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

[jessarox]

I'm late to this case but I read through everything and I have some thoughts.

My thought from the very beginning of why this person wasn't afraid of being tied to the truck is because it wasn't their vehicle and many have discussed this as well. However, I think it didn't belong to a relative or friend of the perp but rather their employer. I think they work for a car lot or auto auction or maybe even a repair shop but I lean towards the first two. This would give the perp access to hundreds of vehicles AND dealer plates. My dad used to work for a used car lot and they let him use cars and their dealer plates all the time (we didn't have a vehicle of our own at the time). Their dealer plates were attached with strong magnets instead of needing a screwdriver to attach them, not sure if that's common but if it is, it would definitely allow someone to swap plates quickly.

Also, LE probably looked at recent sales for this particular vehicle but they likely didn't think to look at nearby dealerships for recent trade-ins.

I'm an avid yard sale goer (and I've hosted several myself) and I find it extremely strange that they didn't advertise the yard sale at all beforehand. If they wanted to make money, why would they wait until the day of to advertise? I really wonder if this was unusual for her sales. It's been said that she had 1 yard sale per year, did she always do them without advertising? Was this sale suggested to her by someone as a quick way to make a little extra cash before her trip? I am firmly in the camp that the perp knew about the sale beforehand. Now, whether that's insider knowledge or whether more people knew about the sale than they let on is another question altogether. Looking at EB's FB page, she had 400+ friends so even a single post on there about the sale would open it up to lots and lots of people.

I also think that this was a very personal thing. If someone had just been hired to kill her, why would they confront her instead of shooting her while her back was turned or while she was in the garage? The killer purposefully walked up to her to talk to her and then killed her. I feel like there's a strong personal reason for this murder, my hunch is jealousy and wanting her out of the picture so the perp could get something they wanted like EB's husband or even her job or position in the 501st group.

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[Curiousobserver]

Dumb luck, or was aware of it and waited until Liz stepped back away from it before getting out of his truck.

The more complicated it is the less likely it is. I don't think they tested out the audio before hand, without anyone noticing, just so they could say a few useless words before they killed EB. Liz's voice was captured perfectly, his/her voice was muffled by the wind. There is no way they could have known the wind would be just right at just that time. That tells me that maybe they didn't know or at least didn't care about the ring camera.

They didn't care that the truck was seen (or didn't even consider it)
Didn't care that their voice was heard (or didn't think of it)
Didn't care if they woke the neighbors (or didn't consider it)
But ran back to the truck to get away...

 

[iamnotagolem]

The more complicated it is the less likely it is. I don't think they tested out the audio before hand, without anyone noticing, just so they could say a few useless words before they killed EB. Liz's voice was captured perfectly, his/her voice was muffled by the wind. There is no way they could have known the wind would be just right at just that time. That tells me that maybe they didn't know or at least didn't care about the ring camera.

They didn't care that the truck was seen (or didn't even consider it)
Didn't care that their voice was heard (or didn't think of it)
Didn't care if they woke the neighbors (or didn't consider it)
But ran back to the truck to get away...

That not what I was saying. I think the killer knew about the camera enough to avoid it but as we know his/her voice isn’t clear on the recording.

 

[Eveningtea@night]

It baffles me that they can’t narrow down who knew about their garage sale. I have a couple questions…
1. could it be someone obsessed with her husband Sergio?
2. I wonder if maybe they know it’s a wig due to evidence left at the scene?
3. Have their financials been reviewed? Was there a life insurance policy on her? If so when was it taken out?
4. when did they purchase that home? Was it a new build? Could it be a previous homeowner?
5. could it be someone who wanted her job? Was a position given to her instead of assailant?

This story gives me Selena Quintanilla vibes. The murderer was obsessed with her, got close to her, became a part of her inner circle, stole from her/felt she deserved more, then couldn’t handle when Selena wanted nothing to do with her. Then the murder got Selena alone and shot her.

I wonder if Liz unknowingly “befriended” someone via social media and this person became obsessed with her (either romantically or through envy) and this person couldn’t handle the idea of Liz going on this trip with her husband. It was the assailants breaking point.

 

[noel leon]

This is MOO ,and what I thought the first day. The killer said something like you made so and so loose her kids so now I am going to shoot you. I feel she reported someone and it is revenge.

 

[CocoChanel]

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[Curiousobserver]

This is MOO ,and what I thought the first day. The killer said something like you made so and so loose her kids so now I am going to shoot you. I feel she reported someone and it is revenge.

That would fit- then it would be a totally "unrelated" person in terms of ability to trace the truck and other evidence.

 

[adelynschmidt]

Bumping for Liz, praying for justice for her & her family, please let 2021 be the year

 

[data_nerd_2005]

I am new into looking into this case! Does anybody know if Liz or her husband have any public social media that is still available? I like to web scrape and I want to see if I can find any useful info.

 

[JnRyan]

I suppose that there is a possibility this was done by a stranger who picked Elizabeth at random. But this just seems way too personal to me for that scenario to have any more than a very slight probability. Revenge is what I'm thinking, along with what appears to be the majority of us on here.

I'm feeling confident that LE is looking at anyone who at the present or in the past few years DISPLAYED any animosity toward Elizabeth or her husband. But how far back do you go in that search? Could this even be something that goes back to high school years? And maybe the 'reason' for this revenge is not something Elizabeth, her husband, family or friends can obviously see - i.e., not openly displayed by the killer? That last thought reminds me of Edgar Allan Poe's, "The Cask of Amontillado" where the narrator carries out revenge on another but it is never clear why, leaving the reader to wonder if the reason only existed in the mind of the narrator.

 

[jessarox]

I am new into looking into this case! Does anybody know if Liz or her husband have any public social media that is still available? I like to web scrape and I want to see if I can find any useful info.

This is Liz's facebook page: Log In or Sign Up to View

Not completely public but has a lot of older stuff that is public.

 

[data_nerd_2005]

This is Liz's facebook page: Log In or Sign Up to View

Not completely public but has a lot of older stuff that is public.

Thank you! I won’t go into detail about my plans as to not violate any WS rules, but I will say that her profile is “public” enough for my idea.

 

[iamnotagolem]

Today I saw a black Nissan Frontier ProX-4 with Texas plates without the roof rack. It made me think of Liz. I just realized how infrequently I see them because it definitely caught my eye.

 

[JnRyan]

Today I saw a black Nissan Frontier ProX-4 with Texas plates without the roof rack. It made me think of Liz. I just realized how infrequently I see them because it definitely caught my eye.

I never paid any attention to Nissan trucks till this occurred. A few times when I went out and tried to pay attention to trucks I didn't see any Frontier ProX trucks of ANY color.

I was looking at the Mickey Shunick murder the other day. LE suspected the killer drove a white pick-up. In her case LE caught a break when a white pick-up was found burned out in Texas. (Shunick was murdered in LA.) The idiot killer left the plates on the truck, reported it stolen and collected the insurance. I would imagine LE has searched the records for any burned, missing or stolen Nissan Frontiers. Of course, since it appears that LE does not have a license plate # they don't even know if this is a Texas registered truck.

 

[iamnotagolem]

I never paid any attention to Nissan trucks till this occurred. A few times when I went out and tried to pay attention to trucks I didn't see any Frontier ProX trucks of ANY color.

I was looking at the Mickey Shunick murder the other day. LE suspected the killer drove a white pick-up. In her case LE caught a break when a white pick-up was found burned out in Texas. (Shunick was murdered in LA.) The idiot killer left the plates on the truck, reported it stolen and collected the insurance. I would imagine LE has searched the records for any burned, missing or stolen Nissan Frontiers. Of course, since it appears that LE does not have a license plate # they don't even know if this is a Texas registered truck.

I’m of the opinion that the killer borrowed (stole) the vehicle then returned it before it was noticed missing.

It’s possible the killer worked at a dealership, had access to keys and just took a vehicle that was being sold later that day. Or maybe the vehicle was just in at the dealership for maintenance.

 

[JnRyan]

I’m of the opinion that the killer borrowed (stole) the vehicle then returned it before it was noticed missing.

It’s possible the killer worked at a dealership, had access to keys and just took a vehicle that was being sold later that day. Or maybe the vehicle was just in at the dealership for maintenance.

I'm strongly suspecting that as well. My other thought was someone keeping the vehicle for a military member while they are deployed. I know I did that with my vehicles when I deployed. It could be a military reservist called up for Iraq or Afghanistan. OR it could even be a person keeping a vehicle for someone who is originally from the Houston area but is stationed elsewhere. Twice when I was deployed the person keeping my vehicle was 250+ miles away one time and 1100 miles away the other time. If that is the case here that vehicle could be in Florida, Virginia or California now and the owner wouldn't likely have a clue about this case.

 

[Badgerette]

Also- back to the truck, but in the video...are their fog lights on? Bc on my vehicle you have to manually flip those on in a separate location AND i dont know if they come stock on a frontier? i think thats an optional upgrade or aftermarket add on? It seems strange to be cruising around with those on. I have no hypothesis on this, I'm totally just spitting out my observations.

 

[JnRyan]

Also- back to the truck, but in the video...are their fog lights on? Bc on my vehicle you have to manually flip those on in a separate location AND i dont know if they come stock on a frontier? i think thats an optional upgrade or aftermarket add on? It seems strange to be cruising around with those on. I have no hypothesis on this, I'm totally just spitting out my observations.

Good catch! Just looking at the 2018 year fog lamps were OPTIONAL equipment.
https://www.cars.com/research/nissan-frontier-2018/specs/393732/

Looking at another year, 2015, it appears that fog lamps were optional then as well.
https://www.cars.com/research/nissan-frontier-2015/specs/367510/

Maybe that narrows it down some, but unfortunately fog lamps aren't going to show in the TX database of registered vehicles. And if a dealer is going to order a Frontier with the premium Pro-X package chances are they will order them with an option like fog lamps. LE would likely have to go through each dealer's records for the equipment on each Pro-X.

On most vehicles I've come across the fog lamps don't come on when you turn the lights on, but rather you turn them on with a separate switch.

 

[vj210]

In both google street images the dark colored Nissan trucks are clearly in the Academy parking lot. It's an exaggeration to say they are parked in fron the of the party supply store. How do these Academy customers from a year earlier link to EB exactly? Especially the wounded vet with the bike rack, who is parked in the disabled parking?

 

[max99]

The Nissan truck is in handicapped parking accessible to both Cool Kat Party Warehouse and Academy and is the closest handicapped parking available to CKPW.

If you move around in the image (June 2018 google map) you can see the driver.

Definitely think it's tip worthy.

edit: just realized I'm looking at a different Nissan Frontier parked in a different area...it's a SV 4x4 but doesn't have the pro designation on the side and wheels are different...also has a "wounded warriors project" sticker on the back...nevermind....