The victim had arranged to sell a gold chain to the buyer through Facebook Marketplace in the area of Short Street around 8 p.m.

Upon meeting however, the would-be buyer suddenly grabbed the gold chain and ran.

Moments later, two more suspects approached the victim wearing all black and ski masks, one of them brandishing a firearm at the victim. The three suspects fled on foot down Short Street.

The incident is under active investigation by the Salinas Police Department.

According to Dunagan robberies of this kind happen more often than people think.

“We see it common enough that every time it happens we try to put something out to remind people of how unsafe it could be,” Dunagan said.

While Dunagan said it would be unrealistic to say that no one should use Facebook Marketplace, he noted that there are certain risks inherent to any informal method of exchange, especially for high value items.

“It is generally unsafe because you’re putting yourself out there with a high value item,” Dunagan said. “You truly don’t know who you are meeting nowadays with all these fake social media profiles, all that kind of stuff.”

That risk goes not just for those selling high value items, but also those looking to buy them, with some incidents involving a person selling a fake item, looking to rob the buyer of their cash.

There are, however, ways to reduce the risk of this kind of incident, said Dunagan, who recommends meeting up in high visibility public places like coffee shops or other businesses during open hours and bringing a friend.

“Don’t meet at night…if you have to push the meeting off because you work during the day, do it on a weekend as opposed to trying to knock it out after work, in the dark in some random parking lot.”

Dunagan also said that many police stations, like the Salinas Police Station, have designated “Safe Exchange Zones,” or parking spots surveilled by security cameras, where people can make transactions.

“We get people out there all the time doing it…the likelihood that you are going to get robbed in the parking lot of a police department is probably far less than on some random street.”

Dunagan advised the public to be skeptical if a person says they don’t want to meet up in one of these high profile locations.

“Getting some of that pushback, that should raise red flags for you.”

With increased awareness of the risks, Dunagan hopes that crimes like Sunday’s will become a thing of the past.

“It happens more often than it should in my opinion.”

In the meantime, he encouraged anyone with information on Sunday’s incident to contact the Salinas Police Department.

Chris Hamilton is a California Local News fellow covering Salinas and the Salinas Valley for The Herald.

Friday’s startling appellate court ruling overturning that murder conviction reopened wounds they had tried not to revisit.

Her mother, Marlene LaMar, who had helped organize hundreds of volunteers for years to search through fields and gullies after Sierra vanished in 2012, said Saturday she was too devastated to speak about the ruling. But in a text message, she explained her pain.

“Just when we thought we had peace and were able to move forward with our lives,” she wrote, “we now have to relive this horrific nightmare.”

The ruling underscores the tension between defendants’ rights and the anguish families endure when convictions are overturned, legal analysts say. It also opens the possibility of a retrial, but with limits. The appellate court barred prosecutors from pursuing certain first-degree murder theories and first introducing prior kidnapping allegations. If jurors were instead to convict Garcia Torres of second-degree murder, he could face a sentence as low as 15 years to life, they said.

“I absolutely agree with the family that this is awful, but that’s the way our laws read, and they do make sense,” said East Bay lawyer Michael Cardoza, who consulted with the defense in the Scott Peterson case. “For first-degree murder, a jury has to find that it was willful, deliberate and premeditated. In this case, the court said it’s too speculative to come back with that type of verdict, because you don’t have a body.”

Despite the higher court ruling, Garcia Torres, 34, remains at Corcoran State Prison while Santa Clara County District Attorney Jeff Rosen decides a path forward. Rosen declined an interview Saturday. But he may ask the California Supreme Court to review the decision or seek a new trial.

The Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Office issued a statement late Friday defending its investigation and expressing disappointment in the ruling.

“Our detectives have continued to diligently pursue new information and remain unwavering in their commitment to this investigation,” the statement said. “They will not rest until Sierra is found and closure can be brought to her family.”

In its 50-page ruling, the 6th District Court of Appeal determined that the trial court erred and that the jury was prejudiced by allowing three attempted kidnapping allegations from 2009 — three years before Sierra’s disappearance — to be tried alongside the murder charge. It also concluded that insufficient evidence supported certain murder theories presented to the jury and barred prosecutors from pursuing those theories in any retrial.

Prosecutors will still be able to argue a first-degree case if they convince a jury the death occurred during a kidnapping and that Garcia Torres was “an active participant,” legal analyst Steve Clark said.

“But the court cut off one aspect of being able to argue that it was premeditated and deliberative,” Clark said. “The court said it was too speculative to say that, without a crime scene, without a body, without a murder weapon.”

Prosecutors had also argued during the trial that the prior kidnapping allegations constituted a “training ground” for Sierra’s abduction and killing. If granted a retrial, prosecutors would not be allowed to introduce those prior allegations or pursue theories of willful, deliberate and premeditated murder, according to the ruling.

Messages left with Garcia Torres’s defense lawyer, Danalynn Pritz, weren’t immediately returned Saturday.

Although Sierra’s body was never found, her school backpack was discovered days later in a field; inside were extra clothes, makeup and her phone. In the trunk of Garcia Torres’ Jetta, detectives found rope with a 12-inch hair consistent with Sierra’s DNA profile.

The disappearance of Sierra, a cheerleader who hung posters of Marilyn Monroe in her bedroom and talked about makeup with her girlfriends, made national news. It brought out more than 750 volunteers who plastered photos of the teen with a broad smile and long dark hair across Santa Clara County. Schools were opened on weekends as base camps for search parties, with groups cooking meals for volunteers. The effort drew San Jose Sharks hockey players, including Logan Couture, to help search and raise money.

A full year later, when search efforts were still attracting 40 volunteers every weekend, one of the missing posters still clung to a telephone poll at the rural bus stop at Palm and Dougherty avenues.

By then, Klaas was a well-known advocate for tougher sentencing laws and had helped propel California’s three strikes legislation. He had also created the KlaasKids Foundation and helped organize the search parties for Sierra and, along the way, bonded with her mother, her father Steve and her older sister Danielle.

“Unless you’ve been through it, you can’t really understand the nightmare of it — the loss of control and the anger and the loss of hope and the questioning of your spirituality and your humanity,” Klaas said. “That’s where the bond is.”

Midsi Sanchez, who was 8 when she escaped her kidnapper three days after being abducted in 2000 on her way home from school in Vallejo, and the family of Michelle Le, who was killed in 2011 by a jealous friend after leaving her nursing class in Oakland, have also supported the LaMar family through the years.

All of their support for the LaMars, Klaas said, was to “demonstrate to them that it’s not always going to be hideous, that at some point, you’re going to have an opportunity to try to put your life together again.”

Indeed, Sierra’s parents, who had been divorced at the time of Sierra’s disappearance, have found new partners. Her sister graduated from college and married a year ago.

In 2023, Marlene LaMar joined Klaas at a reception to commemorate the 30th anniversary of Polly’s murder.

“Even though we never found her remains,” Marlene said of her daughter at the time, “knowing that everything possible that could be done was done, that gives me peace.”

Sanchez also attended the commemoration near Klaas’s home in Sausalito. She struggled for years with nightmares and addictions before finding relief and freedom in her faith. But the 251-year sentence imposed on Curtis Dean Anderson helped her cope.

“I felt safe and I knew that he would never be able to do the disgusting things that he did to me, to anybody else,” said Sanchez, who is now married with three children, “and I got boldness from that, knowing that no other girl would ever be hurt.”

That Sierra’s parents and sister still have to consider the prospect that Garcia Torres might be released if a retrial doesn’t produce another guilty verdict is “shocking,” she said.

After Garcia Torres’s lawyers made their appeal based on numerous issues they raised, including the admission of certain DNA evidence at trial, the appellate ruling concluded that the conviction was improper and prejudicial.

Clark, the legal analyst, said it is still possible the California Supreme Court could reverse the decision. There is another possibility, he said.

“This is going to put renewed attention on the case, and maybe more tips will come in,” he said. “And maybe new developments will happen that could lead to her body being discovered, and that would be the game changer.”

But to Klaas, the ruling shows that “the only thing that seems to matter anymore are the rights of the killer.”

Sierra’s family, he said, must now be thrust back into stress and anguish.

“It opens them up to the reality,” he said, “that it will never end.”

Mexicano’s father was sentenced to 30 years behind bars when Mexicano was just five. Two years later, he saw his stepfather lying on the ground, dead or dying from a gunshot wound suffered at his sister’s baptism. Two of his uncles were murdered, and another survived a shooting. By age 14, he’d lost two close friends to gun violence, according to court records.

By his 18th birthday, Mexicano had not only joined a notorious subset of the Norteños, he’d killed for the gang, twice. Both shootings targeted homeless men in Salinas, who were perceived as rivals by their killers. After the first fatal shooting, he became a “certified” member of the Salinas Acosta Plaza Norteños by getting an “SAP” tattooed on his chest. After being sent to jail for selling drugs on behalf of gang leaders at age 19, he and others stabbed a man in the Monterey County jail in a targeted attack known as a “removal,” court records show.

Now 22, Mexicano has been sent to federal prison to serve a 19-year sentence, according to court records. He is currently at an Oklahoma City transfer center prison, but his final destination has yet to be announced. His prison sentence, handed down on Jan. 13 by U.S. District Judge Beth Labson Freeman, was part of a massive prosecution aimed at Norteño “regiments” in Salinas and San Jose, as well as seasoned members of the Nuestra Familia prison gang who control them.

Mexicano’s tragic life, detailed in court filings before his sentence, began a dark turn when he became a gang member or associate at age 11. In September 2020, when he was 17, he and other SAP members accosted two men in a dark, wooded area around Carr Lake, behind the Acosta Plaza townhomes in Salinas. They made the victims get on their knees, then shot them. Prosecutors say Mexicano shot one of the men in the head, and another person shot the second victim — but authorities didn’t specify who they believe shot whom. One of the men, Roberto Vargas Hernandez, 38, died. The other, 28 at the time, survived.

The second killing, also committed before Mexicano’s 18th birthday, involved SAP members accosting a man in the same wooded area, forcing him to strip to check for gang tattoos, and shooting him dead. A magazine with Mexicano’s DNA was found at the homicide scene. Mexicano later admitted to involvement in both killings and other gang crimes while pleading guilty to a federal racketeering charge, court records show. The victim has never been publicly identified, but died on March 23, 2021.

In accepting a lengthy prison sentence, Mexicano joins dozens of others who felt the federal government’s wrath in 2021. A series of indictments that year targeted Nuestra Familia members or associates with charges that included murders, prison stabbings, drug smuggling, robbery plots, extortion, and money laundering throughout the Bay Area and Monterey County.

Almost all of the cases have resolved since then, court filings show, mostly through guilty pleas. Last year, four Nuestra Familia leaders were sentenced to federal prison after a jury convicted them of ordering attempted murders and other violence from behind bars.

The large-scale prosecution has resulted not only in lengthy prison terms, but also some unexpected transformations. One of the defendants, formerly a San Jose gang leader, found new purpose painting murals inside the Dublin jail where he was housed while his case was pending. Another talked about the fulfillment he got from volunteer work while out of custody awaiting a resolution in his case. A third became a government informant, testifying against his former fellow Nuestra Familia leaders about the split in the gang that caused him to leave that life behind, culminating with a prison riot where he was stabbed and nearly lost his life.

As for Mexicano, his attorney expressed hope for his future after prison, writing in a sentencing brief that the teenaged killer was once described by elementary school teachers as a “very dedicated student” who was “very well-behaved,” “very polite,” and a “good boy.”

“When he is eventually released, Mr. Mexicano will be decades older than when he engaged in the racketeering activity and he’ll have been long-removed from the neighborhood and violence that have led him to this point in his life,” defense attorney Matthew Dirkes wrote on Mexicano’s behalf.

A press release from the District Attorney’s office says on Aug. 13, 2017, John Doe #1 and John Doe #2 parked at an apartment complex in East Salinas. A lone gunman fired 12 rounds at the pair immediately after they parked.

They both suffered serious gunshot wounds, but Doe #1 was able to drive himself and Doe #2  to nearby Natividad Medical Center, where they received lifesaving treatment.

On June 11, 2018 Sergio Carcamo, a 37-year old migraine agriculture worker from Central America, was walking alone to his residence on Center Street in East Salinas. Before he reached his home, three gunmen got out of a car and fired 19 rounds at Carcamo. Seven of the 19 rounds struck Carcamo, killing him.

Initial investigations had revealed little evidentiary leads for both the shootings.

Later, in November 2018, investigators got a recording where Santa Cruz, a Norteno gang member, detailed his commission in both shootings. Santa Cruz reportedly bragged that in the 2017 attempted murders of Doe #1 and Doe #2, he “put not just one, but two, in critical (condition).” Santa Cruz also said it earned him the nickname “Drilla.”

The press release said in his account of Carcamo’s murder, Santa Cruz described how he spotted Carcamo walking on the sidewalk. Santa Cruz drove to his location, where he claimed he opened fire and “tagged” the victim with his gunfire, before his gun jammed.

Charges in Santa Cruz’s case were a result of Operation Redrum, a five-year state and federal investigation that focused on shootings committed by members of three Salinas-based Norteno gangs – Northside Boronda, Santa Rita Bahamas and Salinas East Market.

The investigation resulted in federal RICO indictments of six Norteno gang members, where each federal defendant entered guilty pleas and received prison sentences ranging from 25 to 41 years.

Operation Redrum prosecutions have resulted in five convictions and sentences to date.

Judge Pamela Butler found true multiple factors in aggravation, after the jury returned a guilty verdict. Delgado was on probation at the time of the offense and he has served a prior prison term, according to a press release from the District Attorney’s office.

The press release states on Dec. 4, Delgado was found sitting outside of a Salinas dental office with a large metal pipe. He was asked to leave the property, but refused.

Salinas police officers were dispatched to the scene, where they contacted Delgado. Delgado revealed during their interactions that he had a knife on him.

The officers searched Delgado, and found a concealed, 7-inch, fixed-blade knife in his boot. The blade on the knife was almost 4 inches long. The knife was fully concealed by Delgado’s clothing.

Butler will sentence Delgado on March 25. He faces a maximum sentence of three years.

A press release from the police department states that around 11:40 p.m. Wednesday, officers saw a white Honda Accord fail to stop at a stop sign at Piedmont and Forest avenues.

The officers had the car pull over and two passengers ran into the forested area of Pebble Beach, near the Holman Highway and S.F.B. Morse Drive. The officers immediately established containment and initiated a search, according to the press release.

The two suspects were not located Wednesday night, but one has since been identified and will face charges.

Both the driver and front passenger remained at the scene and were detained. Investigation revealed the 19-year-old driver, Emilio Valdez-Rangel, was unlicensed. The front passenger was a juvenile.

The officers determined that all four of the Honda’s occupants had conspired to burglarize the Safeway in Pacific Grove to steal alcohol. The press release states that two of the suspects had entered the store and taken a bottle of Crown Royal Regal Apple whisky that officers recovered inside the Accord.

Valdez-Rangel was booked into the Monterey County Jail under five counts, including conspiracy to commit burglary, contribution to the delinquency of a minor, minor in possession of alcohol in public, possession of stolen property and for unlicensed driving.

The juvenile front seat passenger was released to a parent after Juvenile Hall declined admission, but the case will be forwarded to Juvenile Probation for review and prosecution for conspiracy to commit burglary.

One of the fleeing suspects, who was also identified as a juvenile, will be referred to Juvenile Probation for burglary, conspiracy to commit burglary and for resisting arrest.

The fourth suspect is still unidentified and the investigation remains active while officers work to identify the outstanding suspect. Anyone with information related to the incident is encouraged to contact the Pacific Grove Police Department at (831) 648-3143. Any questions and information related to this investigation can be directed to Commander Dawn Delfino.

The eight-figure decision for Helen Anthony is an indictment against the State of California for negligently training and supervising a state park volunteer who struck her in a marked crosswalk at Point Lobos State Natural Reserve in June 2023, her attorney said.

“This verdict makes clear that the State of California cannot escape responsibility by simply labeling someone a volunteer,” said attorney Roger Dreyer, who represents Anthony. “The jury found that the state failed to properly train and supervise this individual, and that failure resulted in devastating, lifelong consequences. Public safety inside our state parks matters to every Californian.”

On June 10, 2023, Anthony, a Providence city councilmember, was visiting Point Lobos State Natural Reserve. While walking across a pedestrian crosswalk in “broad daylight,” she was hit by a vehicle driven by a state park volunteer. The injuries were catastrophic, including 20 broken ribs and a traumatic brain injury that will permanently affect her quality of life, according to medical testimony presented at trial.

The state argued that it did not bear responsibility for Anthony’s injuries because the driver who struck her was a volunteer for Point Lobos State Natural Reserve. However, during the trial, Anthony’s lawyers showed evidence that the state had offered her $50,000 to settle the case, according to Dreyer.

In a statement, the California State Parks department apologized to Anthony, expressing its “sincere and deepest sympathy” to her and her family for the injuries she incurred at the reserve. The state agency noted that the collision involving Anthony was an outlier in the services of its volunteers.

“The department is evaluating its legal options following this ruling,” the statement continued. “State Parks is thankful for the thousands of volunteers who dedicate their time to the nation’s largest state park system, and this unfortunate accident doesn’t diminish our appreciation for our docents and volunteers.”

Anthony resigned from her seat on the Providence City Council on Aug. 1, 2025 to “devote more time to her health” as she continued to recover from the injuries received during the 2023 incident.

“I’m proud to have served Ward 2 and the City of Providence and to have chaired the council’s Finance Committee. Unfortunately, the demands of those roles are hindering my ability to heal,” Anthony wrote in her resignation letter. “Over the past six years, I have been inspired by your commitment to demanding better for our schools, our environment, our city services, and our government.”

A press release from the Monterey County Sheriff’s Office said the officers received a call around 11:30 a.m. reporting a suicidal individual on the San Miguel Canyon Road overpass above Highway 101.

Southbound Highway 101 was temporarily closed as personnel from Crisis Intervention Services, North County Fire District and American Medical Response responded to the scene.

Attempts to locate rescue airbags across local agencies were unsuccessful, leaving negotiators no choice but to reason with the man, the release states.

Despite efforts by CHP Officers T. Duckworth and J. Simonian, along with Monterey County Sheriff’s Office Hostage Negotiator Deputy Osuna and Deputy Cosio, the individual remained on the railing of the bridge, ready to jump, for around two hours.

Cosio took decisive action when the individual repositioned himself and began to look down while praying as if ready to jump, grabbing the man and pulling him away from the edge with the assistance of Osuna, Duckworth and Simonian.

The man was subsequently transferred to Natividad Medical Center, where he was placed on 5150 hold.

According to a statement by Monterey County Sheriff’s Office, Sheriff Tina Nieto commended the deputies and CHP officers for their swift and courageous actions.

The Monterey County Sheriff’s Office arrested Santiago Martinez-Amaro, 28, for attempted murder, criminal threats and brandishing a firearm, a press release states.

On Sunday just after 8 p.m. deputies were dispatched to the 1100-block of Madison Lane in Salinas for a report of someone with a gun.

The victim said the driver of a black BMW sedan confronted him after being challenged about reckless driving in the neighborhood. Reportedly during the confrontation, the driver brandished a handgun and fled the area.

The Sheriff’s Office reported that about five minutes later, Martinez returned to the scene and threatened to “mow down” the victim before firing three rounds in his direction. The victim took cover behind a pickup truck and was not injured. Martinez reportedly fled the area again.

Deputies found Martinez in the same car, without license plates, traveling eastbound on Calle del Adobe. They conducted a traffic stop in the IHOP parking lot and Martinez was taken into custody without incident.

During the vehicle search, deputies found several spent .45 caliber shell casings, one .45 caliber round on the driver’s seat and a black, unregistered .45 caliber handgun.

The press release states Martinez was also booked into the Monterey County Jail and charged with carrying a concealed firearm, discharging a firearm from a vehicle, carrying a concealed firearm with a vehicle, driving under the influence of alcohol and driving with a blood alcohol content of .08 percent or higher.

The meeting, which will be held at the Salinas Rotunda from 6 to 6:30 p.m., is a requirement of Assembly Bill 481. The bill mandates local law enforcement agencies to present an annual report on its inventory of military equipment and the agency’s usage of it.

“Basically it’s a state mandated meeting where we go over all the military equipment that we possess or use in the police department and we’ll go over annual costs for these items and if they and if they were used or were not used,” said Sergeant Zach Dunagan of Salinas Police.

“It is open to the public. It is specifically set up for public transparency,” Dunagan said.

The bill was signed into law by Governor Gavin Newsom in 2021 in hopes of maintaining dialogue between the public and local law enforcement.

Military equipment under AB 481 ranges from things like tear gas and rubber bullets to assault weapons and armored vehicles.

According to the report, “the continued access to and use of this equipment is vital in ensuring our officers have the appropriate tools necessary to deescalate situations, preserve life, ensure safety for all people and protect civil liberties.”

The report states that while certain military equipment like drones were frequently used by the agency, other equipment like assault rifles were not used at all.

That pattern of equipment use by the Salinas Police was consistent over the last four years the report has been released.

The Salinas Police Department has 10 different types of drones listed as military equipment, including drones with artificial intelligence capabilities, thermal imaging and the ability to fly indoors. Drones were used to collect photo and video evidence during investigations, search for missing persons and support high-risk missions. The relatively high frequency of drone use is consistent across the four years of annual reporting.

Weapons such as assault rifles and specialized high-caliber shotguns were not used at all in 2025. According to past reports, since 2022, assault weapons have only been used once during a nine-hour standoff with an active shooter in 2023.

While the annual report does not specify the nature of each case where the use of military equipment was authorized, it does state that no violations or complaints about the department’s usage were reported in 2025.

To read the full report visit: https://police.salinas.gov/assembly-bill-481/

Chris Hamilton is a California Local News fellow covering Salinas and the Salinas Valley for The Herald.