TX - Elizabeth Barraza, 29, murdered setting up garage sale, Harris County, Jan 2019

[LunaticFringe]

I am not sure this is a woman. When I watched the video on full screen, the shooter appears to only use their right hand in holding the gun to shoot. I don't know many woman that shoot that way, or that wouldn't show some kickback from shooting that way.

How horrific to be waking up, ready to make some money and enjoy your anniversary with your husband, and be killed! She was in her own yard, minding her own business, and the perp showed up with purpose and intent on murder. There wasn't hesitation in that truck pulling in and parking, no hesitation in the perp going up to the victim, no hesitation in shooting multiple times, and running back to the truck. I don't know if the perp was aware of who had cameras and what angles a camera might pick up, but IMO, that perp was well prepared to murder!

I don't think it was a random person, and thought they could rob someone setting up a yardsale. If that was the case, there wasn't much time in 'negotiating' the robbery. That gun was pulled quickly, and within seconds, the perp fired.

It's Texas.I bet a lot of women can shoot you dead with their eyes closed.

 

[cuea96]

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[cuea96]

I wonder something with the arrival and departure of the shooter.. looking at the map of their house in their sub division, I wonder what the prior holding pattern was for the shooter's vehicle prior to the husband leaving.

• Was it parked prior to see if he left?
• Was he already leaving and the shooter entered the neighborhood and just drove to the destination.
• Was the shooter's vehicle in the neighborhood "scouting" earlier in the morning checking to see if the the husbands vehicle had left?
• Did the shooter just drive up by coincidence and was lucky the husband wasn't home?

Also, it reminds me of the Hania Aquilar case, how or why did the perpetrator choose a victim so deep in a subdivision. In Hania's case, it seems it was a shortcut/ crime of opportunity. Here it looks more like a destination/ timing situation.. as I say in alot of these cases, what are the odds.. Target was Outside, husband gone, Low chance of detection(No outdoor people leaving for work or highschoolers leaving for school @ 6:52am???)
Google Maps

They spoke about the vehicle entering the neighborhood in the news conference yesterday. They stated around the time it entered the neighborhood and left if I’m not mistaken.

 

[tmar]

BBM: Something similar happened near me about a month ago. A guy was walking his leashed dog and encountered another guy with his unleashed dog. Leashed dog guy said something to unleashed dog guy who proceeded to punch leashed dog guy in the face. He fell back on the concrete, hit his head and died. Granted, the guy didn't stew about it for months and then hunt the other guy down, but sheesh, have some anger management skills!

BBM: On another note, situations like this kind of just make me want to stay at home with my cats and never leave. What if I unintentionally say something that might tip someone over the edge? Ugh. I just feel so bad for everyone affected by this terrible, senseless crime.

I am thinking like you in reading of different murder scenarios.
These events are happening everywhere, in so many different situations.
Perhaps stay indoors.
Those with dogs, only walk in your neighbourhood and don't speak to others.
I guess, many like me, will become loners.
MOO.

 

[Cryptic]

Yes, to me it looks like she is being shown something. A piece of paper?...not sure but to me it definitely looks like something is being shown.

I agree. I does look like the murder shows the victim something with her right hand, then appears to shoot with the left?

In regards to the object being an address type decoy, the victim appears to startle when shown the paper or object. Likewise, she did not lean closer to study the address, read the instructions etc.

Thus, I am thinking that presenting the paper or object served as the justification for the attack. Could there have been a custody dispute or a property dispute- something involving paperwork?

Another thought - since they only put up the garage sale signs that morning, could the killer be angry about the signs? Say, if a sign was on a pole or tree in front of their house, they think of it as 'their property' and consider it trespassing...

Possibly, but I think most obsessive "issue" murderers go though a build up where they increasingly confront other people regarding real or perceived violations of their issue.

For example, confronting others about zoning violations via garage sales or signs, repeated calls to city officials demanding enforcement, took down signs in the past etc.

I’m really leaning toward a cosplay or work related hit.

I would go for work over cosplay as a work dispute is more likely to generate intense emotions (termination, missed promotion, suspected affair etc).

Though cosplay has the potential of an unhinged person blurring reality and fantasy, or a jilted player, the victim's genre appears to be very family friendly.

For example, no bondage, domination / control or say, evil ultra ego role play, no apparent cult like group, no ponzi like schemes regarding members / club dues etc. All of this seems to reduce- but not eliminate, the chance of a cosplay motive.

 

[TedFrank]

" no visible bust"

I see a bust.

[LE all over the world could practically hire me for my bust-detecting-at-long-range skills!]

 

[TedFrank]

<modsnipped unnecessary comment>

There are some good photos over here at Daily Mail. Surveillance camera captures moment Texas woman is murdered in her driveway | Daily Mail Online That's a sweet house. They seem very middle-class to upper-middle for not being out of their 20s. I assume they are insured-up.

 

[Yellow Rose]

I still cannot understand how LE have not captured plate numbers from any video camera in the entire neighborhood. She had to drive in and drive out

 

[Cryptic]

That's a sweet house. They seem very middle-class to upper-middle for not being out of their 20s.

Though I don't know if the couple are first generation and of direct immigrant descent, or are say, multi century Texas hispanics, home ownership and home occupancy amongst some immigrant groups especially can be two very different things.

It is not uncommon for an immigrant family to buy a home as an investment or for the occupants to be house sitters for the real owner- often an absentee relative. Likewise, the owner on record may, or may not be the true owner.

The totality of this possibility could serve as a motive if there was a dispute among partial owners in a family, or if there was a dispute between the "true" owner and the owner of record.

 

[dub]

I agree. I does look like the murder shows the victim something with her right hand, then appears to shoot with the left?

In regards to the object being an address type decoy, the victim appears to startle when shown the paper or object. Likewise, she did not lean closer to study the address, read the instructions etc.

Thus, I am thinking that presenting the paper or object served as the justification for the attack. Could there have been a custody dispute or a property dispute- something involving paperwork?


Possibly, but I think most obsessive "issue" murderers go though a build up where they increasingly confront other people regarding real or perceived violations of their issue.

For example, confronting others about zoning violations via garage sales or signs, repeated calls to city officials demanding enforcement, took down signs in the past etc.

I would go for work over cosplay as a work dispute is more likely to generate intense emotions (termination, missed promotion, suspected affair etc).

Though cosplay has the potential of an unhinged person blurring reality and fantasy, or a jilted player, the victim's genre appears to be very family friendly.

For example, no bondage, domination / control or say, evil ultra ego role play, no apparent cult like group, no ponzi like schemes regarding members / club dues etc. All of this seems to reduce- but not eliminate, the chance of a cosplay motive.

It looks to me like the shooter shows her something (presumably the gun) with his/her right hand, she recoils, then possibly shows her something else in the left hand, then shoots her with the right.

What happens exactly isn't clear, but I'm almost positive the shooter fires right handed.

I think the shooter is a woman, I will be very surprised if it's not, and I'm not speculating on motive but the husbands statements don't sit right with me.

 

[rosesfromangels]

I agree with those of you who think the Perp is a female. The gait and departing run appear very female to me.

Someone upthread suggested the Perp was showing the Victim a phone; a text or photo perhaps.
This would line up with my theory.
I think an arrest is imminent.

Amateur opinion and speculation.

 

[Vaccine]

I was quite convinced it was a crime of passion and that the murderer was a woman. But reading the husband’ statement i agree with others that it sounds a bit off. I did wonder if the police have looked closer to home. In the timeframe would it have been possible to swap cars and drive back around?

Sorry if this question is out of bounds. Just wondering.

 

[2Hope4]

It's Texas.I bet a lot of women can shoot you dead with their eyes closed.

I imagine that is true no matter what state a person lives in.

They spoke about the vehicle entering the neighborhood in the news conference yesterday. They stated around the time it entered the neighborhood and left if I’m not mistaken.

I hope we can find those times. I saw in the Daily Mail, linked in next quote, that the truck was in the area BEFORE the husband left for work. It makes me feel that the murderer was going to kill Liz that morning! Doesn't appear to be a random act at all. Very targeted. Yet usually in those type cases, family and friends or coworkers know the person is having problems with someone else. In this case, the only things I've heard was that Liz had no known enemy. Maybe Liz didn't even realize someone was that upset with her, or her husband. Maybe whatever the grievance was, it was perceived by the murderer one way, when neither Liz or her husband knew they had upset someone. I wonder if the murderer did know about the yardsale and that Liz would be alone, outside, and so early in the morning. Obviously the murderer knew she was that morning once they got there and waited for Liz's husband to leave. But did she/he know before they got there? Seems very possible. Could a coworker have been upset that Liz got a promotion, or raise? Or maybe something small at work that seemed trivial, but to the murderer, it was perceived as huge?

<modsnipped unnecessary comment>

There are some good photos over here at Daily Mail. Surveillance camera captures moment Texas woman is murdered in her driveway | Daily Mail Online That's a sweet house. They seem very middle-class to upper-middle for not being out of their 20s. I assume they are insured-up.

<modsnipped response to removed portion of quoted post>

Though I don't know if the couple are first generation and of direct immigrant descent, or are say, multi century Texas hispanics, home ownership and home occupancy amongst some immigrant groups especially can be two very different things.

It is not uncommon for an immigrant family to buy a home as an investment or for the occupants to be house sitters for the real owner- often an absentee relative. Likewise, the owner on record may, or may not be the true owner.

The totality of this possibility could serve as a motive if there was a dispute among partial owners in a family, or if there was a dispute between the "true" owner and the owner of record.

Ohhh, thanks for this post! I didn't realize any of these things, and could see where it may be a motive.

Snipped for focus. <modsnipped>
I absolutely think this is a crime of passion.

Thank you!

 

[2Hope4]

I was quite convinced it was a crime of passion and that the murderer was a woman. But reading the husband’ statement i agree with others that it sounds a bit off. I did wonder if the police have looked closer to home. In the timeframe would it have been possible to swap cars and drive back around?

Sorry if this question is out of bounds. Just wondering.

In most cases, I would think it's possible and it may be in this case, but in the daily mail article, the truck was captured on someone's camera before the husband left for work, so someone was waiting on Liz to be alone so they could kill her. I don't think her husband is the shooter.

 

[darkstar105]

Isn't it a crime in Texas to drive a Nissan pickup in the first place?

 

[flute4peace]

Isn't it a crime in Texas to drive a Nissan pickup in the first place?

Haaaaaahahahahahaha

 

[mistree73]

Maybe the left hand gesture had to do with the one thing everyone keeps leaning towards? The ring finger? A possible affair? Either way whomever did this is a sick individual and I don’t believe for one second this was anything other than planned and very personal. IMO

 

[Mercedes]

For some reason, this reminds me of the Missy Bevers case.

 

[Bill Carson]

In the still picture with the perp holding the gun, it looks like a woman to me. Heavier-set woman in a knee-length dress. But then when the person stands over the victim and fires the last shot and then runs away, it looks more like a man, IMO.

Also, I wonder if the perp might have had a "lost dog" poster in their hand, as an excuse to get up close to the victim. "Excuse me, I'm looking for my dog. Can I show you a picture in case you see it?"

 

[Bill Carson]

As a routine shooter, a woman and a member of a shooting league, we do work on single hand shooting drills. Generally I’m stronger with my right hand than my left but I know other women in the league that are ambidextrous. Kick depends a lot on the style of the gun and size. My concealed kicks way more than my full size in the same caliber. My husband’s .45 is much more balanced with two hands but does kick. Caliber would be handy to know, although most people seem to carry 9mm, if it’s a .45 most likely a man, simply based on gun size. If a .22 was used (which can still be a lethal round) I’d say a woman.

ETA: there are many active women’s shooting leagues in the Houston area. It would take some practice to be comfortable with single hand shooting I think.

Also a .38 would lead me to believe it was a woman. Popular carry for women as well.

This all goes out the window if she swiped the gun out of the night stand, but inexperienced shooters wouldn’t be inclined to shoot one handed. Although I have seen men at the range try to shoot one handed sideways like the movies. That usually doesn’t work well for them.

Do we know whether shell casings were found at the scene? If so, then it was a semi-automatic. If not, then a revolver.

I was thinking something smaller, along the lines of a Walther PPK or PPK/S.