TX - Elizabeth Barraza, 29, murdered setting up garage sale, Harris County, Jan 2019

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One way a crazed woman out in the early morning driving around in her robe could approach me without me being alarmed is if I knew her or if she was asking if I'd seen her lost cat/dog/kid/hitandrundriver/burglar etc.

I can't get past the clothing - what to me looks like a robe/dressing gown type of early morning, right out of bed look. This, to me, indicates the action was on some impulse, early in the morning. She didn't even put her hair back. Looks like she raced out of her house, hopped in her car and came down the street.

Or maybe she slipped out of bed to commit the act and hoped to sneak back into her own house so her family wouldn't notice she left.

I have a few different thoughts. This case is so bizarre that it could go either way though.

I think Elizabeth may not have been caught off guard because of the garage sale. If she didn't know the person, I'm thinking she just assumed they were there to shop. Whoever it was walked up to her a normal pace, I'm guessing so she wouldn't be alarmed. We all know of the early bird garage sale people that get going before set-up is completed.

The jog back to the truck seems like a man's stride, but the mannerisms of walking up to Elizabeth appeared more feminine. Still very lost on that part.
 
One way a crazed woman out in the early morning driving around in her robe could approach me without me being alarmed is if I knew her or if she was asking if I'd seen her lost cat/dog/kid/hitandrundriver/burglar etc.

I can't get past the clothing - what to me looks like a robe/dressing gown type of early morning, right out of bed look. This, to me, indicates the action was on some impulse, early in the morning. She didn't even put her hair back. Looks like she raced out of her house, hopped in her car and came down the street.

Or maybe she slipped out of bed to commit the act and hoped to sneak back into her own house so her family wouldn't notice she left.
I really think that Elizabeth went around and put flyers out for her garage sale and she had the bad luck of posting one on the windshield or in the mailbox of some nut. I can't tell you how many people I have encountered in my life who can get enraged (homicidal) over some minor insult or infraction on their version of the "the rules". This person then went to her house in a rage. The person didn't seem threatening when she approached because she was a women. They might have had a run-in before about putting the garbage out too early or parking their car in the street at the wrong time. People like this think its their job to police everyone else. The reason the case hasn't progressed further in this amount of time is that the person has no relation to her what-so-ever.
 
The reason the case hasn't progressed further in this amount of time is that the person has no relation to her what-so-ever.

Half of me agrees with you on this. I feel the same way about the Missy Bevers case, actually. The other half of me sees such a targeted, deliberate murder that there had to be a personal reason.

If it's some stranger coming unhinged then this person's behavior is known to others. Up-thread I mention looking for a "crazy mommy" at the local schools or sports clubs.

Likely that LE is spending time hunting down the best lead they probably have which is the car description. Let's hope the vehicle was owned by the shooter and not borrowed or stolen.
 
I really think that Elizabeth went around and put flyers out for her garage sale and she had the bad luck of posting one on the windshield or in the mailbox of some nut. I can't tell you how many people I have encountered in my life who can get enraged (homicidal) over some minor insult or infraction on their version of the "the rules". This person then went to her house in a rage. The person didn't seem threatening when she approached because she was a women. They might have had a run-in before about putting the garbage out too early or parking their car in the street at the wrong time. People like this think its their job to police everyone else. The reason the case hasn't progressed further in this amount of time is that the person has no relation to her what-so-ever.

Very interesting and intelligent take on this! I often forget that people kill each other over silly things like being accidentally (or not) cut off while driving (road rage). People are so unpredictable.
 
That makes a lot of sense. So perhaps she's around guns, has access to them, but we can rule out military or LE training.

So follow up question, does her stance, and stance during the shooting indicate someone who is surprised by the recoil/feedback or someone that has fired that weapon before? I've fired a handgun and a rifle and with both I was surprised by how hard it was to handle the weapon during the firing - frankly it terrified me.

What is your view of the motivation behind the suspect walking up to Elizabeth to shoot her again while on the ground - to make absolutely sure she was dead? Did Elizabeth know the shooter? Was the shooter afraid of Elizabeth saying or knowing about something unrelated that she couldn't let out? It's such an "assassination" style murder - which means either a very specific motive or the shooter is a David Berkowitz type.

And if it's a Berkowitz type then it will happen again, won't it?

I think the shooter saved the shot to kill after Liz knew why she was being killed. I think the shooter told her something before the first shot.
 
I really think that Elizabeth went around and put flyers out for her garage sale and she had the bad luck of posting one on the windshield or in the mailbox of some nut.

They might have had a run-in before about putting the garbage out too early or parking their car in the street at the wrong time.

Possibly, but on the other hand, most neighborhood nuts are usually known to other neighborhood residents as being unhinged or possibly dangerous. Despite some relatively good video, nobody has recognized the murderer or the truck. Likewise, the victim probably would have been inclined to tell her husband about any past encounters with a quiet and previously unknown neighborhood nut.

In short, if the murder was “neighborhood nut”, committing a homicide in an impulsive rage, I think somebody would have recognized them pretty fast.
The reason the case hasn't progressed further in this amount of time is that the person has no relation to her what-so-ever.
The victim and her husband might have a very large circle of casual contacts.

Both the victim and her husband are young and thus grew up in the social media world. They would have both “brick and mortar” social contacts and quite possibly extensive “virtual” contacts.

Their known hobby of avid Star Wars adult role play including travel to gaming conventions could mean that even “brick and mortar” social contacts can be pretty far flung. Then factor in the possibility of attending a tenth year high school reunion.

Thus, it might just be that there are vast pool of social contacts for the police to go through looking for seemingly minor spats, and “ 'disses”.
 
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Possibly, but on the other hand, most neighborhood nuts are usually known to other neighborhood residents as being unhinged or possibly dangerous. Despite some relatively good video, nobody has recognized the murderer or the truck. Likewise, the victim probably would have been inclined to tell her husband about any past encounters with a quiet and previously unknown neighborhood nut.

In short, if the murder was “neighborhood nut”, committing a homicide in an impulsive rage, I think somebody would have recognized them pretty fast.

The victim and her husband might have a very large circle of casual contacts.

Both the victim and her husband are young and thus grew up in the social media world. They would have both “brick and mortar” social contacts and quite possibly extensive “virtual” contacts.

Their known hobby of avid Star Wars adult role play including travel to gaming conventions could mean that even “brick and mortar” social contacts can be pretty far flung. Then factor in the possibility of attending a tenth year high school reunion.

Thus, it might just be that there are vast pool of social contacts for the police to go through looking for seemingly minor spats, and “ 'disses”.
Your opinion is as valid as mine of course- if it were easy, someone would be in custody.

I am just going to add that I would not recognize and don't know the names of most of the people on my street, including the people who live right next door to me. Even so I also wouldn't suspect any of them could murder someone if you asked me. It might seem weird to people but I'm not antisocial. I get up and go to work before they come out and come home late after they go in and on the weekends my time is occupied away from home chasing my kids around different activities. When I get vacation, I travel. I am never home. My circle of friends, family, and acquaintances don't overlap. To me it seems entirely plausible that someone who lives nearby and isn't especially social could go unrecognized in that grainy video.

The key to this seemed to be that truck, which should have been recognized if someone she knew had one even remotely similar. The police must have pulled the registration of Every Nissan truck for 100 miles and checked for a connection to her by now. That's why I think it could be some person with an unknown grudge building over time that just snapped (and now has their truck registered and parked at their other house).
 
I am just going to add that I would not recognize and don't know the names of most of the people on my street, including the people who live right next door to me. Even so I also wouldn't suspect any of them could murder someone if you asked me.

To me it seems entirely plausible that someone who lives nearby and isn't especially social could go unrecognized in that grainy video.
Unless they were a "sleeper" type rager, I think it is unlikely that they would go totally unrecognized.

For example in my neighborhood, I "know" the person that has come out and aggressively yelled at neighborhood kids (kids since moved out) for very minor trespassing. Likewise, I "know" the resident who drives way too fast and possibly drinks while driving. Heck, I even know his preferred brands of beer.

I don't know their names, their occupations or if they have children etc. I cant even describe what one looks like as I have never seen him. Rather, I just know which house he lives in.

If the police were to ask me about a possible neighborhood rage murder or a possible neighbor involved a hit and run, I could give them general information about both.

It would be the same in that neighborhood. Unless the possible rager was a total "sleeper" there could well be people who "know" them by reputation.
 
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I think the murderer is a male, wearing a cheap wig, dressed similar to Mrs. Norma Bates from the 1960 movie "Psycho". Cosplay? At least that is the first thought I had when I watched that poor quality video. Speculation, of course: Crime of passion. MOO
 
Imo, this isn't a crazy neighbor murder. Whoever did this was waiting in his or her car for Liz's husband to go to work. After the husband drove by, the killer pulled his or her truck out from the street where he or she was waiting. Then he or she drove a few blocks down the road to murder Liz.
 
To me, this seems extremely personal. This is just my opinion.

Was it a former neighbor? Someone who held a simmering rage/grudge for a long time? Someone who mistakenly believed that Mrs. Barraza did something against them and was in a psychotic state when she/he murdered her?

Who would want Mrs. Barraza dead and why? I have no idea, however you have all set out possible motives that are very interesting.

Did this person borrow the vehicle and whoever owns it would never even consider this person being the perpetrator?

I had so hoped that the vehicle could have been identified and the murderer found by now. But there is always hope.

I have faith in the L.E. that they will eventually solve this.

There are so many questions and different ways of looking at the motive of why this person murdered.

I believe that any one of the possible scenarios you have all presented here are viable.
 
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I thought that there’d have been an arrest months ago, :(

So—is it someone who has such a distant connection that the police haven’t seen it yet? Someone who drove a few hundred miles over some obscure online issue?

Or a neighbor who’s concealed mental/anger issues so well that there’s no one to turn him or her in?
 
I wonder if this poor woman ever called CPS on somebody?
Oh My. That is a good question. My neighbour and I called CPS, anonymously, on another neighbour, because the 2 toddlers wandered the street, in dirty diapers, by themselves, several times. They were hungry and dirty and neglected. But her boyfriend was a scary guy.

We were young ourselves. And we did not want this crazy meth addict to know we called CPS. We never gave them our names, but they asked us questions that would make it possible to guess who called in. I asked them NOT to say it was a neighbour but they evidently did tell them it was a neighbour who called.

He confronted us very angrily. I am sure that people have been hurt for calling CPS on neighbours.
 
Hmmm. CPS, animal control, etc......really good ideas guys.

Adding to that excellent train of thought... Zoning or code violation complaints that are ostensibly anonymous, but on occasion, not really that anonymous.

The good news is that though these possibilities are relatively numerous and varied, they are all tracked and with detailed information about the target of the complaint.

The possibility of a complaint being the motive might be further heightened by the fact that the murderer showed the victim something before opening fire. Maybe the object was a citation, or warning notice from an agency of one kind or another.
 
Adding to that excellent train of thought... Zoning or code violation complaints that are ostensibly anonymous, but on occasion, not really that anonymous.

The good news is that though these possibilities are relatively numerous and varied, they are all tracked and with detailed information about the target of the complaint.

The possibility of a complaint being the motive might be further heightened by the fact that the murderer showed the victim something before opening fire. Maybe the object was a citation, or warning notice from an agency of one kind or another.
I have to believe you guys are on the right track here. This has to be some local nut who she ticked off somehow. She probably didn't even know she had enraged this person. The garage sale might have been the last straw, or it could have been the flyers she put out, or a complaint Elizabeth lodged, or the sale was the killer's opportunity to get Elizabeth out in the open, but this person almost has to be a local, lurking, nut. The big red-herring is the truck. It CANNOT be local or someone would have recognized it immediately. The police have undoubtedly searched the registrations of every truck like it for 100 miles.
 
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