TX TX - Elizabeth Barraza, 29, murdered setting up garage sale, Harris Co, Jan 2019 #6

[lonewanderer]

Just some observations from me:

There is no obvious motive except life insurance payout, regardless of whether it is actually paid out or not, it can be viewed as possible motive.

There are many coincidences that provided the killer/killers with the ideal opportunity to commit this awful crime and avoid detection, so far. I don't believe in coincidence.

Only 5yrs have passed since this murder and already SB has remarried, to my mind, he has got over this pretty quickly.

I have a few plausible motivations in mind, but they do require some investigating and are not obvious. They involve a particular person in the 501st Legion.

I think this just depends on ones personal outlook and perception.

Sergio was young and did not have children. Getting married again so quickly could signal that he actually really enjoyed being married to Liz, and was ready to jump right into another marriage. Typically, the people who kill their spouse, or have their spouse killed, didn't want to be married in the first place and are usually looking for some kind of life insurance payday to blow on their single, free life.

Someone like Brandon Bevers didn't remarry, I suspect because he has two teen girls that lost their mother suddenly and tragically. They would not be contending with a new stepmother trying to fill her shoes, and Brandon would look like he was just itching to marry this new woman. In his case, getting married again quickly might look really bad at first glance.

FWIW I don't think Sergio or Brandon wanted or were involved in their wife's deaths.

 

[x_files]

If they had a sleeping child in the car, would anyone question it?

NO. But the risk is if caught on camera. Everyone else is too busy with dropping off children.
Maybe the shooter did have a sleeping child in the truck.

 

[Charlot123]

Someone (the killer/the driver) perhaps for unknown reasons was used to drive into that parking lot and didn't think, it would be conspicuous in any way. For the person a place to turn the car, nothing more.

Some schools are sometimes offering rooms (weekends, evenings) to groups for sports, prenatal gymnastics or adult education; maybe the person is a former participant or a former course leader.

Yes! There is a Unitarian church not so far away, with a few members, and the rest of the place, including several lots, is multi-purpose. In summer, we’d drop off kids for a summer camp there, and some rooms would be used for after-camp programs. As long as I didn’t change the car, because my new one was never parked there, I could probably do barrel rolls with my old one and no one would pay attention because the car was known. Another one was Sylvan center. Yes, if that school leased part of the building to an after school program or Sylvan center, anyone could park there.

Except for…the phone? The internet. When you are sitting in a car, you are often checking the news. Houston suburbs are populated, and have good cellular coverage. Did they switch off the phones, or something else? How does the police have no idea? And these bigger, newer cars have systems pairing with your phone, so how?

 

[Charlot123]

I have a few plausible motivations in mind, but they do require some investigating and are not obvious. They involve a particular person in the 501st Legion.

I think this just depends on ones personal outlook and perception.

Sergio was young and did not have children. Getting married again so quickly could signal that he actually really enjoyed being married to Liz, and was ready to jump right into another marriage. Typically, the people who kill their spouse, or have their spouse killed, didn't want to be married in the first place and are usually looking for some kind of life insurance payday to blow on their single, free life.

Someone like Brandon Bevers didn't remarry, I suspect because he has two teen girls that lost their mother suddenly and tragically. They would not be contending with a new stepmother trying to fill her shoes, and Brandon would look like he was just itching to marry this new woman. In his case, getting married again quickly might look really bad at first glance.

FWIW I don't think Sergio or Brandon wanted or were involved in their wife's deaths.

Does SB have children now? This would be important for me.

Getting married so quickly just means that he doesn’t enjoy loneliness.

My opinion: in general, life insurance is never an issue until you get into another relationship. SB was enjoying his married life, had a job and a hobby his wife shared, his life was full. Just a life insurance or inheritance would not be the motivator, because, why get rid of the partner you are happy with? Now, if it is found out that there was a relationship on the side in S’s marriage to Liz, that would be a huge red flag even without insurance policy.

 

[I am not Sherlock H.]

Det. Ritchie had said S had no unusual phone calls that morning which made me think Le believes the murderer got some calls from someone and moved accordingly

I also believe like posters mentioned above the Anti gang unit might be related to a hired killer .
I am hopeful that justice for Liz is very
close .
Jmo.

Above snipped by me - on the no apparent unusual phone calls - I hope law enforcement and investigators are also looking for burner phones or the like. MOO

 

[Charlot123]

Whoops, outed myself as a european.
By the standards of Texas, US this might be indeed such a common size of vehicle that everyone with a licence has driven.
(in my hood, I personally don't know anyone with a car as large as that and most people driving it for the first time would have some trouble estimating the size of that thing during manoeuvres)

Edit: Carsized did not have Frontier in their models so I had to use Titan, but just to illustrate: Volkswagen Golf 2019-present vs. Nissan Titan 2015-2020

A trip in Italy, in a rented car from Rome to Florence via Pisa. Italian cars are tiny, my men squeezed in with difficulty. It is not a problem to find car returns in huge US airports. In Florence, it was offsite, hard to find with the navigator yelling out grand names of tiny streets with no signs on them. After we were done, an Uber driver refused to repeat our maneuver: “you know a food truck in the neighborhood? Get there”. A Nissan frontier would be very expensive in Europe, given the gas prices.

 

[arielilane]

Curious if most people would assume that the truck is black or would describe it as a dark vehicle rather than a black vehicle upon first sight? I ask this because most of the vehicles in the video are dark or appear to be black. Liz's car is blue, yet it too looks black in the footage.

Footage of vehicle begins around the 1:45 mark, and video is about 4 + minutes. White vehicle or lighter colored vehicle appear to be true to color in footage. TIA for any input received.

Widower opens up 4 years after wife was shot to death while setting up for garage sale at Tomball home

Sergio Barraza said he knows a lot of people consider him the prime suspect in her death but says he's done everything he can to help investigators solve the case.

www.khou.com

Updated: 5:31 PM CST January 26, 2023

 

[Ajs1004]

Does SB have children now? This would be important for me.

Getting married so quickly just means that he doesn’t enjoy loneliness.

My opinion: in general, life insurance is never an issue until you get into another relationship. SB was enjoying his married life, had a job and a hobby his wife shared, his life was full. Just a life insurance or inheritance would not be the motivator, because, why get rid of the partner you are happy with? Now, if it is found out that there was a relationship on the side in S’s marriage to Liz, that would be a huge red flag even without insurance policy.

Yes he has a child now. And life insurance is totally a motivator, especially give the amount that she supposedly had.

 

[lonewanderer]

Except for…the phone? The internet. When you are sitting in a car, you are often checking the news. Houston suburbs are populated, and have good cellular coverage. Did they switch off the phones, or something else? How does the police have no idea? And these bigger, newer cars have systems pairing with your phone, so how?

I speculate the shooter was pulling up a picture/thread post screenshot/text string capture on their phone that they wanted to confront Liz with, which was what they extend in their left hand.

If it wasn’t a picture on a phone, they may have been reaching for a different device and pulling up the confrontation material. It could possibly even be an old school print out.

I also speculate they may have placed their phone into airplane mode.

 

[lonewanderer]

Yes he has a child now. And life insurance is totally a motivator, especially give the amount that she supposedly had.

He doesn’t seem to be in a rush to get it…

Having a child as a new expense would be a major motivator to act on it, I would think.

I don’t think it’s like Sergio planned for or wanted Liz harmed, or dead.

 

[fridaybaker]

Yes he has a child now. And life insurance is totally a motivator, especially give the amount that she supposedly had.

Does anyone know the reason L and S never had children?

 

[x_files]

Does anyone know the reason L and S never had children?

You read my mind.

If their marriage was in a good place, with no issues, no affairs, nothing...then who close to Liz had MEANS? and MOTIVE?
Is it possible someone was tracing her whereabouts with an Apple AirTag or Sergio?
The timing from when Sergio lives is beyond crazy super tight timing? How could someone spy without being across the street? Any neighbors resent them? Is anyone upset with their garage sales?

 

[lonewanderer]

You read my mind.

If their marriage was in a good place, with no issues, no affairs, nothing...then who close to Liz had MEANS? and MOTIVE?
Is it possible someone was tracing her whereabouts with an Apple AirTag or Sergio?
The timing from when Sergio lives is beyond crazy super tight timing? How could someone spy without being across the street? Any neighbors resent them? Is anyone upset with their garage sales?

One possible idea I have thrown out for tracking is monitoring what devices were still connected to their extended WiFi (assuming they had it).

For instance, I can look at my DECO app, away from my house, using 3G. If I kept hawkeying Liz and Sergio’s WiFi and saw Sergio’s device fall off, I would know exactly when to move.

All I would really need to know to get into their WiFi is their network name and password.

A person close to them may know that being an invited guest previously….

 

[lonewanderer]

Does anyone know the reason L and S never had children?

We don’t know their particular dynamic that deeply. Could be a super easy answer, could be extremely complicated.

Same goes for Sergio’s new marriage.

IMO, lots and lots of factors contribute to individual dynamics, chemistry, beliefs, and wanted or unwanted outcomes.

 

[lonewanderer]

Ohhhh!!!!!

The 3 point turn question.

Does Texas have license plates in the front and back of vehicles? If yes, this contradicts what I’m thinking, but, I also suspect the vehicle may been borrowed on a whim with an excuse, either knowingly borrowed or not. Not all states have front and back license plate requirements.

Perhaps the 3 point was to avoid a camera seeing the license plate in the back.

Drive in, see side, back out, only facing forward is seen.

 

[lonewanderer]

Does anyone know the reason L and S never had children?

You read my mind.

If their marriage was in a good place, with no issues, no affairs, nothing...then who close to Liz had MEANS? and MOTIVE?
Is it possible someone was tracing her whereabouts with an Apple AirTag or Sergio?
The timing from when Sergio lives is beyond crazy super tight timing? How could someone spy without being across the street? Any neighbors resent them? Is anyone upset with their garage sales?

There is also a major global movement of couples not wanting any children.

They often refer to themselves as “DINKS” dual income no kids. Not saying they lived that motto or advertised it or anything.

I personally had two kids by the time I was 25. I struggled really heavily for a decade or so. I can imagine it would be much easier to live your 20s, married with dual income, and then start a family.

 

[glassheater]

My best friend was married 10 years before they decided to have kids. They got married at 23 and wanted to get to a super secure financial place and accomplish some work goals before they focused on a family. Many couples are taking that route today. Raising kids has become extremely expensive and people seem to be waiting longer to have them than in prior generations. I don’t find it weird they didn’t have kids. I also don’t find it weird that Sergio does have a child with his new wife. By the time he remarried he was approaching mid 30s.

 

[cujenn81]

My best friend was married 10 years before they decided to have kids. They got married at 23 and wanted to get to a super secure financial place and accomplish some work goals before they focused on a family. Many couples are taking that route today. Raising kids has become extremely expensive and people seem to be waiting longer to have them than in prior generations. I don’t find it weird they didn’t have kids. I also don’t find it weird that Sergio does have a child with his new wife. By the time he remarried he was approaching mid 30s.

My parents did the same in 1967. My mom was 19 and my dad was 23 when they got married. They waited 9 years to have my brother and another 5 to have me. (They are still happily married 56 years later, BTW.)

 

[POSleuth]

You read my mind.

If their marriage was in a good place, with no issues, no affairs, nothing...then who close to Liz had MEANS? and MOTIVE?
Is it possible someone was tracing her whereabouts with an Apple AirTag or Sergio?
The timing from when Sergio lives is beyond crazy super tight timing? How could someone spy without being across the street? Any neighbors resent them? Is anyone upset with their garage sales?

Are we sure the truth timing for the murderer’s departure from Goddard and S’s departure from the house are accurate to the second? The Barraza house and Goddard School are at most 2 minutes away, probably less.

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It seems plausible that one of the camera timestamps are off and that the murderer saw S pass then left Goddard. This is especially possible since the police originally had the time of S’s arrival wrong even though their own dash footage showed his earlier arrival time. I don’t know where the S departure and murdered departure times come from though. Those times might be more reliable than the previously provided time of S’s arrival after the shooting.

 

[Charlot123]

Yes he has a child now. And life insurance is totally a motivator, especially give the amount that she supposedly had.

A life insurance per se is not a motivator, otherwise every second spouse in this country would be murdered. A life insurance may become a major catalyst, trigger, even, if you don't love your wife and have an affair on the side. "Get that life insurance and start anew". This is why the state of the Bs marriage was so important. It all starts with "do you love your partner"?

Sadly, much depends on Liz's personality. Some women are so close with their moms, they'd immediately share if they have any suspicions about partner's fidelity. Other people are proud and keep their suspicions to themselves till the last moment. If Liz belonged to the latter group, we might simply be uninformed.

Anyhow, we don't have enough information to accuse SB as of today. Not that I feel that he is guilty/innocent, I simply don't know.