SAN JOSE — Undeterred by the absence of missing teen Sierra LaMar’s body, a Santa Clara County jury took less than two days to find the man accused of kidnapping her in broad daylight near Morgan Hill guilty of murder.

The jury also convicted Antolin Garcia-Torres, 26, of the 2009 attempted kidnappings of three other women from grocery store parking lots, which the prosecution portrayed as a “training ground” for Sierra’s abduction and murder three years later.

“Nothing will take away the pain and sorrow we experience every day and for the rest of our lives,” Sierra’s mother, Marlene LaMar, said outside the courtroom. “But we’ve been praying for this ending, justice. It gives us peace to know this will not happen to another family.”

Starting Tuesday, the jury will now begin hearing evidence in a second “penalty phase” of the trial, after which it will decide whether Garcia-Torres should be sentenced to death or to life in prison without parole.

The disappearance of the 15-year-old girl who had recently moved from Fremont to near Morgan Hill drew widespread interest and touched off every parent’s worst worries. Beyond the visceral fear the case evokes of strangers abducting children, there is also the continuing mystery surrounding what happened to Sierra. Her body has not been found, despite a yearslong effort by more than 750 volunteers from around the Bay Area since she disappeared on the way to her school bus stop on the morning of March 16, 2012.

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Sierra LaMar case: As closing arguments begin, each side’s main claims The jury reached its verdict Monday after fewer than two days of deliberation, and its decision was announced Tuesday morning in a packed Santa Clara County Superior Court after a closely watched trial that lasted more than three months.

In addition to murder and attempted kidnapping, the jury also found Garcia-Torres guilty of killing Sierra during the commission of a kidnapping, a “special circumstance” to first-degree murder that makes him eligible for the death penalty.

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“It’s such a relief Sierra and her family have justice,” said Peggy Osorio, one of the many volunteers who helped search for the missing teen.

But Sierra’s dad, Steve LaMar, called the verdict “bittersweet.”

“We don’t have Sierra, that’s the bitter part,” he said. “But justice is served here today.”

Prosecutor David Boyd said “we felt very confident about the evidence we had,” but added that in light of the ongoing case he could not say much more. Jurors left the courthouse without comment.

Five of Garcia-Torres’ relatives were in court. He wore a blue button-down shirt and clasped his hands tightly before the verdict was read. Some of those who helped search for the missing girl quietly prayed in the hushed courtroom before the jury arrived.

Sierra’s mother and many others gasped and began weeping as the verdict was read. After the verdict was announced by the court clerk, a bailiff placed his hands on Garcia-Torres’ shoulders as jurors filed out. Sierra’s family all shook the prosecutor’s hand or hugged him as they left court.

Without her body, prosecutors Boyd and Dana Veazey faced an extra hurdle in getting a murder conviction. They had to prove the circumstantial case without an autopsy, a murder weapon or witness statements.

Adding to the prosecution’s challenge, District Attorney Jeff Rosen took the rare step in a “no-body” trial of seeking the death penalty, his first since he assumed office in 2011.

Konnie Bunt, another volunteer who helped search for the missing teen, said she hopes Garcia-Torres will reveal what happened to her.

“Now we just have to pray he comes to his senses and let’s her family know where she is,” Bunt said. “Sierra deserves to be home.”

Garcia-Torres’ attorneys, Al Lopez, Brian Matthews and Bicka Barlow argued Sierra is not dead, and suggested she may have run away without a trace because she was unhappy about her recent move from Fremont with her mother and mother’s boyfriend.

Prosecutors relied on physical evidence, including what crime lab analysts said was traces of Sierra’s DNA in Garcia-Torres’ car. Among several spots in the car, her DNA was found on a single strand of her hair on a rope in the trunk, while his DNA was on her pants found abandoned in a field. He told police they never met.

Garcia-Torres’ fingerprint also was found on a battery found on a stun gun dropped by the assailant in one of the supermarket attacks.

Lopez said the fingerprint could have gotten there because Garcia-Torres worked at the Morgan Hill Safeway where the battery was purchased and frequently re-shelved torn battery packages.

The defense also said the jury should disregard the DNA and hair evidence because it was mishandled by deputies and the crime lab analysts, raising the chances of cross-contamination from other trace or genetic evidence.

Lopez also said detectives failed to investigate a tip from a woman who saw a brown car that was weaving and pulled over to the side of the road on the same street as Sierra’s bus stop.

It was the lead sheriff’s detective in the case, Sgt. Herman Leon, who linked the 2009 unsolved attempted kidnappings of the three women from Safeway stores in Morgan Hill to the abduction of Sierra.

Garcia-Torres told police he had been on a short fishing trip that morning. But Boyd told the jurors that Garcia-Torres “had five hours” for which he had no alibi “to execute his plan, to dispose of her body, to do unspeakable things to her.”