TX - Elizabeth Barraza, 29, murdered setting up garage sale, Harris Co, Jan 2019 #3

[Kcookok]

Woman gunned down while setting up for garage sale dies; suspect sought

Police need help.

Thread #1
Thread #2

 

[CocoChanel]

https://www.khou.com/article/news/crime/new-video-shows-suspect-vehicle-in-deadly-tomball-ambush/285-9dfa2f56-ae06-4fb9-80aa-a06cd8edba32

What new doorbell video captured moments before Tomball woman's murder in driveway

 

[CTJupiter]

The video quality is bad, the sound is bad, the only thing they have is the truck model which may sound vague but I had fun using Google maps and played around Houston to find Nissan trucks, they are very rare down south the US I guess.
There is still probably a few thousands Nissan Frontier in the Houston area but there is not much Nissan Frontier Pro 4X with no roof rack.

Google mapped most of the Houston areas in late 2018 and early 2019 so you can have fun trying to find a dark Nissan Frontier Pro 4X using Streetview but you will not find much without a roof rack.
It is as if the police had the list of all black or dark Frontier Pro 4X in the area, they could likely find the killer.

 

[JnRyan]

The video quality is bad, the sound is bad, the only thing they have is the truck model which may sound vague but I had fun using Google maps and played around Houston to find Nissan trucks, they are very rare down south the US I guess.
There is still probably a few thousands Nissan Frontier in the Houston area but there is not much Nissan Frontier Pro 4X with no roof rack.

Google mapped most of the Houston areas in late 2018 and early 2019 so you can have fun trying to find a dark Nissan Frontier Pro 4X using Streetview but you will not find much without a roof rack.
It is as if the police had the list of all black or dark Frontier Pro 4X in the area, they could likely find the killer.

Coming home the other day I tried to make note of the trucks I saw. A lot of Toyota's and Ford's. Then some Dodge's and Chevy's. Only one or two Nissan's and none of them black or Pro-X's. OK, granted this not Texas. But I was just trying to get an idea in my area. I can't imagine that LE hasn't gone to the TX DMV and obtained a list of all black Nissan Frontier Pro-X within, say, a 50 mile radius of the crime scene. So, someone is either currently from outside the area or had access to a truck from outside the area? Or LE can't make a connection from the owner to Elizabeth because he was hired?

The hired killer. To me this looks so much like that except one aspect. Why? Per everything out in the media, neither Elizabeth or her husband were involved in the drug trade and don't appear to have associated with the wrong class of persons. The only remote possibility is Elizabeth's work. She worked for a company that inspected pipelines - not in actual inspections but in an administrative capacity. I have to suspect that pipeline inspections involve EPA regulations. But if anything large enough to motivate someone to kill Elizabeth would seem to be something that could be found by looking at inspections through a period of time prior to the murder.

I haven't ruled out the aspect of a hired killer because it appears to strongly indicate that point. Elizabeth's hobby with the Star Wars and Harry Potter probably had her crossing paths with persons outside the Houston area and this was personal. This killer could be from San Antonio, Austin or Lake Charles LA, just for a few examples. If from even farther away like Dallas-Fort Worth, Shreveport LA or New Orleans LA they might have spent the night or nights somewhere. The last couple of times I spent out of town in a hotel they didn't ask for any info on my vehicle so checking hotels within a day or two ride to Houston may not yield anything. And sometimes even when you provide vehicle data to a hotel it is not entered in the hotel's system - i.e., the data is only on the registration form.

 

[jenn83]

Nothing about this says random. It screams personal and inside knowledge imo. Too convenient that her husband had just left the house and she was at home doing the yardsale alone that early.

 

[JnRyan]

Nothing about this says random. It screams personal and inside knowledge imo. Too convenient that her husband had just left the house and she was at home doing the yardsale alone that early.

That this could have been a stranger just looking for a thrill kill like Israel Keys? Not impossible. It's on my list. In probability order it is right above a killing by an alien from another planet. Even if we ignore some of the aspects of this like the vehicle seen the night before and a possible disguise, crime statistics indicate that something like 80%-90% (maybe higher) of murders are committed by someone the victim is close to or knows. That this is personal - nothing to do with the victim's knowledge of criminal activity - just seems to be most likely.

Did this killer wear a disguise? Was it to disguise themself from witnesses? Or was it to allow the killer to get closer in the dark without Elizabeth realizing who it was? On both of those points this killer spent only a few seconds in front of Elizabeth before shooting. I wonder if the killer waited a few seconds longer if Elizabeth would have said a name or something else that helps LE.

 

[iamnotagolem]

Nothing about this says random. It screams personal and inside knowledge imo. Too convenient that her husband had just left the house and she was at home doing the yardsale alone that early.

I agree. If this was random then this is a super lucky killer. Elizabeth just happened to not go to work that day, she just happened to have an impromptu garage sale, Sergio just happened to have left for work 4 minutes earlier, the killer just happened to drive by the night before, the killer just happened to not approach Elizabeth until she stepped away from the doorbell camera.

 

[CTJupiter]

Coming home the other day I tried to make note of the trucks I saw. A lot of Toyota's and Ford's. Then some Dodge's and Chevy's. Only one or two Nissan's and none of them black or Pro-X's. OK, granted this not Texas. But I was just trying to get an idea in my area. I can't imagine that LE hasn't gone to the TX DMV and obtained a list of all black Nissan Frontier Pro-X within, say, a 50 mile radius of the crime scene. So, someone is either currently from outside the area or had access to a truck from outside the area? Or LE can't make a connection from the owner to Elizabeth because he was hired?

The hired killer. To me this looks so much like that except one aspect. Why? Per everything out in the media, neither Elizabeth or her husband were involved in the drug trade and don't appear to have associated with the wrong class of persons. The only remote possibility is Elizabeth's work. She worked for a company that inspected pipelines - not in actual inspections but in an administrative capacity. I have to suspect that pipeline inspections involve EPA regulations. But if anything large enough to motivate someone to kill Elizabeth would seem to be something that could be found by looking at inspections through a period of time prior to the murder.

I haven't ruled out the aspect of a hired killer because it appears to strongly indicate that point. Elizabeth's hobby with the Star Wars and Harry Potter probably had her crossing paths with persons outside the Houston area and this was personal. This killer could be from San Antonio, Austin or Lake Charles LA, just for a few examples. If from even farther away like Dallas-Fort Worth, Shreveport LA or New Orleans LA they might have spent the night or nights somewhere. The last couple of times I spent out of town in a hotel they didn't ask for any info on my vehicle so checking hotels within a day or two ride to Houston may not yield anything. And sometimes even when you provide vehicle data to a hotel it is not entered in the hotel's system - i.e., the data is only on the registration form.

Good points there! They may have a list of suspect but no solid proof. They cannot press charges based on someone owning a dark Frontier Pro X4 near Houston for sure. About her job, I am not too worried, most jobs where you have to take critical decisions you have to sign non-disclosure agreements and they could have fired her well before she would have done something that would hurt the company. Not impossible or unlikely but I do not see how killing her would be better than just firing her. Plus if an employe is murdered, anyone else at the company that would have a concern would go to the police so I uncertain about this lead.

One thing to keep in mind on this case is the father and many of Liz familly still have the husband as friend on social media, not that it means much but to my knowledge, there is no sign of a member of the familly pointing to the husband or anyone in their friends network. I also think this person was hired but we're missing by who.

 

[JnRyan]

Good points there! They may have a list of suspect but no solid proof. They cannot press charges based on someone owning a dark Frontier Pro X4 near Houston for sure. About her job, I am not too worried, most jobs where you have to take critical decisions you have to sign non-disclosure agreements and they could have fired her well before she would have done something that would hurt the company. Not impossible or unlikely but I do not see how killing her would be better than just firing her. Plus if an employe is murdered, anyone else at the company that would have a concern would go to the police so I uncertain about this lead.

One thing to keep in mind on this case is the father and many of Liz familly still have the husband as friend on social media, not that it means much but to my knowledge, there is no sign of a member of the familly pointing to the husband or anyone in their friends network. I also think this person was hired but we're missing by who.

The problem with an NDA is that it may not cover illegal acts. Granted she could still be fired but she might have a civil case for being fired as a whistle blower. (Whether you're fired or not, staying where you blew the whistle is probably not a good idea.) However, you're point about someone else knowing and going to LE is a strong possibility. In any event, I believe it is a remote possibility but not high on my list.

I don't believe the husband is a strong possibility, if at all. If the husband was a predictable person, i.e., they left the house within 5-10 minutes of a certain time every day a few recon trips could have determined that aspect. IOW no inside information may have been needed with regard to when he left. Of course, if he helped her put out garage sale signs that morning he may been late leaving or if he was doing it on the way to work he may have left early.

This leaves someone who knew Elizabeth and Elizabeth may or may not have known them. Also a hired killer. Or a random killing by a stranger. There is another aspect that didn't occur to me till just now. What if this killer was not a hired killer, but was in fact killing for someone else? Someone who killed Elizabeth on behalf of someone they care deeply about - with or without the other party's knowledge - with no money involved. Yes, this person might have figured it out, but if they cannot see a connection between the truck and their related party they may not have a very strong suspicion.

Whether or not the garage sale figured into the planning is something I'm not sure about. There is a possibility that the killer had no prior knowledge of it and improvised.

 

[Curiousobserver]

Good points there! They may have a list of suspect but no solid proof. They cannot press charges based on someone owning a dark Frontier Pro X4 near Houston for sure. About her job, I am not too worried, most jobs where you have to take critical decisions you have to sign non-disclosure agreements and they could have fired her well before she would have done something that would hurt the company. Not impossible or unlikely but I do not see how killing her would be better than just firing her. Plus if an employe is murdered, anyone else at the company that would have a concern would go to the police so I uncertain about this lead.

One thing to keep in mind on this case is the father and many of Liz familly still have the husband as friend on social media, not that it means much but to my knowledge, there is no sign of a member of the familly pointing to the husband or anyone in their friends network. I also think this person was hired but we're missing by who.

I've always wondered if the truck was disguised as well.

It isn't that difficult to paste a sticker on the back and make it look like a pro X4.

I wonder how certain they are that its a Nissan.

They obviously don't have a plate #, likely not a good shot of the grill either?

 

[iamnotagolem]

I've always wondered if the truck was disguised as well.

It isn't that difficult to paste a sticker on the back and make it look like a pro X4.

I wonder how certain they are that its a Nissan.

They obviously don't have a plate #, likely not a good shot of the grill either?

It definitely looks like a Nissan Frontier, it’s pretty distinctive looking. Maybe it’s a fake PRoX 4 sticker but it’s definitely a Nissan Frontier.

 

[CTJupiter]

In the footage from the neighborhood exiting, we can confirm the Nissan grill.
The bed Pro-X4 sticker and mags are somewhat visible althought quite blurred.

Most Pro-X4 have roof racks, I didn't see any bars on the roof of the truck so I am assuming it is a black or dark blue Pro-X4 with no roof rack.

 

[borndem]

Nothing about this says random. It screams personal and inside knowledge imo. Too convenient that her husband had just left the house and she was at home doing the yardsale alone that early.

Yep. Totally agree.

 

[borndem]

Good points there! They may have a list of suspect but no solid proof. They cannot press charges based on someone owning a dark Frontier Pro X4 near Houston for sure. About her job, I am not too worried, most jobs where you have to take critical decisions you have to sign non-disclosure agreements and they could have fired her well before she would have done something that would hurt the company. Not impossible or unlikely but I do not see how killing her would be better than just firing her. Plus if an employe is murdered, anyone else at the company that would have a concern would go to the police so I uncertain about this lead.

One thing to keep in mind on this case is the father and many of Liz familly still have the husband as friend on social media, not that it means much but to my knowledge, there is no sign of a member of the familly pointing to the husband or anyone in their friends network. I also think this person was hired but we're missing by who.

Interesting comments!
Yes, it is good to see that the family is acting as one true and real family. Each one of them needs the others in this heartbreaking and useless tragedy.
And anything coming close to a finality on this crime will take months. It's not close to being over -- but I hope I'm wrong on this opinion.
I don't think the person was hired, but it could certainly be a possibility.
And one more thing:

Welcome to Websleuths,
CTJupiter !!​

 

[Curiousobserver]

Plausible- if it wasn't random then the perp was obviously very intelligent.

 

[Yellowbunny2]

Plausible- if it wasn't random then the perp was obviously very intelligent.

Maybe has something to do with an affair between Sergio and ‘P’… not going to post names, but Sergio got engaged to ‘P’ just 2 years after Liz’s murder… that’s who the comment is talking about when it discusses body type

 

[Yellowbunny2]

Plausible- if it wasn't random then the perp was obviously very intelligent.

Also, the fact that the killer’s truck circled back around and passed the crime scene again after driving away seems to me like the killer could’ve been communicating with someone; maybe the other person asked whether ‘it’ was done and the killer drove back around to double check and confirm.

Definitely leaning towards the theory that there were likely 2 people involved.

 

[Curiousobserver]

The only problem with an inside job is the Ring doorbell- if the perp knew it was there, which they should have if it was internally planned, then why did they speak and risk their voice giving them away? I was just sheer dumb luck that the audio wasn't clear.

 

[jenn83]

The only problem with an inside job is the Ring doorbell- if the perp knew it was there, which they should have if it was internally planned, then why did they speak and risk their voice giving them away? I was just sheer dumb luck that the audio wasn't clear.

Maybe it was already known that it wouldn't pick up the audio well if someone tested it

 

[borndem]

Also, the fact that the killer’s truck circled back around and passed the crime scene again after driving away seems to me like the killer could’ve been communicating with someone; maybe the other person asked whether ‘it’ was done and the killer drove back around to double check and confirm.

Definitely leaning towards the theory that there were likely 2 people involved.

Welcome to Websleuths,
Yellowbunny2!!​