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

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According to the above linked podcast, she worked in robotics at one point. I wonder if there were any tensions there? Did she find out something she wasn't supposed to? Robotics can be quite competitive and could potentially involve trade secrets that could "make or break" the company. If this was the case, someone may have known her well enough to know about her involvement with cosplay. That might explain the use of a costume to throw off any suspicions. Just theories (which did keep a lot of us focused on the cosplay angle).

The more I think about it now, I'm not sure there would be any major secrets in the 501st Legion that would cause her death. Any costume rejections would have come from people with higher ranks than Liz if I'm understanding the rules and guidelines on the 501st Legion website correctly.

It's a good episode. I was wondering about her work history but didn't see any MSM coverage on it.
 
IslandGirlTC said:
According to the above linked podcast, she worked in robotics at one point. I wonder if there were any tensions there? Did she find out something she wasn't supposed to? Robotics can be quite competitive and could potentially involve trade secrets that could "make or break" the company. If this was the case, someone may have known her well enough to know about her involvement with cosplay. That might explain the use of a costume to throw off any suspicions. Just theories (which did keep a lot of us focused on the cosplay angle).

The more I think about it now, I'm not sure there would be any major secrets in the 501st Legion that would cause her death. Any costume rejections would have come from people with higher ranks than Liz if I'm understanding the rules and guidelines on the 501st Legion website correctly.

It's a good episode. I was wondering about her work history but didn't see any MSM coverage on it.
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I agree. I've asked that question about a possible work connection. But somehow I thought her employer had something to do with oil/gas pipelines. I would think LE has been all over that possibility.
 
If Sergio and Liz were leaving on their anniversary trip on a Sunday, why not have the garage sale Saturday morning instead of Friday morning? You would think you’d get better foot traffic & more sales during the weekend as opposed to having it on a morning where most people work on Fridays.

Having it Friday morning also conveniently has Sergio out of the picture with a solid alibi as he’s headed to work, and also the surrounding neighbors are most likely either gone for work, or getting ready for work in the morning and less likely to be outside at that time.

Also Sergio had mentioned that he heard the shooting through the doorbell app over his phone, but also that he thought he’d see Liz at the hospital, she’d tell a crazy story of what happened, and that he didn’t know that she was going to die. Since the video has been shown in the news, we all hear the horrific 4 shots and her screaming. Maybe Sergio was being optimistic that Liz was going to be ok, but I’m thinking if I had heard that doorbell recording that morning, I would have feared the worst.

For the record, I’ve gone back & forth on if Sergio was involved or not, but there just seems to be so much evidence out there that doesn’t put him in a positive light, and that he has to be involved somehow.
 
hey_GARY said:
If Sergio and Liz were leaving on their anniversary trip on a Sunday, why not have the garage sale Saturday morning instead of Friday morning? You would think you’d get better foot traffic & more sales during the weekend as opposed to having it on a morning where most people work on Fridays.

Having it Friday morning also conveniently has Sergio out of the picture with a solid alibi as he’s headed to work, and also the surrounding neighbors are most likely either gone for work, or getting ready for work in the morning and less likely to be outside at that time.

Also Sergio had mentioned that he heard the shooting through the doorbell app over his phone, but also that he thought he’d see Liz at the hospital, she’d tell a crazy story of what happened, and that he didn’t know that she was going to die. Since the video has been shown in the news, we all hear the horrific 4 shots and her screaming. Maybe Sergio was being optimistic that Liz was going to be ok, but I’m thinking if I had heard that doorbell recording that morning, I would have feared the worst.

For the record, I’ve gone back & forth on if Sergio was involved or not, but there just seems to be so much evidence out there that doesn’t put him in a positive light, and that he has to be involved somehow.
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I had garage sales pretty often many years ago with my mom. We often did Thus/Fri/Sat. Thursdays & Fridays were actually really busy, often more so than Saturdays. You have a lot of people who will stop on their way to/at work: delivery people stop, mail people stop, yard crews stop, etc.

Also, garage sales can be a lot of work/time beforehand & afterward. If I were leaving for a trip on Sunday, I wouldn't want to hold a garage sale on Saturday. Saturday, I might be packing, running any last minute errands, etc. I wouldn't want to have to deal with set-up & break-down of a garage sale right before leaving.

And, I think a Friday morning, in general, might have more eyes around than Saturday morning in a neighborhood since people are leaving to go to work on Friday mornings more than Saturday mornings. Saturday mornings seem quieter, imo, as people may not be in a hurry to go out.

MOO.
 
hey_GARY said:
If Sergio and Liz were leaving on their anniversary trip on a Sunday, why not have the garage sale Saturday morning instead of Friday morning? You would think you’d get better foot traffic & more sales during the weekend as opposed to having it on a morning where most people work on Fridays.

Having it Friday morning also conveniently has Sergio out of the picture with a solid alibi as he’s headed to work, and also the surrounding neighbors are most likely either gone for work, or getting ready for work in the morning and less likely to be outside at that time.

Also Sergio had mentioned that he heard the shooting through the doorbell app over his phone, but also that he thought he’d see Liz at the hospital, she’d tell a crazy story of what happened, and that he didn’t know that she was going to die. Since the video has been shown in the news, we all hear the horrific 4 shots and her screaming. Maybe Sergio was being optimistic that Liz was going to be ok, but I’m thinking if I had heard that doorbell recording that morning, I would have feared the worst.

For the record, I’ve gone back & forth on if Sergio was involved or not, but there just seems to be so much evidence out there that doesn’t put him in a positive light, and that he has to be involved somehow.
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It’s very common in that region to start a yard sale on a Friday morning. Many estate sales start on Fridays also.
Maybe it’s due to all the oil/gas/chemical plants - shift work or people working 4/10’s shifts.
JMO
 
hey_GARY said:
If Sergio and Liz were leaving on their anniversary trip on a Sunday, why not have the garage sale Saturday morning instead of Friday morning? You would think you’d get better foot traffic & more sales during the weekend as opposed to having it on a morning where most people work on Fridays.

Having it Friday morning also conveniently has Sergio out of the picture with a solid alibi as he’s headed to work, and also the surrounding neighbors are most likely either gone for work, or getting ready for work in the morning and less likely to be outside at that time.

Also Sergio had mentioned that he heard the shooting through the doorbell app over his phone, but also that he thought he’d see Liz at the hospital, she’d tell a crazy story of what happened, and that he didn’t know that she was going to die. Since the video has been shown in the news, we all hear the horrific 4 shots and her screaming. Maybe Sergio was being optimistic that Liz was going to be ok, but I’m thinking if I had heard that doorbell recording that morning, I would have feared the worst.

For the record, I’ve gone back & forth on if Sergio was involved or not, but there just seems to be so much evidence out there that doesn’t put him in a positive light, and that he has to be involved somehow.
Click to expand...
Interesting to me that 4 minutes after leaving his home he gets the ring bell alert, hears 4 gunshots and doesn’t return home. LE set off the alarm at 7:19 and he didn’t return home.

He returned home at 7:51, an hour after Liz was shot.

And maybe I’m confused on when he heard her shot on the ring video, and maybe he works 30 minutes from home and returned as soon as the alarm was triggered.
 
MURDERER_SERVANT said:
I didn’t know that S got the ringbell alarm and heard the gunshots while driving . Very interesting . Why didn’t he call and check her ? Not good .
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Exactly! I didn't realize he had gotten the alert for the doorbell cam. LE would be able to tell if he had called to check on her. The shots and screams were quite graphic and it was obvious something serious was going on. You'd think her not picking up would have worried him and he would have called for help, imo.

Unless his phone was set up to reduce distractions while driving and he wasn't aware why he was being alerted at the time. Even though I don't drive, there's been plenty of times where I've gotten an alert for something on my phone but couldn't read the text or whatever it was because I was busy doing something else.

Do we know if he actually heard the shots from the doorbell cam on his way to work?
 
When ring sends you a motion alert it doesn’t play the video unless you open the alert. It’s common to get alerts if people are coming and going from the house, as they would for a garage sale. You would know to ignore them. I think this is perhaps being reported incorrectly.
 
White robe and white boots plus a long wig - Princess Leia? I think that the costume worn could tell us a lot about what the killer was thinking. Did the killer believe Elizabeth had crossed over to the Dark Side and that justified this senseless murder? Could the murderer be a person who is mentally ill and cannot, at times, distinguish between fantasy and reality?
 
I had the impression the shooter was wearing a type of rain coat/pancho and rubber rain-boots in order to easily wash away blood splatter. The way they walk in the boots reminds me of rubber boots.
I have watched the video many times and the first thought was they had on rain gear. JMO.
 
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cuffem said:
I had the impression the shooter was wearing a type of rain coat/pancho and rubber rain-boots in order to easily wash away blood splatter. The way they walk in the boots reminds me of rubber boots.
I have watched the video many times and the first thought was they had on rain gear. JMO.
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I'm w/ @Balthazar. I too thought it was a Princess Leia costume. It appeared one of the buns on the side of the head came undone. And it looked to be an adult in a child's costume. Jmo
 
Balthazar said:
Could the murderer be a person who is mentally ill and cannot, at times, distinguish between fantasy and reality?
Click to expand...
It could be possible. There is a type of character called Yandere that is "most often female and in anime, who become violently possessive of a love interest." According to dictionary.com. So it's possible this person is in a Yandere anime costume rather than a Princess Leia costume. Or maybe some combination of the two. Which might explain how it's difficult to say exactly what kind of costume it is for sure.

This makes me wonder if there was anyone close to Liz or at least knew of her that was developing a same sex interest in Liz but she wasn't reciprocating it. The Yandere theme mixed with rejection and jealously sounds like a possibility. I say same sex because the characters are mostly female which would account for the short stature of the shooter. Just a theory.
 
The trend in solved murders seems to be strange to me. According to articles and statistics I've read the percentage of solved homicides is dropping compared to 30-50 years ago. Back then there was no DNA technology and outside of maybe banks there was almost no CCTV footage. I'm looking at crimes committed where there is CCTV footage - Jennifer Kesse, Elizabeth Barraza, Missy Bevers, Leah Rowlands, Scott Ratigan etc. - and yet the crime is unsolved. Something seems to be wrong with the quality of the footage or the killer has covered his face. It seems as if that if the killer isn't facing the camera from 3 feet away, maskless and saying 'Cheese' the video doesn't really do the job. With DNA the investigators are at the mercy of the labs. This could mean weeks or even months waiting to get results. I wonder what LE does in the interim - doing old school investigations diligently OR hanging their hopes on the lab results.

I guess it is only human nature. I know that as soon as the photos and voice of the killer came here I thought this crime was going to solved VERY quickly. So I fell victim to that aspect. I wonder if investigators fell victim to that as well.
 
JnRyan said:
The trend in solved murders seems to be strange to me. According to articles and statistics I've read the percentage of solved homicides is dropping compared to 30-50 years ago. Back then there was no DNA technology and outside of maybe banks there was almost no CCTV footage. I'm looking at crimes committed where there is CCTV footage - Jennifer Kesse, Elizabeth Barraza, Missy Bevers, Leah Rowlands, Scott Ratigan etc. - and yet the crime is unsolved. Something seems to be wrong with the quality of the footage or the killer has covered his face. It seems as if that if the killer isn't facing the camera from 3 feet away, maskless and saying 'Cheese' the video doesn't really do the job. With DNA the investigators are at the mercy of the labs. This could mean weeks or even months waiting to get results. I wonder what LE does in the interim - doing old school investigations diligently OR hanging their hopes on the lab results.

I guess it is only human nature. I know that as soon as the photos and voice of the killer came here I thought this crime was going to solved VERY quickly. So I fell victim to that aspect. I wonder if investigators fell victim to that as well.
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I’ve thought that for a long time, I think when there is video they think it’ll be an easy to solve case. I often wonder if they blindly gave the case to a detective without the video if some of these cases would be solved.
 
Yeah, are they getting together and brainstorming? combing through physical evidence and interviews? Getting help from other LE if they're stuck? Here we all are coming up with ideas and theories that seem like good angles to investigate. It really does make the case sound solvable, imo. The footage doesn't speak for itself. Technology is great, but you have to get in there and dig to get the answers.
 
Balthazar said:
White robe and white boots plus a long wig - Princess Leia? I think that the costume worn could tell us a lot about what the killer was thinking. Did the killer believe Elizabeth had crossed over to the Dark Side and that justified this senseless murder? Could the murderer be a person who is mentally ill and cannot, at times, distinguish between fantasy and reality?
Click to expand...
That is a good thought, but I feel like when someone wants to kill someone and get away with it they will try and hide their true identity as much as possible. I think the costume is the exact reason we could probably rule out cosplay. JMO
 
First time poster for this case.

While history would suggest that the husband is the primary suspect, I find the behaviour of the shooter to be atypical of a hired hitman (or woman). The shooter seems erratic, and possibly reluctant. This does not fit the profile of someone who would be an ideal target for a hitman. A customer would want someone who is confident, strong willed, and of course, a good shooter. This does not seem to be the case for the shooter.

My theory is that the shooter is a woman, possibly from the fan convention circuit, who had been cyber-stalking Elizabeth and her husband and was jealous of their relationship. Something made the woman finally "crack," and she planned the attack in a few days, finding a murder vehicle, and canvassing the area the night before.
 
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