bus stop. Her mother last sees her at 6:00 AM that morning before work. But then 15-year-old Sierra Lamar vanishes without a trace. It`s confirmed Sierra never makes it on the bus or to her new high school that morning.
Breaking developments tonight as new evidence emerges. Investigators find the missing teen`s cell phone in a field on the side of the road less than a mile from her own home. What does that cell phone reveal? Tonight, where is 15-year-old Sierra?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Searching for you.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And I gave her a big hug.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sierra Lamar is missing.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: High school cheerleader vanished on her way to school.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Seemingly vanishing.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is the field where the cell phone of the missing teen was found.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She`s only 15 years old.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is a missing person case.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Sierra, you know, if you`re out there...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And we`re just relaying information as it comes in.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There`s that possibility. We love you so much and we want you home.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I just hope she`s OK! Get her home safe!
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Caring to her friends.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I just really want her to be home safe.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Tried multiple times, four times.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I hope she knows that we are looking for her!
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And didn`t get a response.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And we care so much!
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I got suspicious.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We just want her to be home.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And I also looked in her room, saw her phone charger in her room.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We want you home and we want you safe, and we really are searching for you.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Searching for you.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: A lot of people that love you.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSBY: And good evening, everybody. I`m Rita Cosby, in for Nancy Grace. Thank you for being with us tonight. We go live to California, where a 15-year-old cheerleader set to leave home for the school bus stop vanishes into thin air. And a new twist in the investigation as search teams find missing Sierra`s cell phone less than a mile from her own home. What does that cell phone reveal?
Let`s go to "San Francisco Chronicle" reporter Henry Lee. Henry, tell us what happened to Sierra.
HENRY K. LEE, "SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE": So Rita, what we have here is Sierra was supposed to go to her high school, take a school bus there, but she never got on the bus. Her whereabouts are a complete mystery. We do not know if she ran away, or if she was a victim of foul play at this point.
COSBY: Let`s go to NANCY GRACE producer Ellie Jostad. Ellie, you know, do we have any idea -- the last sighting we`re hearing, the mom saw her in the morning. Give us the sense on that.
ELLIE JOSTAD, NANCY GRACE PRODUCER: Right. So Rita, what happened is she is at home. Her mother sees her. Her mother talked to her that morning. Her mom said everything seemed fine. She seemed cheery, nothing out of the ordinary.
Police tell us they do know that Sierra left her house. However, they don`t know exactly how far from her house she got before she disappeared. We know that no one saw her at the bus stop. The bus driver says he didn`t see her that morning. And the trail seems to have gone cold after she left the house.
COSBY: Henry Lee, do we know why they know she left her home, what evidence of that?
LEE: Well, her mother is saying that she, Sierra, usually gets up at 6:00 in the morning to prepare for school and that she saw her leave home around 7:15 for the scheduled 7:25 school bus pickup. So all indications are that she left home, but something may have happened during the short distance from the home to the bus stop.
COSBY: And Ellie Jostad, we understand it is a very short distance, right? It`s not that far from her house.
JOSTAD: Right. It`s not far at all. It is a short walk. She would just walk down her cul-de-sac, make a left. The intersection is almost right there. It`s less than a mile walk from her home.
COSBY: And let`s go to Sheriff Laurie Smith. She`s with Santa Clara County sheriff`s department. Sheriff, first of all, thank you so much for being with us. I know you`re extremely busy in this investigation. What can you tell us? Give us the very latest.
SHERIFF LAURIE SMITH, SANTA CLARA COUNTY (via telephone): Our investigation is continuing. Our mission is to return Sierra home safely. There`s a lot of investigation going on. She has Twitter accounts. We have her cell phone. We are releasing information as we get it, so whatever you have is everything that we can release. We need the public`s help.
COSBY: Sheriff, give us a sense of the timeframe. We just heard from Henry Lee. Give us the sense of what you know. Mom last sees her what time, any eyewitnesses?
SMITH: Mother sees her about 6:00 o`clock in the morning on Friday. We know that she was at her computer at 6:30, which is pretty standard because she generally goes to her bus stop about 7:10. After 6:30, when we know she`s on her computer, we have nothing else after that. We were contacted by the parents when she didn`t return home that night and hadn`t been in school.
COSBY: And Sheriff, my understanding -- the mother sees her that morning, correct, so the mother is the last one to see her?
SMITH: That`s correct.
COSBY: And was there anything unusual that the mother said, anything, you know, about her behavior, anything interesting in the neighborhood? Did the mother see anything that just seemed out of the norm?
SMITH: No, nothing at all. It was interesting from the beginning because we had a report of a missing person, and there was no evidence of foul play, but also, there was no information suggesting that she would run away. So we treated it very seriously from the beginning and allocated a lot of resources to the investigation.
COSBY: Absolutely. Sean Moffatt -- this is Sierra`s former principal at her former high school. She`s now at a new one. Sean Moffatt, give us a sense of this girl. She sounds pretty reliable, not necessarily a runaway type.
SEAN MOFFATT, SIERRA LAMAR`S FORMER ASST. PRINCIPAL (via telephone): Yes. Thanks for having me on. Yes, no, she is a normal high school student, a lot of friends, a lot of people that care about her. So I wouldn`t imagine her to be running away.
COSBY: Is there any indication from anything you`ve heard from friends or ex-friends of anything strange in her behavior, Sean?
MOFFATT: Nothing that I`ve heard of. And I`m not an investigator, so I don`t -- I try to stay away from, you know, the kind of questions that would create a negative tone. But...
COSBY: But Sean, nothing from friends who knew her? Because obviously, it sounds like she was very well loved.
MOFFATT: Nothing from friends who knew her. Everyone liked her. You know, no indication that -- from them that anything was different.
COSBY: Marc Klaas, president and founder of Klaas Kids Foundation -- Marc, what`s your sense when you hear this? Sounds like a reliable child. Again, the phone is found away from the house, not with her. This is a girl who`s constantly texting, constantly on the phone. She`s on the computer at 6:30 that morning, Marc.
MARC KLAAS, KLAAS KIDS FOUNDATION: Yes, that`s exactly right, Rita. And in fact, the phone was found a half a mile in the direction opposite of her bus stop. So it`s not a direction that she would have gone.
It seems as though somebody might have is thrown the phone out of a moving car. I do not for one moment believe that this girl has disappeared on her own. I suspect that she is probably the victim of foul play.
COSBY: Crime analyst Sheryl McCollum, what do you think?
SHERYL MCCOLLUM, CRIME ANALYST: It also appears from the damage to the phone that it was thrown from the driver`s window, as well. That phone is going to be critical, Rita. It`s going to have text messages, it`s going to have voice messages and possibly video.
COSBY: Great point. Sheriff Laurie Smith -- and I think Sheryl just hit on some great points. Let`s first walk you through any messages on the phone. You can check right now. You`ve already probably had the phone records in your hands.
SMITH: Yes, we do have the phone records in our hand. Another thing that we`re doing is checking for fingerprints on the telephone. The telephone did have some scratches. We don`t know if it was done -- if it was thrown out of the car. We don`t know if the scratches were there before.
But we have all of the phone records, text records, and we have that released through the phone company, also. So we have a lot of technological resources. And we`re pursuing all areas, including FaceBook, Twitter, all other electronic and social media. It`s been a tremendous help.
COSBY: Sheriff, what are you seeing in terms of phone calls? This is a girl who`s constantly on her phone. She`s a 15-year-old high school sophomore. Is there anything showing the last phone call or any sort of trigger based on those records?
SMITH: A lot of texting, a lot of phone calls. We`re still in the process of analyzing it. But we know that there wasn`t any activity on it after a certain period of time. And I`m not sure exactly when that is.
Our investigation`s going. We`ve a lot of information. We`re running down leads. And we have a lot of people dedicated to this.
COSBY: Michelle Dupre, medical examiner, forensic pathologist, what are you hearing that`s ringing some bells for you.
DR. MICHELLE DUPRE, MEDICAL EXAMINER, FORENSIC PATHOLOGIST: Well, Rita, I think the fact that the cell phone is not with her is an indication that she probably didn`t leave it there intentionally. I also agree the cell phone`s going to be very important to get not just the records but any type of trace evidence, certainly DNA, certainly fingerprints, and maybe any other kind of trace evidence, as well, off of that cell phone.
COSBY: And Michelle, you know, you talk about the fingerprints. We just heard from the sheriff, scratches evidence. How long does it take to get a fingerprint off a cell phone?
DUPRE: You can lift a fingerprint off in a matter of minutes.
COSBY: All right, Sheriff. Do you have the fingerprint already ID on that phone, Sheriff?
SMITH: We don`t. We have -- we have it and it`s with our fingerprint examiners right now. So we are doing it. The problem is, is it was really wet, rainy that day, muddy. So there`s a lot on the phone. We`re not certain if we`re going to be able to get prints, but it`s being looked at right as we speak.
COSBY: And Henry Lee, "San Francisco Chronicle" reporter, you -- there was an interesting point we`ve been talking about, the phone -- as I understand it, when Sierra leaves her home and she goes to the bus stop, she turns left. She goes to a cul-de-sac. You know, she gets out of her home, then she goes to that area, takes the bus.
The phone was found to the right. Give us a sense of why that is a totally different direction and a very remote area, too, Henry, right?
LEE: That`s right. Sierra`s mother has told reporters that that would be in a direction that is completely opposite from what -- where you would expect her to be. So if she did, in fact, meet with foul play, that is one key piece of the puzzle, that the cell phone is located in a different location than what you expect.
COSBY: And Ellie Jostad, NANCY GRACE producer -- Ellie, this is a remote area, too, I understand very high weeds. And we`ve all been talking about 20 feet off the road -- you know, it does sound like somebody threw it out, maybe took her, threw it out of the car, whatever happened to her. It is strange that a young girl would not take the phone, wouldn`t take the charger with her, either, right?
JOSTAD: Right. Exactly. The police tell us her charger is still at home. Her friends say she would never not have her phone with her. "Attached to it" is a phrase her friend used. So very strange for her to not have that phone on her.
COSBY: And Sean Moffatt, this is a very social girl, as we`ve been hearing, texting, social, lots of friends, right?
MOFFATT: Yes. Typical high school student.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Marlene (ph) Lamar talks through tears to drivers coming through the intersection where she believes her daughter was last seen. She hands out fliers and fishes for information, perhaps finding a nugget of information that might help find her daughter.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A teen cheerleader is missing, vanishing on her way to school.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sierra`s disappearance is totally out of character.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Texted at 7:11 and tries to catch the bus, usually leaves the house at 7:15 and catches the bus at 7:25.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But Sierra never makes it on the school bus.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It`s just weird that none of us have any idea!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is the field where the cell phone of the missing teen was found.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Less than a mile from her home. How did it get there?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And it`s out of character to not respond to texts.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The phone and Sierra`s laptop are now undergoing forensic analysis.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Somebody coming by and grabbing and taking you away -- it`s just, you know, baffling.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Who would want to harm a 15-year-old high school cheerleader?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSBY: And 15-year-old Sierra Lamar has been missing since she was on the way to her bus stop. What happened to her? And why is her cell phone so far away, suddenly found in a very remote area?
Let`s go to NANCY GRACE producer Ellie Jostad. Ellie, I want to ask you about these text messages because I think this is very important. We just heard from the sheriff that, apparently, she was on the computer at 6:30 in the morning, the morning she goes missing.
JOSTAD: Right.
COSBY: What do we know about so far the last messages she was sending? And is there anything -- you`ve been spending a lot of time on her Twitter, looking through all these accounts.
JOSTAD: Right.
COSBY: What are you seeing?
JOSTAD: Right. Well, she was on Twitter constantly. I`m not kidding when I say on it constantly.
COSBY: Like a 15-year-old girl, constantly.
JOSTAD: Right. Exactly. I mean, when you look back through her activity of the days before she was going missing, I mean, by my count, she sent out over 20 texts or 20 posts on Twitter, 20 tweets, the day before she went missing. And that was a typical day for her.
She was constantly on there, responding to friends, retweeting things her friends said, you know, always on the computer. She sent out over 6,000 tweets on Twitter. So constantly on there. FaceBook -- we`re told, she was on there just as often.
And when you look through these, you don`t see -- you see a lot of typical teenage talk, but you don`t see any indication that this is a girl who wanted to take off, this is a girl who was contacting strange people, nothing like that. It seems like typical teenage stuff.
COSBY: And Cheryl Arutt, clinical and forensic psychologist, when you hear all this -- this is a girl constantly texting, constantly on FaceBook, 6,000 messages that we just heard from Ellie. This is the kind of person - - don`t you think she would have left some sort of hint if she were planning to run away or doing something?
CHERYL ARUTT, CLINICAL AND FORENSIC PSYCHOLOGIST: Absolutely, Rita. I do think that she would have left probably a lot of evidence if she had wanted to run away. But this sounds like a well liked, connected to her community, successful, resilient young girl. And she moved from another high school, and is this socially active probably with her old friends and her new friends.
And I think that all of this tweeting and texting -- we need to remember that if somebody is looking to target a teenager, very often, they can probably get a lot of accurate information to case where someone might be or what their habits are, if they follow tweets and things like that. So I don`t know whether that was something that was used to help map out where she`d be and when.
COSBY: And Cheryl...
ARUTT: But I`m concerned about that, as well.
COSBY: ... you bring up a great point. The other thing, too, this was a regular routine, Cheryl. She apparently would take the bus every day. I mean, this is a huge warning to parents. Maybe somebody was casing her out, whether it was on line or maybe even in person, Cheryl, too.
ARUTT: That`s right. We need to let kids know that when they -- she didn`t do anything wrong here, but we need to let kids know that when they put a lot of information out there into the Internet about where they are and when, and personal information about themselves, that there is also an element of risk for someone who wants to misuse that information to hurt them.
COSBY: Absolutely. Henry Lee, reporter with "The San Francisco Chronicle" -- Henry, how did the parents -- I understand the school sent a message, right? It was some sort of automated message?
LEE: That`s right. This is -- Marlene Lamar received a message on Friday afternoon saying that Sierra had not made it to school. And so she was told...
COSBY: But wait, Henry. Wait a minute. But I have a question. The school starts Friday morning. They don`t get the message until Friday afternoon? What happened?
LEE: Well, that`s what you call the attendance notification system. I don`t know if they have any kind of a mechanism for a morning roll call, if you will. But suffice it to say, the sheriff`s office was notified later that day.
COSBY: Yes, and certainly, a lot of time could have passed until the parents got that message. This is crazy!
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Where is 15-year-old teen cheerleader Sierra Lamar?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I just hope she`s OK!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Deputies are focusing on interviewing Sierra`s friends and classmates.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is a missing person case, and we`re just relaying information as it comes in.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A teen cheerleader is missing.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: God bless you to all those people that are searching for you.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Simply vanished on her way to school.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And when was the last time that you saw her?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: At 6:00 o`clock that morning.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But Sierra never makes it on the school bus.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I hope she knows that we are looking for her!
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Always has her cell phone on. Didn`t get a response. Her dad didn`t get a response.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Breaking news. At this hour, authorities find Sierra`s cell phone less than a mile from her home. Where is 15-year-old teen cheerleader Sierra Lamar?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSBY: And what happened to little Sierra? This is Rita Cosby, in for Nancy Grace. Let`s go to Ellie Jostad, NANCY GRACE producer. Ellie, what is the deal -- we know that there are no suspects at this hour. No one`s named. But there`s something interesting in the father`s background. He`s got a conviction.
JOSTAD: Right. He does. And the sheriff`s department has confirmed this. We found records on this, as well. Her father is a registered sex offender.
COSBY: Wait, wait, wait! A registered sex offender? What happened?
JOSTAD: That`s correct. This is an incident actually going from 1998 to 2004.
COSBY: Wait, wait, wait! An incident? That sounds like repeated incidents.
JOSTAD: A continued -- right, continuing incident. He was actually charged with 12 counts of lewd or lascivious behavior with a child under 14. He pled no contest...
COSBY: This is Sierra`s father?
JOSTAD: Correct. This is her father. He pled guilty to one of those counts. He served under a year in jail for it. He is now required to register as a sex offender. He does appear on the registry.
However, the sheriff`s department tells us he has been cooperative from the beginning. They don`t consider him a suspect or a person of interest. And in fact, he and the other family members have done everything they can to be cooperative and help police with the search.
COSBY: And Henry Lee, he`s got visitation? Apparently, she`s allowed to see him every weekend?
LEE: Right. So in accordance with the sheriff`s statement that Mr. Lamar is not a suspect, that`s apparently the case. Now, keep in mind if young Sierra is shuttling between families in two cities, we don`t know if that perhaps is a factor and any stressors that may or may not be in her life. We just don`t have that information at this point.
But again, her father is not being considered a suspect or a person of interest and has been cooperating.
COSBY: And Jason Oshins, defense attorney -- Jason, I got to ask you -- all right, this guy is not a suspect, but he`s a convicted sex offender with somebody under the age of 14!
JASON OSHINS, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Right.
COSBY: All right, you know, tell me -- I`m sitting here going, Wait a minute.
OSHINS: You know, Rita, it certainly gives you pause to think about that.
COSBY: You know what? It gives me a lot more than pause! It gives me serious concern.
OSHINS: Well, no doubt with about that. I mean, are there any friends associated with him that we might want to look at, as well? That`s certainly in consideration.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They said they did hear a ping coming from the cell phone.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Found three quarters of a mile from her home, but it appears it may have been thrown from a vehicle and was in the opposite direction of her school, Sobrato (ph) High.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Faster.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Missing teen Sierra`s disappearance --
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: At 6:00 that morning. And I gave her a big hug and we were happy and there was a loving exchange between us before she left the house.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: This is the field where the cell phone of the missing teen was found.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She always brings her cell phone charger and always has her cell phone on.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: The search for Sierra Lamar near her home --
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She texted at 7:11 and left the house at 7:15.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Would simply have vanished on her way to school.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Sierra, you know, if you`re out there, if there`s that possibility, we love you so much.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I hope she`s OK.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
RITA COSBY, HLN GUEST HOST: And 15-year-old Sierra Lamar has been missing since Friday. She was on the way to the bus stop. Has not been seen since her mom saw her that morning. But as you heard her cell phone was found less than a mile away in a field, tall grass, and investigators are trying to find out what happened to beautiful little Sierra Lamar.
Let`s go to Kelly Saindon. She`s a former prosecutor.
Kelly, they are checking -- we were talking before the break -- we were talking about the father being a convicted sex offender. You can bet they`re screening people in that neighborhood, other sex offenders in the area, too, right?
KELLY SAINDON, FORMER PROSECUTOR: Sure. They`re going to look at all sex offenders in the area. They`re going to check out who dad`s acquaintances are. They`re going to check out everyone around the area where Sierra lives currently and they`re definitely going to see who she has been associated with, who she`s been exposed to. And whether or not there`s any way to tie this back.
Because, you know, people that are sex offenders, the reason they have to register is because they have a propensity to repeat these kind of acts. So they`re absolutely the first people that are going to be questioned about this in a situation like right now where there are very little clues.
COSBY: Pilar Prinz, defense attorney, you know what I find unusual, this father, here he gets convicted, he serves I think it`s 170 days for multiple incidents that apparently took place. He gets convicted on one count, it sounds like, and then he gets regular visitation on weekends. And he was convicted of lewd and lascivious behavior with someone under the age of 14.
PILAR PRINZ, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Well, first of all, Rita, I`d like to hear what the facts were behind this conviction so we can understand them a little bit better. But here`s the more important point. You`ve got a 15- year-old girl, her parents are separated or divorced. I guarantee that if this girl had a beef with her father, if she was afraid of him, if they`d been in an argument that day, if she had concerns about it, her mother would know about it.
She would be on Facebook, she would probably be tweeting her friends. People would know about it. So we can talk about the dad, and of course you`ve got to look there, but there is no indication so far that her father has been involved.
COSBY: And Ellie Jostad, apparently they had a pretty good relationship, right, the daughter and the father from basically everything we`ve seen.
ELLIE JOSTAD, NANCY GRACE CHIEF EDITORIAL PRODUCER: Right. In fact, her friends say that she would often travel to Fremont, which is the town she lived in before she transferred to this new school. They said she was back all the time, she stayed with her dad. That she actually, you know, didn`t want to leave.
She wanted to kind of stay in Fremont. Stay living with her dad. Stay there with her friends, but her mom, you know, moved to this new town and wanted her to accompany her. So there`s no indication that they had any sort of fractured relationship despite his status.
COSBY: And let`s go to Claire Normoyle. She is a friend of the missing teen, Sierra Lamar.
Claire, thank you so much for being with us. I`m sure, first of all, it`s so difficult. We`re so sorry about your dear friend being missing. How is everyone handling this?
CLAIRE NORMOYLE, FRIEND OF MISSING TEEN GIRL, SIERRA LAMAR: It`s really hard for a lot of us. But we`re just trying to keep -- stay strong because we`re not going to give up.
COSBY: No, don`t you dare. She looks like a beautiful young gal, so many people have said great things about her. Tell us about your dear friend.
NORMOYLE: She -- like, excuse me. She walks in a room, like, she would light up the room. Everyone loved her. And no one would think that this would happen to someone like this because she`s so innocent.
COSBY: Claire, was she dating anyone or was she having a relationship with anyone?
NORMOYLE: No. Not that we know of, but I`m pretty sure no.
COSBY: Would she have told friends if she was close to somebody?
NORMOYLE: Yes.
COSBY: Was there anybody who was angry at her?
NORMOYLE: There were a few girls who didn`t like her. But it didn`t really get to her.
COSBY: Would there have been any reason for her to run away? I understand that she moved schools, and that was a little bit of a transition, but was there any reason for her to run away? Is she the type of person who would have wanted to run away from home?
NORMOYLE: No, not at all. She was always happy.
COSBY: I understand she liked to dance, too. Dance and music. What -- tell us a little bit about things that she would love as we are looking at beautiful 15-year-old Sierra Lamar.
NORMOYLE: Music, that was like everything to her. She would always be listening to music.
COSBY: And a responsible person, right?
NORMOYLE: Yes.
COSBY: Let`s take your calls, everybody. Let`s go to Carol from Pennsylvania who is on the line.
Carol, what`s your question?
CAROL, CALLER FROM PENNSYLVANIA: Hi, Rita. I was just wondering if anybody may have witnessed her getting into a vehicle with anyone?
COSBY: Let`s go to Sheriff Laurie Smith who is still with us with Santa Clara County Sheriff`s Office.
Sheriff, have there been any sightings, anything unusual, someone see her get into a car somewhere, see her get out of her house?
SHERIFF LAURIE SMITH, SANTA CLARA COUNTY SHERIFF`S OFFICE: Absolutely not. From the last time we have a text, no one saw her walking to the bus. No one saw her leaving her home. Absolutely nothing. It is somewhat of a remote area.
COSBY: How do we know that she actually left her home?
SMITH: We don`t but she`s missing from her home. We don`t know why or at what point she became missing.
COSBY: That`s what I`m asking. Do we know if she physically -- we don`t know if she physically walked out of her house or something else happened to her.
SMITH: We don`t.
COSBY: So still a lot of unanswered questions at this point.
Jason Oshins, when you hear all of this, what would you look at?
JASON OSHINS, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Well, you`re looking at everything. I mean, the sheriff`s, you know, recounted that nothing is off the table. We don`t know if she left her home. We don`t know where she might have encountered foul play.
So everything is on the table, Rita. There`s nothing that`s off the table at this moment and doing what we`re doing now, talking about it, hopefully stirs the public. Maybe someone saw something and this triggers a further lead.
COSBY: And Henry Lee, she had a pretty normal routine. So far we`re not hearing anything unusual about her. Do we know anything rambunctious in her background, Henry?
HENRY K. LEE, REPORTER, SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE: No. Again, I`ve reviewed her Tumblr and Twitter accounts. I don`t see anything that stood out to me. She would have certain opinions and, again, re-tweets that are visible but nothing really out of the ordinary, Rita.
COSBY: Sheriff Laurie Smith, what about surveillance tapes, too, in the area? As you point out, we were just talking, we don`t know how she left the home. You know, carried out, we don`t know at this point the details. Is there any surveillance in that area?
SMITH: We have been looking for all opportunities for surveillance tapes. We have pulled all of the county transit bus stop to see if she got on a public transit, all homes in the area, and we`re looking actively. But again, it`s a little bit remote and we haven`t located any surveillance tapes other than public transit tapes and there`s no information -- and we`re still reviewing tapes -- that she took any type of transit.
COSBY: Sheryl McCollum, crime analyst, what do you think is to be looked at into the house? And the other thing I thought was really interesting from the sheriff, she talked about scratches on the phone, too. What are some of the forensic things to look at?
SHERYL MCCOLLUM, CRIME ANALYST, DIR. OF COLD CASE INVESTIGATIVE RESEARCH INSTITUTE, POLYGRAPH ANALYST: Well, I mean obviously the trace evidence, the fingerprints off the phone. But what`s going to be important for me is if they can see who else was on that tower at the same time she was at that time of the morning since it is remote.
If anybody else was, you know, pinging off that tower, follow their pings and it may lead in the same direction. Maybe they took her.
COSBY: Sheriff Smith, do we know if anyone was pinging off that tower? That`s a great point.
SMITH: Absolutely. The technology is great. We have forensic people who are working it and we are getting all of the tower communication, and when we go to the company to get it, they tell us what towers to look at and that`s the information that we`re analyzing now.
COSBY: And, everybody, the "Nancy Grace Family Album" is back and we`re showing from your photos from the iReport.
Here are California friends, the McIlhaney family, mom Kylie, a former second grade teacher. She loves trying new recipes. Also 11-year-old Lilly, an avid reader and also a boogie boarder. She loves to babysit. And their Cavalier King Charles Spaniel, Molly. The family loves going with daddy Trent to Tahoe.
Share your favorite family photos with us through our iReport family album. Go to hlnTV.com/Nancygrace and click on "Nancy`s Family Album."
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(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: My daughter went missing.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A missing person case.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: A teen cheerleader is missing.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I hope she`s safe.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: The Lamar family are shocked over how the amiable teen could simply have vanished on her way to school.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She`s a good kid, hasn`t acted out of the ordinary to give me any signals that she`s upset with something.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: This is the field where the cell phone of the missing teen was found.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She texted a 7:11 and leaves at 7:15 and catches the bus at 7:25.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We miss her. And we just want her to come home.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We don`t know what happened after that.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: The phone and Sierra`s laptop are now undergoing forensic analysis. And deputies are focusing on interviewing Sierra`s friends and classmates here at Ann Sobrato High School and in Fremont where she had transferred this year from Washington High.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Sierra, you know, if you`re out there, we love you so much and we want you home.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSBY: And 15-year-old Sierra Lamar missing since Friday and, again, her cell phone found less than a mile away from her home. She was last seen in her home and was expected to go to the bus stop that morning but never made it.
Let`s go to Henry Lee, "San Francisco Chronicle" reporter. Henry, you know, I want to ask you a little bit about her routine in the morning. She would typically wake up. She would typically then go to the bus stop. Nothing unusual, though, that morning from what we`ve heard. Right? Nothing unusual with her behavior.
LEE: That`s right. She got up at 6:00 in the morning. It is pitch black, pitch dark at that time. Was on her computer by 6:30. And by the time she left her home usually around 7:15 it has brightened up -- brightened up considerably, Rita.
So at this point she would have been very visible the past few days. We don`t know again if some stranger perhaps saw her on the street and decided to target her as a victim.
A lot of possibilities our there that the sheriff`s office is looking at. Keep in mind, they have talked to a lot of her former classmates and current classmates at the two high schools but so far they have not learned anything of pertinent value at this point.
COSBY: And Marc Klaas, you can bet that they are talking to friends especially those that she might have been talking with, maybe somebody in the morning on that computer, also the night before, right, Marc?
MARC KLAAS, PRESIDENT AND FOUNDER, KLAASKIDS FOUNDATION: Well, sure, Rita, but I believe that maybe we`re all over-thinking this a little bit. There`s two things that seem key to me. Number one, she lives in a remote area and, number two, she is a creature of habit in the morning. She follows the same routine.
It would be very easy for somebody to see this pretty young girl alone on the street day after day after day, either somebody that lives in the community or somebody that drives by at precisely the same time every morning, and then just take advantage of an opportunity to snatch her off the street, and we don`t know what happened from there. I really think that that`s a scenario that needs to be looked at very, very carefully.
COSBY: And Sheriff Laurie Smith with the Santa Clara County Sheriff`s Department.
Sheriff, you know, that was the first that rung out to me, too, because why would she leave with her cell phone? I mean, you know, if she was leaving, say she was running away doing something, she`d take the cell phone with her. She didn`t. It`s found in a different direction.
How much have you canvassed that neighborhood and was there anything out of the normal in that neighborhood, maybe a strange car driving by, a strange person driving by, Sheriff?
SMITH: You know we`re leaving no stone unturned and we`ve not eliminated anybody as a suspect. We -- the following day on Saturday morning we had a search and rescue team out there in addition to the deputies. We`ve been canvassing the neighborhood.
We`ve been looking at sheds and abandoned buildings and workers that worked in the area because there`s a sod farm close to it. We`ve had air operations up. We really actually have done a lot including looking at all the registered sex offenders in the South County area. We have a team assigned to that full time.
COSBY: And, Sheriff, how many are in that area, in that radius, and are you comfortable at this point that you`ve talked to them and they all have alibis?
SMITH: We have a team of people through a grant that does nothing but monitoring our registered sex offenders. And in the entire South County area, we have 267 active registered sex offenders.
COSBY: Two hundred and --
SMITH: And we have a team of people from multiple counties that are working on that. I can`t say that they`ve talked to all of them. They have talked to the ones that are in the immediate area, but we are casting a broader net for all registered sex offenders in the area.
COSBY: Sheriff, I just want to have you repeat, 267 in that area? Is that high or is that pretty normal?
SMITH: Well, in our county that`s about 1500 square miles we have about 4,000 registered sex offenders so in that area that would seem probably to be a normal amount and that would seem to be high because it`s a mixed demographic area as far as income.
COSBY: You know, Marc Klaas, sex offenders, 267 of them, what kind of screening do you have to do with these guys?
KLAAS: Well, listen, there`s about 100,000 registered sex offenders in California. There`s about half a million or so registered sex offenders in the United States. They`re absolutely everything, Rita. But let me say this. This bay area has been a -- has been a hunting ground for little girls for the past several decades. And there is a wealth of experience out there.
Law enforcement in the bay area and California knows exactly how to handle these cases, exactly how to investigate these cases and exactly how to search for these young victims. So if somebody is going to disappear it`s probably better that they disappear in California than almost -- in the bay area than almost any place else because the chances of recovery based upon the experience of the authorities in these communities is greater than almost anywhere else in the country.
COSBY: And, Sheryl McCollum, you know what I just think -- as we all know, and Marc knows, we all know this, these guys repeat time and time again.
MCCOLLUM: Absolutely.
COSBY: There`s a huge recidivism rate with these guys.
MCCOLLUM: No question about it. And not only that, they need to start expanding that search away from that cell phone, not just in that area. This person clearly had a car. This person -- if the dog lost the scent at the end of her driveway and he drove a mile and got rid of her cell phone, that means he got rid of that cell phone within the first two minutes of having her in that vehicle.
This is an experienced person.
COSBY: Sheriff Lamar (sic) Smith, I have to ask you. Do we know for sure -- we know that the dogs picked up the scent. Do we know for sure she left the house because it`s my understanding that everyone left the house before Sierra, is that right?
SMITH: That is correct.
COSBY: So is it possible that someone broke into the house, took her from the home? Do we know that someone, if, say, somebody took her, do we know that it wasn`t just in the home, that it could have been somewhere else? What do we know?
SMITH: We don`t know. There`s no forced entry in the home. The doors were locked. That`s why we believe it was outside the home. But if this was -- is an abduction, it doesn`t make any difference if it was in front of her house, inside of her house, and that`s why we`re putting the resources.
As far as the dog getting her scent just to the end of her driveway, we`re taking that information but we`re weighing that information because it was rainy. It was windy. It was cold. We`re treating this -- the longer this goes, the more suspicious we come particularly because of the time that has elapsed since anyone has seen her.
COSBY: Absolutely. Dr. Michelle Dupre. The scent the dogs picked up, obviously they`ve been very significant in some crime cases, but are they always reliable?
DR. MICHELLE DUPRE, M.D., MEDICAL EXAMINER AND FORENSIC PATHOLOGIST: No, they`re not always reliable, but they do have a good track record in most cases.
COSBY: Do you believe in this case that`s probably the last place she was?
DUPRE: Well, again, depending on the rain, that will affect their sense. So it sounds like it was the last place she was.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Sierra`s disappearance is totally out of character.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I was concerned and I called one of her school friends. She said that she didn`t see Sierra that day. I also looked in her room, saw her phone charger in her room. She always brings her cell phone charger and always has her cell phone on.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
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(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I pushed you the wrong way. No wonder.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: She`s only 15 years old but Sierra Lamar is missing.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is a missing person`s case. And we`re just relying on information as it comes in.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I just really want her to be home safe.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Sierra`s disappearance is totally out of character.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It`s just, you know, baffling.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Seemingly vanishing on her way to school. Who would want to harm a 15-year-old high school cheerleader?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSBY: And Sierra Lamar missing since Friday.
Let`s go to NANCY GRACE producer, Ellie Jostad.
Ellie, what was she last wearing? I understand she was carrying a purses right?
JOSTAD: Right. We do know that she had a pink and black purse with her, it was a Juicy brand purse. It had that word on it. However, we`re not sure exactly what she was wearing and that`s probably because her mom, her mom`s boyfriend, her sister all were out of the house before she was that morning.
So unfortunately we don`t have a description of her clothes, but they do believe she had that purse with her because it`s no longer in the home.
COSBY: And Henry Lee, what do we know about the mom? Is there any criminal -- you know, criminal record there? Are there anything interesting there? And the sister I understand was back from a spring break.
LEE: Right. I don`t have any information with respect to Sierra`s mom, as far as any criminal history. Sierra does have an older sister, indeed, who has come before the cameras to plead to the public, please, if you have seen my sister, our loved one, anything will help. No matter how minor it might be.
COSBY: And Sean Moffatt, Sierra`s former principal. I understand at the school there, this is her old school, very well loved. You know, at both schools. Posters, there`s a beautiful vigil for her, too?
SEAN MOFFATT, TEEN`S FORMER ASST. PRINCIPAL AT PREVIOUS SCHOOL: Yes. I think it`s a good way that students are using their energy to cope with what`s going on. They are using their creativity. They`re creating posters, flyers, they`re taking the flyers during lunchtime to local businesses. They`re really getting the word out there.
COSBY: And everyone, tonight, let`s stop and remember Army Sergeant Marcus Futrell, 20 years old from Macon, Georgia, killed in Iraq. He was awarded the Bronze Star, the Army Achievement Medal and the Army National Guard Medal.
Marcus loved electronics, video games, football, basketball, weight lifting and playing with his dog, Pooki. His favorite foods were pizza and also Mexican food, his mom`s sweet snacks and he also loved her red velvet and sour cream pound cakes. He leaves behind his mother, Cheryl, and sister, Shreta.
Marcus Futrell. A true American hero.
And thanks to all of our guests tonight and thanks most importantly to all of you at home for joining us. We`ll see you soon, 8:00 p.m. tomorrow. Until then, good night, everybody.
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