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

[Gunslinging Granny]

The $20,000 reward would sure pay for a lot of nice things!
You can be completely anonymous with using the Crime Stoppers number. When you call, you receive a number. If your tip leads to the arrest, you collect the $20,000 anonymously by using your tip number. Call in your tips! Get that $20,000!

713-222-TIPS

 

[JnRyan]

A local radio station did a segment on this case with an interview with SB on September 1st. If you click on the 7am segment with her name, the interview starts at 7:30.

https://omny.fm/shows/best-of-roula...5gujlwLOlaK7t4xb87K7IqyEjpS2L7mG_YD5xiDaCmGGE

I did pick up one tidbit that I either did not know or forgot. Sergio stated LE told him this person was lying in wait for him to leave the house. I did not know that. I strongly suspected it, but this is the first I'm hearing that it did occur.

This case is truly baffling on so many levels. The vehicle can't be identified or traced to an individual. Sergio stated that the way she greeted the killer seemed to indicate she was not alarmed initially. After, what 3-4 shots to the body, the killer walks up and shoots her in the head. This seems very personal. Either this person had big grudge against Elizabeth OR this killer was hired by someone who had a grudge. Nothing stolen. There didn't seem to be any hesitation on the part of the killer - got it done quick and quickly left the area. It makes wonder if this killer hasn't killed before. They seemed very cold and confident in their actions.

 

[JnRyan]

The $20,000 reward would sure pay for a lot of nice things!
You can be completely anonymous with using the Crime Stoppers number. When you call, you receive a number. If your tip leads to the arrest, you collect the $20,000 anonymously by using your tip number. Call in your tips! Get that $20,000!
View attachment 311618
713-222-TIPS

Very good points! Once again with emphasis - it says a tip that leads to an arrest NOT an arrest AND conviction. Someone has to at least SUSPECT something if not actually know.

 

[MntnHiker]

Thinking of Liz today.

I did a Google search but nothing new posted online since the two-year anniversary last January. Coming up on three years soon

 

[Kittybunny]

I did pick up one tidbit that I either did not know or forgot. Sergio stated LE told him this person was lying in wait for him to leave the house. I did not know that. I strongly suspected it, but this is the first I'm hearing that it did occur.

This case is truly baffling on so many levels. The vehicle can't be identified or traced to an individual. Sergio stated that the way she greeted the killer seemed to indicate she was not alarmed initially. After, what 3-4 shots to the body, the killer walks up and shoots her in the head. This seems very personal. Either this person had big grudge against Elizabeth OR this killer was hired by someone who had a grudge. Nothing stolen. There didn't seem to be any hesitation on the part of the killer - got it done quick and quickly left the area. It makes wonder if this killer hasn't killed before. They seemed very cold and confident in their actions.

I agree. I am 100% in the "this was an absolutely targeted killing directed at Elizabeth" camp, not a random opportunistic shooting. Which should make it easier to solve, yet here we are coming up on three years. I have to remind myself that justice delayed is not justice denied but it's very frustrating.

 

[borndem]

I agree. I am 100% in the "this was an absolutely targeted killing directed at Elizabeth" camp, not a random opportunistic shooting. Which should make it easier to solve, yet here we are coming up on three years. I have to remind myself that justice delayed is not justice denied but it's very frustrating.

Three years -- SMH -- oh, my. Has it really been that long!?
It's like a purely random kind of thing WRT time since occurrence -- no arrest, not even a POI -- but nearly all of us, including myself, feel strongly that it was certainly targeted, well planned and well timed. SMH.
Yes, frustrating but indeed, it's not over yet.
Justice for Elizabeth and those who love and miss her.

 

[JnRyan]

I agree. I am 100% in the "this was an absolutely targeted killing directed at Elizabeth" camp, not a random opportunistic shooting. Which should make it easier to solve, yet here we are coming up on three years. I have to remind myself that justice delayed is not justice denied but it's very frustrating.

I suppose we could have some wacko who surveilled the area or other areas just looking for some random person that they had no connection to and then planned this like it was a game to them. It's just that the more I look at this the more I believe she was targeted by someone who knew her like you do. I tend to believe this was a murder committed by a third party - either by hire or otherwise - for reasons unknown.

To help me understand I compare this to other unsolved crimes. One is the 2009 murder of Heidi Childs and David Metzler off a rural road near a camping area in Virginia. To this day I struggle with was it a random event or were one or both targeted. I'm not as solid on that case for targeting, but I can't rule it out. Another is the murder of Missy Bevers in another Texas town. I tend to believe that one was not targeted. When I hear others state Missy was targeted I think if someone was going to target Missy, this murder would seem to be closer to how it would have taken place.

The flaw with my reasoning is I look at these as a law abiding person and use normal logic. These acts are not committed by those using normal reasoning and they only make sense to the killer for some perverted or twisted reasoning known only to the killer(s). However, even through my lack of understanding a criminal mind I still don't see how this could be anything but a targeted murder by someone who knew Elizabeth. The case for a targeted killing for personal reasons, just in my thinking, seems to be more clear cut here than most other crimes I look at.

 

[CliffyTruxton]

Agreed with all of the above. I can't yet see whether the yard sale was something the murderer knew about or just a coincidence that worked out well for them, but whether they knew about the yard sale or not, they knew Elizabeth. They drove past her home the previous night. They specifically wanted her to die, and they told her as much. It's a shame the recording is awful because I suspect the person told Elizabeth exactly why she was being killed, and if that were clearer then we'd have an easier time seeing who it could have been.

The one thing I'd gently push back on is the idea that there's necessarily some particular aspect of a criminal mind that makes it impossible for others to understand, at least in in every case. I absolutely agree that I would just never have been able to come up with a predictive model of someone like Ted Bundy, but not every murder is committed by someone with a pathological lack of conscience. Sometimes a person murders someone because they have a reason they want that person to die, and they're willing to live with whatever guilt. Or maybe they think they need to, or maybe they're so enraged they see no other way. But the murder of Elizabeth is such a void of information that I can't rightly say which kind of mindset we're looking at.

One reason I shy away from thinking this could only be a particularly unsound mind is that this killing seems intensely personal. Not ritualistic but personal. The person stopped by the previous night, then they came by that morning, they waited for her husband to leave (which suggests to me they only wanted to kill Liz, and no one else, which suggests personal motive), they delivered a message to her, shot her, then circled back again for whatever reason (be it to make sure she was dead or to take a photo or whatever it was). They knew where to find her. They arrived at a very particular time, suggesting they knew what a normal schedule was for the couple. We're seeing planning here. The circumstances are too opportune to be entirely random chance - but they're also too specific for a stranger to know. This person had information a stranger couldn't have had, and that would have been difficult to learn from the outside of a person's life. I sincerely doubt they were hanging out in her neighborhood with a pair of binoculars for several mornings prior to that. The information about where to find her, what time her husband normally left for work - all that information got into the murderer's hands somehow. Either they knew it themselves or they had it relayed to them.

And what I'm stuck on is - and I know I've made more or less this exact post already - how the hell do you have a murderer who's got at least some level of familiarity with a victim's life, a personal message delivered, a method that involves facing the victim and emptying a revolver right into them, a recording of the murderer's tone of voice at least (so you'd think someone in her life would recognize the timbre if nothing else), and not a single person in her life has the faintest idea what anyone could possibly have wanted to kill her over? Even if that person in the video is a hired hit (which I really could go either way on), someone had a personal motive somewhere in the chain.

I know fandom groups can get intense, but homicide is a little less common than uncomfortably intense people, even in those circles. If no one in Elizabeth's life has any clue - even the tiniest hint of a notion - about who she might know who could have wanted to kill her, then I Elizabeth's death may be connected to something not visible to the other people in her life while she was alive. What that could be, I genuinely haven't the foggiest.

 

[JnRyan]

If no one in Elizabeth's life has any clue - even the tiniest hint of a notion - about who she might know who could have wanted to kill her, then I Elizabeth's death may be connected to something not visible to the other people in her life while she was alive. What that could be, I genuinely haven't the foggiest.

And that last part is one major part of this I'm stuck on. Most murders are committed by someone known to the victim. Yet, LE can't seem to make the connection to that someone. I have to believe LE has interviewed her most likely confidants - husband, her parents, a co-worker or co-workers, another re-enactor - and it would seem that nothing falls out. Everything else - who owned the truck, the disguise, etc. - would seem to fall into place more easily for LE if they could pinpoint that likely suspect.

 

[MntnHiker]

I suppose it's possible that LE has a good idea of who did this or think they do, but someone is giving them an alibi/they can't prove it enough to arrest that person.

 

[Satchie]

Agreed with all of the above. I can't yet see whether the yard sale was something the murderer knew about or just a coincidence that worked out well for them, but whether they knew about the yard sale or not, they knew Elizabeth. They drove past her home the previous night. They specifically wanted her to die, and they told her as much. It's a shame the recording is awful because I suspect the person told Elizabeth exactly why she was being killed, and if that were clearer then we'd have an easier time seeing who it could have been.

The one thing I'd gently push back on is the idea that there's necessarily some particular aspect of a criminal mind that makes it impossible for others to understand, at least in in every case. I absolutely agree that I would just never have been able to come up with a predictive model of someone like Ted Bundy, but not every murder is committed by someone with a pathological lack of conscience. Sometimes a person murders someone because they have a reason they want that person to die, and they're willing to live with whatever guilt. Or maybe they think they need to, or maybe they're so enraged they see no other way. But the murder of Elizabeth is such a void of information that I can't rightly say which kind of mindset we're looking at.

One reason I shy away from thinking this could only be a particularly unsound mind is that this killing seems intensely personal. Not ritualistic but personal. The person stopped by the previous night, then they came by that morning, they waited for her husband to leave (which suggests to me they only wanted to kill Liz, and no one else, which suggests personal motive), they delivered a message to her, shot her, then circled back again for whatever reason (be it to make sure she was dead or to take a photo or whatever it was). They knew where to find her. They arrived at a very particular time, suggesting they knew what a normal schedule was for the couple. We're seeing planning here. The circumstances are too opportune to be entirely random chance - but they're also too specific for a stranger to know. This person had information a stranger couldn't have had, and that would have been difficult to learn from the outside of a person's life. I sincerely doubt they were hanging out in her neighborhood with a pair of binoculars for several mornings prior to that. The information about where to find her, what time her husband normally left for work - all that information got into the murderer's hands somehow. Either they knew it themselves or they had it relayed to them.

And what I'm stuck on is - and I know I've made more or less this exact post already - how the hell do you have a murderer who's got at least some level of familiarity with a victim's life, a personal message delivered, a method that involves facing the victim and emptying a revolver right into them, a recording of the murderer's tone of voice at least (so you'd think someone in her life would recognize the timbre if nothing else), and not a single person in her life has the faintest idea what anyone could possibly have wanted to kill her over? Even if that person in the video is a hired hit (which I really could go either way on), someone had a personal motive somewhere in the chain.

I know fandom groups can get intense, but homicide is a little less common than uncomfortably intense people, even in those circles. If no one in Elizabeth's life has any clue - even the tiniest hint of a notion - about who she might know who could have wanted to kill her, then I Elizabeth's death may be connected to something not visible to the other people in her life while she was alive. What that could be, I genuinely haven't the foggiest.

I agree that motive might be hard to discern in this case, but per the part of your post I've bolded above, "not a single person in her life has the faintest idea what anyone could possibly have wanted to kill her over", we don't actually know that all her friends and family are completely stymied. They may have their own theories/suspicions, but police would have told them not to share those with the media.

The second part of your post I've bolded: "Elizabeth's death may be connected to something not visible to the other people in her life while she was alive",
IMO, that would depend on whether Elizabeth had a secret life. Police would have looked hard to find out if there was unaccounted for time, when no one knew where she was, or perhaps spending money on things her husband couldn't account for. For example, in the Missy Bevers case, police discovered pretty quickly about her affair. But if Elizabeth's life was an open book, and she shared everything with some family and friends, then IMO the odds are very slim that she had a secret enemy out there.

Police know very well about the statistical probability of who caused the death of a suburban wife, and, in the absence of other leads, will focus on that one, IMO.

I also agree that it's possible to understand a crime, in even the most puzzling instance, once you understand the circumstances. IMO, murder is a more extreme version of ordinary human behaviour: lots of people get jealous and provoke a fight, but when a murderous person gets jealous, they may kill. Lots of people want to get more money, but a murderous person may kill someone just to steal from them.

I can even see Ted Bundy as an extreme within that type of guy who picks up attractive women for liaisons. But instead of, perhaps, getting them drunk and sleeping with them, Bundy had the extreme approach of kidnapping and murdering them. The method is extreme, but - unless the person is psychotic - the root of the desire behind the extreme approach is actually familiar to most people in ordinary life.

JMO

 

[borndem]

Agreed with all of the above. I can't yet see whether the yard sale was something the murderer knew about or just a coincidence that worked out well for them, but whether they knew about the yard sale or not, they knew Elizabeth. They drove past her home the previous night. They specifically wanted her to die, and they told her as much. It's a shame the recording is awful because I suspect the person told Elizabeth exactly why she was being killed, and if that were clearer then we'd have an easier time seeing who it could have been.

The one thing I'd gently push back on is the idea that there's necessarily some particular aspect of a criminal mind that makes it impossible for others to understand, at least in in every case. I absolutely agree that I would just never have been able to come up with a predictive model of someone like Ted Bundy, but not every murder is committed by someone with a pathological lack of conscience. Sometimes a person murders someone because they have a reason they want that person to die, and they're willing to live with whatever guilt. Or maybe they think they need to, or maybe they're so enraged they see no other way. But the murder of Elizabeth is such a void of information that I can't rightly say which kind of mindset we're looking at.

One reason I shy away from thinking this could only be a particularly unsound mind is that this killing seems intensely personal. Not ritualistic but personal. The person stopped by the previous night, then they came by that morning, they waited for her husband to leave (which suggests to me they only wanted to kill Liz, and no one else, which suggests personal motive), they delivered a message to her, shot her, then circled back again for whatever reason (be it to make sure she was dead or to take a photo or whatever it was). They knew where to find her. They arrived at a very particular time, suggesting they knew what a normal schedule was for the couple. We're seeing planning here. The circumstances are too opportune to be entirely random chance - but they're also too specific for a stranger to know. This person had information a stranger couldn't have had, and that would have been difficult to learn from the outside of a person's life. I sincerely doubt they were hanging out in her neighborhood with a pair of binoculars for several mornings prior to that. The information about where to find her, what time her husband normally left for work - all that information got into the murderer's hands somehow. Either they knew it themselves or they had it relayed to them.

And what I'm stuck on is - and I know I've made more or less this exact post already - how the hell do you have a murderer who's got at least some level of familiarity with a victim's life, a personal message delivered, a method that involves facing the victim and emptying a revolver right into them, a recording of the murderer's tone of voice at least (so you'd think someone in her life would recognize the timbre if nothing else), and not a single person in her life has the faintest idea what anyone could possibly have wanted to kill her over? Even if that person in the video is a hired hit (which I really could go either way on), someone had a personal motive somewhere in the chain.

I know fandom groups can get intense, but homicide is a little less common than uncomfortably intense people, even in those circles. If no one in Elizabeth's life has any clue - even the tiniest hint of a notion - about who she might know who could have wanted to kill her, then I Elizabeth's death may be connected to something not visible to the other people in her life while she was alive. What that could be, I genuinely haven't the foggiest.

Excellent post -- @CliffyTruxton -- all of it. Thanks for, IMO, covering all the angles. What a mystery.
I'm just hoping that LE is not as at-a-loss as most of us here are!
I guess we've got a very clever one on our hands here. I'm hoping that LE has a couple of really smart ones who are getting closer and closer to an arrest. Elizabeth and her family need to see the wheels of just start to grind a bet faster...

 

[chimpface]

I think the key to solving this is who knew about the garage sale pre-murder. <modsnip>

IMO

 

[Curiousobserver]

Statistically speaking- its someone who knew her and has a personal motive. Revenge, money, love triangle etc... the usual motives.

What is making me back away from that hypothesis is the brazenness. The perp drove by the night before and perhaps other times as well. They showed no care of being recognized by EB, her husband, or an observant neighbor. They fired shoots in the early hours then drove back past the house without a care that they just woke everyone up. They ran back to the car but then calmly drove away.

LE has an excellent description of the vehicle, the case had lots of publicity, and yet nobody can tie the truck to anybody she knows.

As unlikely as it sounds, a random thrill seeker fits the available evidence.

Perhaps LE has more than they released, they usually do.

 

[The.sinning.solver]

Call me crazy but, I think she did know who killed here. I believe she was taken back by setting them in a “disguise” because it’s someone close to her (for example like brother or best friend kin of close). Or she still knew who it was but it was someone who had no business being at her home ( example maybe an old best friend she cut contact with, someone she met at cons but never had true evolvement with her).

my next point is, she is not NECESSARILY the goal for this senseless act of coldness. Why if she was in the way to what they really wanted whatever that is!

JMO, I think there was a love triangle. By no means do I say that with the intent of disrespect, because honestly I don’t think either of even knew there was a “triangle”. I think there was someone who wanted SB and saw sweet Elizabeth as an obstacle knowing he was in love with her and happy with what he had going for himself and his love and commitment to her. They knew thy never stood a chance compared to her. The fact this happened befor their 5 year anniversary get together says it ALL.

Reminds me of Chris Watts a little bit, sorta. Shannan(may her and those 3 babies be resting in peace) SW had to go immediately in his eyes because Nicole mad it CLEAR to him she wanted to do what SW never did for him. She wanted to be able to have. FIRST something with him. Be that first something could be a first marriage, first house/credit line together purchase, first baby, or first baby girl. Put what she could give CW that was fort? A little boy. He’s a piece of work nicely put so honestly I have no idea if her not getting pregnant, let alone with a boy. I’m not sure if he would have chosen the same route….

The reason I mention this is cause I’ve been a scorn women. I’ve also been the first wife. I’ve also been the side chick with a forceful hand giving them an ultimatum. Like I said I don’t think SB had involvement( at the very least I don’t think he had anything to do with her initial death. Maybe learned of it later on and is protecting someone now, but I doubt it). My point is bing the type of person I am getting married to my high school sweetheart on or 5th anniversary MEANT the world to me, even though I knew they were ready ( family issues came up 2 weeks eve fire date and after spending as much as we it wasn’t an option). But even tho I knew it was to much for them, I kept it going. The women who wanted SB probably knew after it would cause issues and make him not want her, but that oulsnt have matter to them.

I don’t think the killer knew their was a garage sale, unless either one of them causally mentioned it in passing thinking no one else heard(like her at work and killer overhearing it at the lunch table right next to hers). I think it was now or never to them. I don’t think the night before was a “stake out” I think they went and maybe got cold feet. And they end up having to do it the ext day in the morning. Hence the “disguise”, they were scared of PEOPLE seeing them, they didn’t care if EB did. They knew that they were gonna act like an animal one way or another. Them driving back around is just hm making sure she’s gone so she can’t identify them if she comes to.
I’ve been thinking boy this case for a bit now. And I feel so close to it. She was living the life not people want, that funny enough I want to. But most of all I think it’s what the killer wanted to have. Please let me know thoughts and opinions, my first time coming up with a full flesh out thorough idea. I’m also in school to have a future in forensics so if any professional could possibly point out any tips, suggestions, or inaccurate information to better myself to hopefully help more victims and family that’d be highly appreciated. Or even anyone non professional I honestly wouldn’t mind!

 

[Rtael]

I don’t think the night before was a “stake out” I think they went and maybe got cold feet. And they end up having to do it the ext day in the morning. Hence the “disguise”, they were scared of PEOPLE seeing them, they didn’t care if EB did.

I agree with a lot of what you say, but this part doesn't sound right to me. I definitely think the night before was scoping out the scene...if we go with the idea (which I agree with) that the killer and Elizabeth knew each other, at least to some extent, then presumably this person knows she is married. Likely knows her and her husband have somewhat similar schedules...so why would they be planning to go there and kill her knowing there's likely to be a witness/someone who can/will intervene in the situation. I think the morning 'hit' was always the plan, regardless of whether they knew about the garage sale or not (I think not).

UGGHHWEKHFAKWEHIH#@$!$% (the sound my brain makes when I think about this case too much)

I just re-watched the surveillance video (way too many times) and it's so frustrating. Everything seems so clear, except not at at all. To me, it looks like the person is reaching across their body and possibly underneath (a coat, dress, costume) to grab the gun. The gun comes out just as they are reaching Elizabeth. Then something happens with the left hand...at first I was convinced they were pulling something else out with the left hand, possibly a picture or letter, and showing it to Elizabeth/waving it in her face. After re-watching it a bunch it almost seems like they might be bringing their other hand up to the gun...yet when they fire it seems pretty clear the shots are all taken one-handed with the possible exception of the first, and you can see the left arm drawing back (perhaps clutching on to something still?).

I'm still not even really certain on whether it's a man or a woman. Yet what stood out most to me was the scene of the kill shot - something about the way the 'hair' fell forward as they are leaning over and their lack of attention to it, and the way that it moves as they turn around to run back to the car. The movement of the hair itself and the way the person moves with it just seems artificial. I think it must be a wig or costume of some kind and to me that points more toward the culprit being a man (or perhaps possibly a woman with short hair who isn't used to having long hair).

P.S. After another re-watch with a slightly different view, I am more convinced than ever that something important is going on with the left hand. The gun comes out first but then something happens with the left hand/arm and as soon as they start firing the left arm really pulls back, so it seems like the initial extension of that arm was never for stabilizing the gun before firing. Combined with the fact that we know there was at least a very short conversation prior to the shooting, I really think they were showing Elizabeth something with that left hand. She may or may not have attached any meaning or significance to whatever she was being shown, but I think it definitely meant something to the killer. I get the impression they would have liked to draw the confrontation out longer but they just didn't have the patience, they were afraid/nervous/etc.

Watching all of that, it's really hard to get away from this somehow being involved in Elizabeth's cosplay interests. The killer's in some kind of get up, the whole thing comes off as staged, and every movement/moment seems laced with drama. It's always possible that whole aspect is a ploy to throw everyone off the real track, but I think that's doubtful.

 

[JnRyan]

Call me crazy but, I think she did know who killed here. I believe she was taken back by setting them in a “disguise” because it’s someone close to her (for example like brother or best friend kin of close). Or she still knew who it was but it was someone who had no business being at her home ( example maybe an old best friend she cut contact with, someone she met at cons but never had true evolvement with her).

my next point is, she is not NECESSARILY the goal for this senseless act of coldness. Why if she was in the way to what they really wanted whatever that is!

JMO, I think there was a love triangle. By no means do I say that with the intent of disrespect, because honestly I don’t think either of even knew there was a “triangle”. I think there was someone who wanted SB and saw sweet Elizabeth as an obstacle knowing he was in love with her and happy with what he had going for himself and his love and commitment to her. They knew thy never stood a chance compared to her. The fact this happened befor their 5 year anniversary get together says it ALL.

This part is where I come down to most of the time. Although, not specifically focusing on a 'triangle' that neither Elizabeth or her husband knew about. I think about something broader like a business connection or through their hobby with Star Wars. My theory is this might be a 'perceived' transgression that exists in the mind of the person who wanted Elizabeth dead. There may have not been any argument or confrontation or if there was it wasn't anything Elizabeth gave a second thought to at the time. For example, it may have involved a conflict between Elizabeth's employer and a customer and the culprit has mistakenly blamed Elizabeth for it. It could have been something said or done at one of their hobby events. And, of course, you mention the jealousy or triangle situation.

Something like 85% to 90+% of murders are committed by someone the victim knows and I believe that is the case here as well. Or at least some personal connection to Elizabeth on some level. Her husband, family and friends probably aren't even aware of this connection between the killer and Elizabeth. And who knows, Elizabeth herself may have not been aware of this grudge or motive till the killer confronted her.

The story that comes to mind is Edgar Allan Poe's short story, "The Cask of Amontillado". The killer, Montresor, in that story speaks of insults he suffered from his intended victim, Fortunado. And yet it seems clear in the story that Montresor exaggerates these 'insults'. Fortunado himself is apparently unaware of them as he allows himself to be lured into the cellar.

 

[Scatcat]

But she normally would have left for work by then. She was only home that day because of the garage sale.

I think this is much closer connected than some long forgotten grudge. The killer drove by the night before, arrived 4 minutes after Sergio left, avoided the ring camera and apparently had no connection to the vehicle.

I just can’t see all of the details as luck, that’s just way too neat and tidy.

 

[Scatcat]

Agreed ,it's too perfect to me imo

 

[Gunslinging Granny]

Elizabeth's dad and her friends need to put intense pressure on the local media to continue to discuss Elizabeth's murder. The squeaky wheel gets the grease.