TX - Elizabeth Barraza, 29, murdered setting up garage sale, Harris County, Jan 2019 #2

[Ursamajr]

Thank you for your insights into this sub culture.

Your first hand knowledge indicates that a certain number of people in the LARP world are, well..... "in very deep" and that the LARP world attracts some people pre-disposed to "go deep". As result, a participant becoming unhinged over a LARP world respect / disrespect issue or a jealousy seems to be well with in the realm of possibility.

At the same time, you also state that in your experience, LARP dramas were almost always known to others in the group. This does not appear to be the case with the victim. Likewise, there does not appear to have been a build up such as the comments that "in deep" types directed to you or the "special mailings" that others sent to the fan author.

In short, some aspects of the LARP world suggest a distinct possibility of a LARP derived motive such as a disproportionate number of people deriving most, or all of their self esteem, social interaction and status from the LARP world, but other aspects (drama is almost always known with in the group, lack of a build up) seem to detract from it.

Thanks again for your insights. Wow, I had no idea that even appearing to hold hand with or be favored by a star could trigger such reactions.

It's wild, right?!

Just to expand on one of the things you said. I agree with you that some people "in deep" in the fandom targeted me out of left-field but with this other person... not so much. Her HP fanfics took off, became extremely popular which brought her lots of fame. With fame came egos and jealousy, then the revelation she plagiarized extensively, used her fandom fame and started a charity site about a family member with cancer (which was a lie), used the "charity" money for electronic gifts for her and friends, and then somehow managed to sign a multi-million deal to publish the fanfic (changed the characters names/became NYT Best Seller) which then became it's own movie franchise somewhat recently. You can imagine the HATE.

Two examples that are so different (Me: fandom nobody who arguably did nothing wrong / Her: fandom royalty who swindled the fandom) yet they brought some of the same reactions.

If the motive for EBs murder was fandom related, it could totally have been something so trivial that no one might have been the wiser - possibly not even EB herself.

That outfit though - something about it really makes me think. They could have worn a hoodie or cap but to me, it looks like a weird coat and what possibly is a wig. That's more of a costume than a plain old disguise.

 

[Cryptic]

If the motive for EBs murder was fandom related, it could totally have been something so trivial that no one might have been the wiser - possibly not even EB herself.

Likewise, somebody willing to murder over a very trivial matter might also forgo build up behavior that would be associated more with an escalating feud, rather than a rage.

That outfit though - something about it really makes me think. They could have worn a hoodie or cap but to me, it looks like a weird coat and what possibly is a wig. That's more of a costume than a plain old disguise.

Do you feel that the murderer is also wearing stylized boots? Perhaps this could also be indicative of an LARP persona costume.

In regards to the costume possibility, what LARP "milieu", (I remember that term from my long passed Dungeons and Dragons days), or "world" could the possible costume indicate?

The clothing and hair style / wig does not seem to be Dungeons and Dragons type fantasy type to me. I imagine that many "in deep" women in these groups would go for "Elfin" or feminine warrior hair style. Nor do they seem to be espescially Star Trek related. What other LARP/ Fandom milieus exist?

I remember reading that one of the Nivixum defendants is an actress in a movie(s) that have a fandom following. Could the clothing be related to that world / milieu?

 

[Ursamajr]

Likewise, somebody willing to murder over a very trivial matter might also forgo build up behavior that would be associated more with an escalating feud, rather than a rage.

True. Chances are high that if the killer is wearing a costume = planned/premeditated/targeted. IIRC the same vehicle was caputured on camera passing EBs house the night before. Scoping out the area? How knows.

Do you feel that the murderer is also wearing stylized boots? Perhaps this could also be indicative of an LARP persona costume.

I don't know if I'm reaching here but those shoes look so bright to me. Who wears bright light colored shoes to murder someone? Possibility that those shoes weren't the killers normal footwear? I don't know if they are part of a "costume" or not.

In regards to the costume possibility, what LARP "milieu", (I remember that term from my long passed Dungeons and Dragons days), or "world" could the possible costume indicate?

I don't think there is any way to be able to tell if the person was a LARPer. I don't even know if EB was a LARPer. Cosplayer? Yes. LARPer - not necessarily. To those involved - very different things.

In regards to the costume possibility, what LARP "milieu", (I remember that term from my long passed Dungeons and Dragons days), or "world" could the possible costume indicate?

No idea. I just see someone awkwardly running in what looks to me like a wig and a baggy or oversized Mumu. I don't know if there was rhyme or reason. Put it this way: I have a costume bin of random things I have made through the years. In the next 5 minutes I can slap on a giant bushy hag wig, a cape, skeleton hands, ragged stockings, and then top it of with a Grace Kelly Rear Window dress and no one would know what I was going for and I'd confuse the heck out of a bunch of people watching a Ring camera video of me. Whatever that person is wearing can be something silly like that. Walking out the door - grab grandmas Mumu and this halloween wig and now I have a costume.

I remember reading that one of the Nivixum defendants is an actress in a movie(s) that have a fandom following. Could the clothing be related to that world / milieu?

Yeah that was Alison Mack. Smallville (Superman) fandom. Smallville had a pretty large fandom but they stayed in the high school "milieu" and never really crossed over into the fantasy costumes like you'd think of when you hear "Superman". They never even showed (Clark Kent) in the suit.

Anyway, hopefully my nerdiness is useful for once in some random tiny way.

 

[drama_farmer]

True. Chances are high that if the killer is wearing a costume = planned/premeditated/targeted. IIRC the same vehicle was caputured on camera passing EBs house the night before. Scoping out the area? How knows.



I don't know if I'm reaching here but those shoes look so bright to me. Who wears bright light colored shoes to murder someone? Possibility that those shoes weren't the killers normal footwear? I don't know if they are part of a "costume" or not.



I don't think there is any way to be able to tell if the person was a LARPer. I don't even know if EB was a LARPer. Cosplayer? Yes. LARPer - not necessarily. To those involved - very different things.



No idea. I just see someone awkwardly running in what looks to me like a wig and a baggy or oversized Mumu. I don't know if there was rhyme or reason. Put it this way: I have a costume bin of random things I have made through the years. In the next 5 minutes I can slap on a giant bushy hag wig, a cape, skeleton hands, ragged stockings, and then top it of with a Grace Kelly Rear Window dress and no one would know what I was going for and I'd confuse the heck out of a bunch of people watching a Ring camera video of me. Whatever that person is wearing can be something silly like that. Walking out the door - grab grandmas Mumu and this halloween wig and now I have a costume.



Yeah that was Alison Mack. Smallville (Superman) fandom. Smallville had a pretty large fandom but they stayed in the high school "milieu" and never really crossed over into the fantasy costumes like you'd think of when you hear "Superman". They never even showed (Clark Kent) in the suit.

Anyway, hopefully my nerdiness is useful for once in some random tiny way.

I found your nerdiness helpful and enlightening

 

[Betty P]

Adding my thanks for the insight into these social groups. They seem very popular and have been for decades and sound like fun.

I wanted to post a reminder that, in their last public appeal for information, LE stated that the killer was wearing a trench-coat. Maybe that info can help narrow down choices for possible costume scenarios.

After 18 Months, Police Still Seek Clues on Who Fatally Shot ‘Star Wars’ Fan at Her Own Garage Sale

"A neighbor’s surveillance camera captured a 2013 or newer four-door black Nissan Frontier PRO-4X drive past Barraza’s Tomball, Texas home, before turning around and then parking one house away. A small-statured person with long hair or a wig, wearing a long trench-coat and boots, got out of the pick-up truck and approached Barraza in her driveway.

According to police, Barraza said "good morning" before the unknown suspect pulled out a gun. There was a brief conversation before Barraza was shot four times."

 

[Kittybunny]

I just tore through these two threads and am astonished that this still hasn't been solved! It seemed that this is going the way of other murderers caught on video with no resolution - Missy Bevers, Abby & Libby, and now this one. I was sure that the killer was someone close to either her or him and the motive being jealousy, affair, something along those lines. But by now, it seems there would be electronic evidence of such. I do think it was a woman but I will note that hispanic men can be of smaller stature than traditionally Caucasian men are.

Maybe the connections aren't so close, but I really don't believe this was completely random. The time of day, the departure of her husband, and the garage sale - it's all too coincidental. Also since we are victim-friendly, there may be avenues we cannot openly sleuth here.

Hopefully another year and a half won't go by, but I'm not that hopeful.

 

[cluciano63]

I wonder if the fandom comes up only because we happen to know she was in such a group. Otherwise this resembles so much the murder of Missy in TX as far as an ambiguous figure in a strange outfit...could just be, in both cases, a person trying to disguise gender etc...jmo

 

[Betty P]

I just tore through these two threads and am astonished that this still hasn't been solved! It seemed that this is going the way of other murderers caught on video with no resolution - Missy Bevers, Abby & Libby, and now this one. I was sure that the killer was someone close to either her or him and the motive being jealousy, affair, something along those lines. But by now, it seems there would be electronic evidence of such. I do think it was a woman but I will note that hispanic men can be of smaller stature than traditionally Caucasian men are.

Maybe the connections aren't so close, but I really don't believe this was completely random. The time of day, the departure of her husband, and the garage sale - it's all too coincidental. Also since we are victim-friendly, there may be avenues we cannot openly sleuth here.

Hopefully another year and a half won't go by, but I'm not that hopeful.

Yeah, it seems to be someone who was familiar with Elizabeth and her husband, their schedules and who knew that Elizabeth was taking the day off work to have the garage sale. That puts the killer into a fairly small group of people. For example, I'm willing to guess that even EB's parents weren't aware she was taking off work to have a garage sale. Someone close to her either committed the murder or shared that info with someone else who did.

JMO

 

[Betty P]

I wonder if the fandom comes up only because we happen to know she was in such a group. Otherwise this resembles so much the murder of Missy in TX as far as an ambiguous figure in a strange outfit...could just be, in both cases, a person trying to disguise gender etc...jmo

I wondered the same, but in reading the articles from July of this year and quotes from the new investigator, they frequently mention their membership in both Harry Potter and Star Wars groups. That seemed kind of deliberate to me. JMO

 

[SAMS]

Trench coat huh. Hmm, I can see it, although I was leaning toward a nightgown before. Small stature is what’s getting me cause I thought it to be a large statured woman. MOO

 

[jennyjenny]

Trench coat huh. Hmm, I can see it, although I was leaning toward a nightgown before. Small stature is what’s getting me cause I thought it to be a large statured woman. MOO

Me too ... I thought house coat/robe!!
Thanks to all for the great input ... I'm local and so wish for this to be solved!!

ETA: btw ... Thursday's are #1 day for garage/yard sales followed by Friday

 

[embufum]

OK I'm puzzled about something. It doesn't appear from the video that she was set up for this garage sale in her own driveway. Looks like she is set up on a corner but there is no corner near her house? The truck drives straight past her on his right crossing over her street then past a house with a car in the driveway to his left which I assume is the house with the video. Can someone please show me an aerial view of where she was? I know I've got to be missing something but from the photos I've seen they don't match where her driveway is. Thanks

 

[embufum]

OK call me crazy but this girl from what I can see was NOT in her driveway or anywhere near her house. According to the articles and the pics shown of her driveway she lived on Cedar Walk drive. I have the exact address that matches the pics shown but she was on the corner of Oconee and Sandusky Dr. So why hasn't this been told to the public? IMO this could change the whole scenario. Look at the pics I posted. You see they match and the house that had the video cam is blocked out. These pics are 2011 and the most current I could get from Google maps.

 

[embufum]

Here is a still of the truck making a right off of Gilbough Dr on to Oconee Dr and if you look at the map this leads to Cedar but if he would have taken a left it would have put him at the corner of where she was set up. So did this guy go to her house to make sure her husband was gone first then go to where she was? If so then how did he know where she was? I added a pic that matches the one from the video. If he would have went left you go to the first intersection and she would have been set up on the left on the corner.

 

[embufum]

The shooting took place at the house on the left at the corner. If you look to the right you can see the house that recorded the shooting and again it is blocked out.

 

[MajorHoople]

Here is a still of the truck making a right off of Gilbough Dr on to Oconee Dr and if you look at the map this leads to Cedar but if he would have taken a left it would have put him at the corner of where she was set up. So did this guy go to her house to make sure her husband was gone first then go to where she was? If so then how did he know where she was? I added a pic that matches the one from the video. If he would have went left you go to the first intersection and she would have been set up on the left on the corner.

Those photos you posted are interesting and they raise a question. Is it possible that Elizabeth Barraza was the victim of mistaken identity?

Is it possible the killer was after someone else?

 

[embufum]

Those photos you posted are interesting and they raise a question. Is it possible that Elizabeth Barraza was the victim of mistaken identity?

Is it possible the killer was after someone else?

I'd say possible but since he took a right he was headed toward her house it's hard to say. The people that lived in the blanked out house sold it in May of this year. Not sure if they moved because of what happened but if they did I don't blame them. Something else I just noticed. The news is saying she was in her driveway when she was shot but the news clip I saw show Oconee Dr roped off. I wonder why she was down at that end. She wasn't in anyone's driveway either but maybe there was more traffic on that corner.

 

[Betty P]

OK call me crazy but this girl from what I can see was NOT in her driveway or anywhere near her house. According to the articles and the pics shown of her driveway she lived on Cedar Walk drive. I have the exact address that matches the pics shown but she was on the corner of Oconee and Sandusky Dr. So why hasn't this been told to the public? IMO this could change the whole scenario. Look at the pics I posted. You see they match and the house that had the video cam is blocked out. These pics are 2011 and the most current I could get from Google maps.

I'm not sure how you came to this conclusion. She was having her sale, in the driveway of her home. There is a second photo of the truck that was released by LE that shows it driving in another area of her subdivision. LE did say that the truck drove past her home a second time, after she was killed, as well as before. They assume the killer was driving past to make sure she was dead, possibly at the direction of a third party.

There are photos of her home/crime scene at the link below:

What Happened to Liz Barraza?

Her house and the sale in her driveway were in the middle of the block, not on a corner.

More info here:

New details in Elizabeth Barraza's murder | khou.com

 

[embufum]

I'm not sure how you came to this conclusion. She was having her sale, in the driveway of her home. There is a second photo of the truck that was released by LE that shows it driving in another area of her subdivision. LE did say that the truck drove past her home a second time, after she was killed, as well as before. They assume the killer was driving past to make sure she was dead, possibly at the direction of a third party.

There are photos of her home/crime scene at the link below:

What Happened to Liz Barraza?

Her house and the sale in her driveway were in the middle of the block, not on a corner.

More info here:

New details in Elizabeth Barraza's murder | khou.com

How I came to the conclusion is by what I posted. Could I be wrong, I don’t see how. There is NO street for him to go down if you look at the aerial view from her house or if you look on google maps. Maybe at the last minute she decided to go to that location who knows but if you watch the new broadcast they have Oconee Dr roped off which is nowhere near her house.

I've seen all the links you posted thanks and that is partially how I realized that she was not in her driveway. The news is obviously not giving up the details of where she was located but since the police released the video it's pretty easy to see where she was or at least where she wasn't.

 

[drama_farmer]

How I came to the conclusion is by what I posted. Could I be wrong, I don’t see how. There is NO street for him to go down if you look at the aerial view from her house or if you look on google maps. Maybe at the last minute she decided to go to that location who knows but if you watch the new broadcast they have Oconee Dr roped off which is nowhere near her house.

I've seen all the links you posted thanks and that is partially how I realized that she was not in her driveway. The news is obviously not giving up the details of where she was located but since the police released the video it's pretty easy to see where she was or at least where she wasn't.

It's not unusual for a media area to be set up away from the actual crime scene, if that's what you mean by "they have Oconee Dr roped off which is nowhere near her house."