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

[arielilane]

Was the motive (possibly) that someone decided Liz wasn’t going to make the five year anniversary trip with S? Moo

 

[ilovewings]

The Paula Zahn episode of this case is on right now (Sat morning 8 am)

 

[arielilane]

Well by now it is probably considered a cold case and I hope they have a cold case unit to investigate it-

I’m going to go with LE needs that extra tip to tie it all together to make an arrest(s). LE know who murdered Liz and are watching and waiting in the meantime. It’s only a matter of time…

Of course this is moo.

Anyone with information about the case is asked to call Crime Stoppers at 713-222-TIPS (8477).

Four years later, investigators, family members still searching for answers in Liz Barraza's murder case

She was gunned down in the driveway of her Tomball home as she was setting up for a garage sale. Now, four years later, there are still more questions than answers.

www.khou.com

 

[KindMind1ofA]

The Paula Zahn episode of this case is on right now (Sat morning 8 am)

I just watched this for the first time and there's so many details I hadn't heard before that I'm not sure where to begin. The big takeaway for me is that there's someone with motive... Motive but no evidence.

Couple more details that fill in questions I'd had or assumptions I was wrong on:

- Liz would typically have left for work before the time of the shooting
- Sergio would not typically have left for work by then but was called in early
- also fwiw they say Sergio did hang around the house longer after the police released him before going to the hospital

My inclination after watching this is that the police know who was responsible but don't have any way to link them to the crime..

 

[KindMind1ofA]

One more tidbit from the PZ doc that struck me; Sergio mentioned he doesn't speak with his dad any more.

 

[JnRyan]

I really don't believe LE knows who did this. BUT I wouldn't doubt they have two lists - 'most likely' and 'we're still not sure'.
Listening to the brother of one of the victims of the Colonial Parkway Murders, Bill Thomas, he said the FBI told him they had a list of 150.

 

[KindMind1ofA]

I really don't believe LE knows who did this. BUT I wouldn't doubt they have two lists - 'most likely' and 'we're still not sure'.

Right I think that's fair. If I had to guess, they have people they're interested in, maybe not who pulled the trigger but suspicions on who might've coordinated with that person.

Listening to the brother of one of the victims of the Colonial Parkway Murders, Bill Thomas, he said the FBI told him they had a list of 150.

Wow. And many of those are probably ones that have never even been hinted at in forums/YouTube/documentaries/etc..

 

[Cedars]

If there is two people in the truck ( I’m not sold on the stoner theories) you don’t need to really love someone to accompany them in this murder. You just need to be motivated by money.

IMO, if there was another person in the truck, they would be driving. However, camera shows shooter gets out and back into driver's side and there is a pause before he screeches off, as though he had to get into position to drive.

What you need is a "getaway driver", I've never heard of a "getaway passenger".

JMO

 

[samsmom]

Here is Gray Hughes’s part 2 of his throwback video

 

[Ajs1004]

IMO, if there was another person in the truck, they would be driving. However, camera shows shooter gets out and back into driver's side and there is a pause before he screeches off, as though he had to get into position to drive.

What you need is a "getaway driver", I've never heard of a "getaway passenger".

JMO

If you don’t want a neighbor to recognize you, you’d probably be the passenger.

 

[Ajs1004]

IMO, if there was another person in the truck, they would be driving. However, camera shows shooter gets out and back into driver's side and there is a pause before he screeches off, as though he had to get into position to drive.

What you need is a "getaway driver", I've never heard of a "getaway passenger".

JMO

If you don’t want a neighbor to recognize you, you’d probably be the passenger.

 

[stmarysmead]

IMO, if there was another person in the truck, they would be driving. However, camera shows shooter gets out and back into driver's side and there is a pause before he screeches off, as though he had to get into position to drive.

What you need is a "getaway driver", I've never heard of a "getaway passenger".

JMO

Unless the second person was the instigator of the crime And wanted to watch.

 

[Cedars]

If you've made up your mind there was a passenger, then it's easy to imagine reasons why they might be there.

If you haven't made up your mind there was a passenger, those reasons don't make much sense. Why go to the trouble and expense of hiring a hitman, unless you want to establish your alibi by being elsewhere? If you're afraid the neighbour will recognize you, why not wear a disguise, like the hitman seems to have done. If you're that keen to see the victim die, that you'd risk being caught in the vehicle with the murderer, why not kill them yourself? etc, etc.

JMO

 

[KindMind1ofA]

If you're that keen to see the victim die, that you'd risk being caught in the vehicle with the murderer, why not kill them yourself? etc, etc.

JMO

I enjoyed and appreciated stoners analysis, but agree this aspect seems like a tough one to swallow. The driver being the shooter and also having a second person in the car just hanging around seems unwise.

One purpose for a second person could be acting as a spotter and navigator, with a paper map. I think you could manage to get away with pre-downloaded maps and aircraft mode, or an older style gps-receiver... but if I were a murderer I'd leverage something that I know for sure the police can't trace.

Just one person in the truck is where is put my money right now though.

 

[Jubbababy]

I wonder if a written application is required to request an appearance, or would just a phone call suffice? In other words could there be any records, though after 4 years, very doubtful.

Also, did any appearance go sour? Maybe they were meant to appear somewhere and it didn’t happen for some reason.

A motive like this could explain why two people may have been involved. I can imagine a request to visit a dying child, denied for a perfectly valid reason, but still enraging to grieving family left behind. One who is willing to do the deed, one that wants to see it done.

And here she was, in their eyes, living her happy life, about to go off on a fun vacation. Did she post about that on social media? That could well have been the trigger to deciding…”let’s do it!:

They were both members of this legion weren’t they? So why not target him? Poor Liz, seems such a brutal killing if it’s related to this 501st - I know they can be fanatical but still.

I wonder what was said between them for those 6 seconds too?

 

[Tman2004]

They were both members of this legion weren’t they? So why not target him? Poor Liz, seems such a brutal killing if it’s related to this 501st - I know they can be fanatical but still.

I wonder what was said between them for those 6 seconds too?

the killer had to have have been showing a picture of something I think. Otherwise who could have read whatever was on the paper wouldn't that be too small to see and react when seeing it.

 

[Jubbababy]

This is a good point. He said she wanted to do the garage sale for extra spending money. She made the custom Harry Potter shoes. Her suitcase was packed and by the door. Nothing about himself though.

Ah I saw the effort she put into making those beautiful shoes. Heartbreaking. She was looking so forward to going.

SB’s behaviour was odd. Apparently the police said he never asked how Liz was or could he go to the hospital?! I know people can react differently with shock, but his reactions were strange.

 

[Mominmi]

random thoughts on a motive:

I think The idea that E‘s murder might have something to do with her position in the 501st has some merit. i Haven’t read every thread (so please forgive me if my thoughts are repetitiously boring) but when I read the suggestion by a poster in this thread that wondered if E had anything to do with approving who got a visit by the members it made me think back on some things from my own life which made me feel like her role in the 501st ‘could’ possibly have created a situation that gave rise to the motive.

when my son was 9 he was diagnosed with a very serious health problem… life altering for him in so many ways. It took many years to get him into a remission and for the rest of his life he will have to take big time, expensive, medications With scary side effects. He had to have many hospital stays and procedures, surgeries over the years. I’m pretty healthy mental healthwise but I did have some situations, especially when my sweet kid was negatively affected by someone who could have, should have known what they were able to do would make such a difference for him. I can say there was one time i think I was angry enough to kill someone, In my head anyway. That’s what made me think about how the 501st might have tied into the reason for this murder.

imagine with me…

E is involved someway with approving the hospital visits characters do with sick kids. There is a woman who has a child with a life threatening illness, or maybe he is terminal, in the hospital. Her siste, the sick child’s aunt, is a member of the 501st or maybe she wanted to be a member and got turned down. That’s an even better plot line. The child has a big, long, scary hospital stay scheduled and sister/aunt suggests getting the 501st to pay the child a visit in the hospital. She just *knows* they will do it because heck they owe her for turning her membership down. Mom thinks that’s such a great idea and her heart is so happy thinking about the excitement she will see on her child’s face, how it will help relieve the boredom and pain. Plus now they have this visit to talk about over the coming days, weeks, maybe months with her child. She knows in her brain that it has to be arranged but… she tells the child anyway, how Aunt is getting “fill-in-the-blank” is coming to visit you after you have your surgery! Won’t that be fun? Whenever worry rears its head, the Star Wars visit is there to distract. She spends the coming days thinking about all the things her child has missed out on since being sick. Missed school parties, had to drop out of Little League, couldn’t even go on the last field trip. What fun he will have telling all the kids about how so and so came to see him in the hospital! And then for some reason the visit can’t be done. Maybe no one was available for the time he’d be in the hospital or maybe it got scheduled and then had to be canceled last minute. Child is so sad. So very sad. The hospital stay is every bit as awful as imagined. She and her sister can’t believe E did this! What a cold Beeatch she is. Who knows how long this pair nurses their feelings of the injustice of It. How if E had just tried harder, heck she could have pulled It off. Sister thinks about it and comes to the decision that E is the one who is responsible for her not getting in the 501st too. So she KNOWS E did this to her. did this to her nephew. On and on they go. Two mentally unstable women working themselves into a murderous rage. RAGE. Together. They start off just about how they should show her, they should teach those two 501st-ers, they should make them pay. And they do. Bang.bang.bang.bang. E is dead and S is heartbroken and everyone thinks he did it. HA!

I think some of the questions I keep reading here could be explained with this scenario. It’s a motive. E wouldnt do something like that to a sick kid from the way everyone talks about her but no one can control everything. Stuff happens. I’m sure events, visits have to be cancelled sometimes. What does the shooter show E? The child’s picture. Why is no one showing up with a motive? Neither mom or aunt have a connection to E except for an application for a visit which might have even been an unofficial oral ask. And a membership application. But it seems like that wasn’t uncommon. It might not have risenn to the level of motive unless the rejected member sent angry letters, etc when it happened. Costumed killer? explained by the connection to the 501st and you see aunt’s input there. why a passenger (if there was one)? They both want revenge on E, Mom for the “extra unhappiness” she added to the hospital stay; aunt for failing to get the child a visit And for rejecting her for membership. Maybe even the loss of face with her family.

Now there are plenty of problems with my little scenario Too. The truck? Where is it? Why two passengers if there were two? Why did the shooter drive instead of ride in passenger seat? Why didn’t the do this on a day or somewhere they could shoot both E and S since motive is around the 501st. And much more I’m sure!

and my nine year old is now 24 and in a really strong remission. Happy, healthy, mentally strong. He is one of the best kids ever (and, yes, I am biased but everyone says so. Even the ones that aren’t related to him!) And me? Well, I didn’t kill that first nurse that prepped him for his first surgery nor that mother who spread a bunch of rumors about what was wrong with him and then went out of her way to not include him in things she included everyone else in. Actually, I haven’t killed anyone. Yet. LOL!!

***my apologies for all the typos and errors. I don’t have any more energy to proof and fix. And I apologize for the stupid length I went to. I shouldn’t be on WS this late! And I apologize for not adding the posts that made me think these thoughts. My ‘insert quotes’ button isn’t working. those of you still posting and reading on E’s thread are amazing, wonderful people! I’m usually just a reader on WS. You can see why.

 

[stmarysmead]

random thoughts on a motive:

I think The idea that E‘s murder might have something to do with her position in the 501st has some merit. i Haven’t read every thread (so please forgive me if my thoughts are repetitiously boring) but when I read the suggestion by a poster in this thread that wondered if E had anything to do with approving who got a visit by the members it made me think back on some things from my own life which made me feel like her role in the 501st ‘could’ possibly have created a situation that gave rise to the motive.

when my son was 9 he was diagnosed with a very serious health problem… life altering for him in so many ways. It took many years to get him into a remission and for the rest of his life he will have to take big time, expensive, medications With scary side effects. He had to have many hospital stays and procedures, surgeries over the years. I’m pretty healthy mental healthwise but I did have some situations, especially when my sweet kid was negatively affected by someone who could have, should have known what they were able to do would make such a difference for him. I can say there was one time i think I was angry enough to kill someone, In my head anyway. That’s what made me think about how the 501st might have tied into the reason for this murder.

imagine with me…

E is involved someway with approving the hospital visits characters do with sick kids. There is a woman who has a child with a life threatening illness, or maybe he is terminal, in the hospital. Her siste, the sick child’s aunt, is a member of the 501st or maybe she wanted to be a member and got turned down. That’s an even better plot line. The child has a big, long, scary hospital stay scheduled and sister/aunt suggests getting the 501st to pay the child a visit in the hospital. She just *knows* they will do it because heck they owe her for turning her membership down. Mom thinks that’s such a great idea and her heart is so happy thinking about the excitement she will see on her child’s face, how it will help relieve the boredom and pain. Plus now they have this visit to talk about over the coming days, weeks, maybe months with her child. She knows in her brain that it has to be arranged but… she tells the child anyway, how Aunt is getting “fill-in-the-blank” is coming to visit you after you have your surgery! Won’t that be fun? Whenever worry rears its head, the Star Wars visit is there to distract. She spends the coming days thinking about all the things her child has missed out on since being sick. Missed school parties, had to drop out of Little League, couldn’t even go on the last field trip. What fun he will have telling all the kids about how so and so came to see him in the hospital! And then for some reason the visit can’t be done. Maybe no one was available for the time he’d be in the hospital or maybe it got scheduled and then had to be canceled last minute. Child is so sad. So very sad. The hospital stay is every bit as awful as imagined. She and her sister can’t believe E did this! What a cold Beeatch she is. Who knows how long this pair nurses their feelings of the injustice of It. How if E had just tried harder, heck she could have pulled It off. Sister thinks about it and comes to the decision that E is the one who is responsible for her not getting in the 501st too. So she KNOWS E did this to her. did this to her nephew. On and on they go. Two mentally unstable women working themselves into a murderous rage. RAGE. Together. They start off just about how they should show her, they should teach those two 501st-ers, they should make them pay. And they do. Bang.bang.bang.bang. E is dead and S is heartbroken and everyone thinks he did it. HA!

I think some of the questions I keep reading here could be explained with this scenario. It’s a motive. E wouldnt do something like that to a sick kid from the way everyone talks about her but no one can control everything. Stuff happens. I’m sure events, visits have to be cancelled sometimes. What does the shooter show E? The child’s picture. Why is no one showing up with a motive? Neither mom or aunt have a connection to E except for an application for a visit which might have even been an unofficial oral ask. And a membership application. But it seems like that wasn’t uncommon. It might not have risenn to the level of motive unless the rejected member sent angry letters, etc when it happened. Costumed killer? explained by the connection to the 501st and you see aunt’s input there. why a passenger (if there was one)? They both want revenge on E, Mom for the “extra unhappiness” she added to the hospital stay; aunt for failing to get the child a visit And for rejecting her for membership. Maybe even the loss of face with her family.

Now there are plenty of problems with my little scenario Too. The truck? Where is it? Why two passengers if there were two? Why did the shooter drive instead of ride in passenger seat? Why didn’t the do this on a day or somewhere they could shoot both E and S since motive is around the 501st. And much more I’m sure!

and my nine year old is now 24 and in a really strong remission. Happy, healthy, mentally strong. He is one of the best kids ever (and, yes, I am biased but everyone says so. Even the ones that aren’t related to him!) And me? Well, I didn’t kill that first nurse that prepped him for his first surgery nor that mother who spread a bunch of rumors about what was wrong with him and then went out of her way to not include him in things she included everyone else in. Actually, I haven’t killed anyone. Yet. LOL!!

***my apologies for all the typos and errors. I don’t have any more energy to proof and fix. And I apologize for the stupid length I went to. I shouldn’t be on WS this late! And I apologize for not adding the posts that made me think these thoughts. My ‘insert quotes’ button isn’t working. those of you still posting and reading on E’s thread are amazing, wonderful people! I’m usually just a reader on WS. You can see why.

This is exactly the type of scenario I have imagined.
In my imagination, S had no decision power, wasn’t involved and therefore, he is exempt from blame and avenging fury. The killer or killers might even consider themselves very moral people who would not attack anyone else outside of this ONE person.

It would not have to be the 501 per se that was the focus, but the very person who made the decision, was perceived to be THE person who had the power, and used that power in a way deemed unforgivable.

Just E.

Refusing or cancelling a hospital visit by a volunteer group might only be a scheduling situation for the volunteer in charge, but as the post above explains, can be momentous to someone already emotionally overwrought.

The idea of two people in the car fits better with this sort of a revenge type motive. A husband and wife, brother and sister, any twosome grieving together. Maybe months of just seething over that situation together….then, of course, both want to be there at the moment E ‘pays the price” for whatever perceived wrongdoing.

And, harder to solve, for many reasons. The killer or killers might otherwise be leading a spotless life. There is probably no record of denied or cancelled events.

Did E use social media? Was it open? If so, any mention of her joy at this impending vacation/anniversary celebration could well have been the trigger that put months of ‘revenge talk’ into reality.

 

[KindMind1ofA]

What does the shooter show E? The child’s picture.

So glad your son has pulled through after all his early struggles! (And that you've avoided perpetrating a homicide thus far

I loved this culmination in your theory and the idea that the killer showed Liz something personal that justifies the act in the killers mind is compelling. It's the best tie in on what they might have showed Liz I've read so far.

In my mind the killer profile is different than this and I have another theory on what happened, but the kind of motive and setup you propose has to be one of the possibilities.