TX - Elizabeth Barraza, 29, murdered setting up garage sale, Harris Co, Jan 2019 #4

[arielilane]

There are revolvers specifically manufactured for .380 caliber ammo. They are concealed carry weapons.

They are very tiny. Sometimes called pocket pistols and are about the size of a dollar bill.

It is for up close and personal shooting....not a long-range gun that will shoot at distances.

A Taurus is popular and cheap. It is a gun you choose to buy for those reasons.^^^^^^^

If any suspect owned one or had access to one it would be a very compelling piece of circumstantial evidence. Due to their size, and caliber they are very memorable. Hopefully, a tip would be called in.

Of course, it could just as likely have been stolen from a vehicle. Happens daily in Houston.


Good theory. I can't see the video well.

It may also be likely they were waiting for her to fall. In the latest interview with her Parents. Her father says the final shot was to her mouth (when speaking he points directly to his mouth). A shot to the mouth is a statement within itself. Murdered in cold blood and silenced forever.

(@ 35:03 ) KHOU Parent Interview
"Three shots and then she falls to the driveway, and then the fourth shot administered, the person leans over and administered point blank right here (points to his mouth). It does look like a hit. It's I, I, I think we're all convinced that it's so professional." - Bob Nuelle

Most revolvers hold 5 shots. I was also curious as to why they didn't use all the bullets.

BBM
Killer saved a bullet for themselves … wasn’t going to be taken alive if they were caught during getaway. Lost count of how many times they already fired weapon, or got anxious to leave. Moo

 

[KindMind1ofA]

Of course, it could just as likely have been stolen from a vehicle. Happens daily in Houston.

So true. Early on I'd assumed the same about the truck too, but at this point I guess we have to assume this wasn't the case.

 

[Lonicera]

Why does the State of Texas allow two murders of innocent women to go unpunished? I am talking about the murders of Terri Bevers and Elisabeth Barraza. Justice must be done.
They were not offenders, they lived their lives as women. They did not deserve to die that way. Justice for women.

 

[iamnotagolem]

I’m watching the interview with Bob & Rosemary. Liz looked so much like Rosemary.

Bob said “it was one of several trips planned and budged for that year”. I wonder when/where the other trips were planned for. Rosemary states later that all of the trips they’d planned for the year were already paid for.

They’re talking about how safety conscious Liz was, I wonder if that’s why she was killed at home.

Another interesting thing is Liz & Sergio were together 5 years before getting married. That kind of surprised me since he remarried after not dating his second wife very long.

Rosemary didn’t understand why she was having the garage sale to raise what would amount to very little money considering the amount she’d had set aside already for the trip.

I know the video of Liz making faces to the nest camera was just recently released, but I was surprised that her parents didn’t see it until it was released.

One of the 911 callers described the truck and saw it drive back by while on the phone with 911. That person had to have called 911 so fast to see the truck go back by 58 seconds later.

Bob & Rosemary were asleep when the alarm company called them. Sergio called them while they were en route to Liz. They arrived at the house at 7:37a according to the timeline. LE interviewed them separately at the house. They didn’t want to leave Sergio because “it is typically the husband” and they thought that’s what Liz would want. They tried to get a hold of Sergio’s family so he wasn’t there alone so they could go to the hospital.

To be continued….

 

[iamnotagolem]

Continued…

Bob says detectives have said it is a solvable case.

I didn’t realize I only had 5 minutes left in that video.

I’m watching the one with Sergio now.

He did get notified by the alarm company. This is something I’ve wondered for a while.

Sergio said the people who knew about the garage sale: coworkers, him, her parents and his mom.

 

[ilovewings]

Why does the State of Texas allow two murders of innocent women to go unpunished? I am talking about the murders of Terri Bevers and Elisabeth Barraza. Justice must be done.
They were not offenders, they lived their lives as women. They did not deserve to die that way. Justice for women.

and both murders show the perp on video!

 

[Mert]

Did her parents try to reach his father to come stay with him while they went to the hospital? Is that specified? Also, whether they were able to?

If his father normally answered all phone calls (cell records could reflect), even during work hours, that may seem out of place IF they were unable to reach him.

Are/were his parents still a couple?

*My opinions

 

[iamnotagolem]

Did her parents try to reach his father to come stay with him while they went to the hospital? Is that specified? Also, whether they were able to?

If his father normally answered all phone calls (cell records could reflect), even during work hours, that may seem out of place IF they were unable to reach him.

Are/were his parents still a couple?

*My opinions

They didn’t say, just that they tried to contact Sergio’s family. But wasn’t Sergio with his dad? Why didn’t his dad go to the house with him?

 

[JnRyan]

I'm really curious about it. I am no firearm type person at all but I'd be interested to know more. I'd like to add my two cents: the more I review the video the more I realize this was an inexperienced gun user... that possibly never fired a firearm in their life. Maybe didn't even know what to expect when the gun went off... however, pure determination gave them the success of killing Liz, unfortunately. Obviously, this is moo.

When I first saw this video my initial reaction was that this killer was not that experienced with shooting. Biggest thing was no two handed grip. Then the Arrin Stoner video of the LE report which states 3 hits and not 4 solidified that for me at the time.

Now we have 4 hits again. But the bullet placement for such a short distance is still all over the place. Supposedly the first shot is to the side of her neck? (I wonder how they know that was the first and not the second or third shot?) So the poor grouping coupled with the lack of proper shooting technique leads me to believe this is an inexperienced shooter.

If I see a counter argument to this its that shooting a person is not the same as shooting a paper target. That and the adrenaline of the moment might cause a deviation from training.

All that said, I still lean toward an inexperienced shooter. I do wonder about the choice of firearm type - a revolver. Most carry guns now are semi-auto and not revolver. Did the shooter pick this to avoid leaving casings behind? OR was this just what the shooter really had available? An interesting note is that I've heard a firearms instructor give advice to women on a choice of handgun. They sometimes recommend a revolver because of the effort required to work the slide on a semi-auto. So, another argument that this shooter might be a woman?

 

[ilovewings]

Why does the State of Texas allow two murders of innocent women to go unpunished? I am talking about the murders of Terri Bevers and Elisabeth Barraza. Justice must be done.
They were not offenders, they lived their lives as women. They did not deserve to die that way. Justice for women.

and both murders show the perp on video!

When I first saw this video my initial reaction was that this killer was not that experienced with shooting. Biggest thing was no two handed grip. Then the Arrin Stoner video of the LE report which states 3 hits and not 4 solidified that for me at the time.

Now we have 4 hits again. But the bullet placement for such a short distance is still all over the place. Supposedly the first shot is to the side of her neck? (I wonder how they know that was the first and not the second or third shot?) So the poor grouping coupled with the lack of proper shooting technique leads me to believe this is an inexperienced shooter.

If I see a counter argument to this its that shooting a person is not the same as shooting a paper target. That and the adrenaline of the moment might cause a deviation from training.

All that said, I still lean toward an inexperienced shooter. I do wonder about the choice of firearm type - a revolver. Most carry guns now are semi-auto and not revolver. Did the shooter pick this to avoid leaving casings behind? OR was this just what the shooter really had available? An interesting note is that I've heard a firearms instructor give advice to women on a choice of handgun. They sometimes recommend a revolver because of the effort required to work the slide on a semi-auto. So, another argument that this shooter might be a woman?

The way the perp ran away after the murder leads me to believe it is a woman- it was the way this person ran- to me it was more like a woman than a man (could be wrong of course) but that is what it appeared to me--

 

[Lonicera]

When I first saw this video my initial reaction was that this killer was not that experienced with shooting. Biggest thing was no two handed grip. Then the Arrin Stoner video of the LE report which states 3 hits and not 4 solidified that for me at the time.

Now we have 4 hits again. But the bullet placement for such a short distance is still all over the place. Supposedly the first shot is to the side of her neck? (I wonder how they know that was the first and not the second or third shot?) So the poor grouping coupled with the lack of proper shooting technique leads me to believe this is an inexperienced shooter.

If I see a counter argument to this its that shooting a person is not the same as shooting a paper target. That and the adrenaline of the moment might cause a deviation from training.

All that said, I still lean toward an inexperienced shooter. I do wonder about the choice of firearm type - a revolver. Most carry guns now are semi-auto and not revolver. Did the shooter pick this to avoid leaving casings behind? OR was this just what the shooter really had available? An interesting note is that I've heard a firearms instructor give advice to women on a choice of handgun. They sometimes recommend a revolver because of the effort required to work the slide on a semi-auto. So, another argument that this shooter might be a woman?

I admit that when I saw the shooter running on the video I thought of a young woman. But it was a fleeting impression, like a hunch. Speaking to the victim also sounds like revenge.
These are just my feelings, so I have no rational argument, no evidence. MOO.

 

[Quiet Time]

Since there's been some talk of the shooter being inexperienced, perhaps the ride a long passenger was there in case the shooter chickened out. And, he/she had to finish the job.

jmo

 

[KindMind1ofA]

If I see a counter argument to this its that shooting a person is not the same as shooting a paper target. That and the adrenaline of the moment might cause a deviation from training.

Agree - even a mild flinch by the target could move chest to neck pretty easily I think. I don't know how the recoil of a .380 feels, but shooting other revolvers, if I had never fired a weapon before and tried shooting a person even at close range like this one handed with the shots in rapid succession I'm not optimistic I would have hit all three times.

On the grip question, one counter point, the stoner video infers that the shooter had their mask in the other hand, so that might have forced the one handed grip. So many factors!

On man vs woman, the running to me looks like it's awkward because of the boots, which makes analyzing the gait a little fuzzy to me..

 

[arielilane]

When I first saw this video my initial reaction was that this killer was not that experienced with shooting. Biggest thing was no two handed grip. Then the Arrin Stoner video of the LE report which states 3 hits and not 4 solidified that for me at the time.

Now we have 4 hits again. But the bullet placement for such a short distance is still all over the place. Supposedly the first shot is to the side of her neck? (I wonder how they know that was the first and not the second or third shot?) So the poor grouping coupled with the lack of proper shooting technique leads me to believe this is an inexperienced shooter.

If I see a counter argument to this its that shooting a person is not the same as shooting a paper target. That and the adrenaline of the moment might cause a deviation from training.

All that said, I still lean toward an inexperienced shooter. I do wonder about the choice of firearm type - a revolver. Most carry guns now are semi-auto and not revolver. Did the shooter pick this to avoid leaving casings behind? OR was this just what the shooter really had available? An interesting note is that I've heard a firearms instructor give advice to women on a choice of handgun. They sometimes recommend a revolver because of the effort required to work the slide on a semi-auto. So, another argument that this shooter might be a woman?

Your last paragraph is interesting ... I do believe I heard many years ago someone mentioned that a revolver is sometimes the recommended firearm for women. This makes me think shooter possibly is a female but the way shooter sprinted back to the truck seemed more male.

However, the kill really seemed female, someone wanting revenge. It definitely seemed personal and killer spoke volumes in not only the overkill but in their actions before shooting Liz four times.

Nonetheless, hope this coward is caught asap!

moo

 

[arielilane]

They didn’t say, just that they tried to contact Sergio’s family. But wasn’t Sergio with his dad? Why didn’t his dad go to the house with him?

I'm going to piggyback on your great questions.

Supposedly, workers met S at Home Depot (HD) that morning to begin their day, but because of Liz's murder, S left to head back home. That we know. In addition, I've read in the past that S's father would meet him at HD.

Question 1: Was S's father there that morning (Jan. 25, 2019)?

Questions 2 & 3: Did anyone offer to escort S back to his house knowing there's something wrong happening at his house? If so, did S decline the offer?

Additionally, the workers (S met that morning at HD) were cleared by LE. To my understanding they're the only ones cleared in this case. However, LE has the right to unclear anyone they choose to.

imo

 

[arielilane]

Agree - even a mild flinch by the target could move chest to neck pretty easily I think. I don't know how the recoil of a .380 feels, but shooting other revolvers, if I had never fired a weapon before and tried shooting a person even at close range like this one handed with the shots in rapid succession I'm not optimistic I would have hit all three times.

On the grip question, one counter point, the stoner video infers that the shooter had their mask in the other hand, so that might have forced the one handed grip. So many factors!

On man vs woman, the running to me looks like it's awkward because of the boots, which makes analyzing the gait a little fuzzy to me..

I practiced this sprint running myself (of course w/o the killing) and it's not anything that the average active person can't do. Also, I no longer run like I used to. moo

 

[JnRyan]

I'm going to piggyback on your great questions.

Supposedly, workers met S at Home Depot (HD) that morning to begin their day, but because of Liz's murder, S left to head back home. That we know. In addition, I've read in the past that S's father would meet him at HD.

Question 1: Was S's father there that morning (Jan. 25, 2019)?

Questions 2 & 3: Did anyone offer to escort S back to his house knowing there's something wrong happening at his house? If so, did S decline the offer?

Additionally, the workers (S met that morning at HD) were cleared by LE. To my understanding they're the only ones cleared in this case. However, LE has the right to unclear anyone they choose to.

imo

Wow! The more we look at this the more questions that come up. One would hope that LE looked at these as well.

 

[JnRyan]

Regarding the pressure of the moment and how it affects one's results I recently read an article that stated only 20% of infantry in Europe in WW2 fired their weapon at the enemy. Part of this is attributed to the fact that not all infantry encountered the enemy. But another part is that regardless of their training, the individual did not have it in them to shoot at another human being. LE has supposedly has received EXTENSIVE training like going thru simulation training in a mock-up buildings with pop-up targets. Yet look at the shoot out LE had with the Boston Marathon bombers in Watertown. TRAINED LE fired between 200 and 300 rounds at the two suspects. And we had multiple LE agencies involved. (I've heard a number of 260+ by LE, but I can't find it.) And what was the result? LE killed ONE and WOUNDED a second. That result for the massive number of rounds fired.

Boston Marathon bombing - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Adrenaline, stress in a REAL situation by trained professionals appeared to be irrelevant when confronted in a live situation.

And here we have a shooter who may or may NOT have simulation training. And they don't exhibit good shooting skills. Again, I tend to believe this shooter was inexperienced. But I can see the argument for the opposite.

 

[KindMind1ofA]

Regarding the pressure of the moment and how it affects one's results I recently read an article that stated only 20% of infantry in Europe in WW2 fired their weapon at the enemy. Part of this is attributed to the fact that not all infantry encountered the enemy. But another part is that regardless of their training, the individual did not have it in them to shoot at another human being. LE has supposedly has received EXTENSIVE training like going thru simulation training in a mock-up buildings with pop-up targets. Yet look at the shoot out LE had with the Boston Marathon bombers in Watertown. TRAINED LE fired between 200 and 300 rounds at the two suspects. And we had multiple LE agencies involved. (I've heard a number of 260+ by LE, but I can't find it.) And what was the result? LE killed ONE and WOUNDED a second. That result for the massive number of rounds fired.

Boston Marathon bombing - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Adrenaline, stress in a REAL situation by trained professionals appeared to be irrelevant when confronted in a live situation.

And here we have a shooter who may or may NOT have simulation training. And they don't exhibit good shooting skills. Again, I tend to believe this shooter was inexperienced. But I can see the argument for the opposite.

Love your perspectives here! And interesting data

 

[santacruztodd]

When I first saw this video my initial reaction was that this killer was not that experienced with shooting. Biggest thing was no two handed grip. Then the Arrin Stoner video of the LE report which states 3 hits and not 4 solidified that for me at the time.

Now we have 4 hits again. But the bullet placement for such a short distance is still all over the place. Supposedly the first shot is to the side of her neck? (I wonder how they know that was the first and not the second or third shot?) So the poor grouping coupled with the lack of proper shooting technique leads me to believe this is an inexperienced shooter.

If I see a counter argument to this its that shooting a person is not the same as shooting a paper target. That and the adrenaline of the moment might cause a deviation from training.

All that said, I still lean toward an inexperienced shooter. I do wonder about the choice of firearm type - a revolver. Most carry guns now are semi-auto and not revolver. Did the shooter pick this to avoid leaving casings behind? OR was this just what the shooter really had available? An interesting note is that I've heard a firearms instructor give advice to women on a choice of handgun. They sometimes recommend a revolver because of the effort required to work the slide on a semi-auto. So, another argument that this shooter might be a woman?

Plus revolvers never jam.