TX TX - Elizabeth Barraza, 29, murdered setting up garage sale, Harris Co, Jan 2019 #7

[Cryptic]

I bet this inexperienced killer would have gone to a gun range probably less than a week prior to build confidence and bc it seems like they were a big time planner so I'm sure they would have wanted to practice prior.

Respecting your views fully, I have another speculative vibe on the shooter.

The shooter is not inexperienced. Rather they are just not formally trained. So, no drilled in two handed shooting techniques. Though almost nothing is truly rare in the age of the internet, .22 revolvers are just not that common. A casual purchaser could walk through more than a few pawn shops, gun stores and even gun shows and not readily see one.

So... my vague vibes point me towards:

A "daddy's tom girl" (shooter really seems feminine to me). Relatively big boned, but light on her feet. Softball produces a number of those types of girls.

Daddy introduced "Sally" to .22 plinking with a revolver at a young age- and she got pretty good at it. Sally .22 plinked to please her father (always wanted a boy). But... she never developed a personal interest in guns. So, no gun purchases in larger bores.

One day, Sally gets enraged by something (she may have a history of rages over 'disses, "stolen" boyfriends, jealousy over sports team positions etc.) Sally retrieves the old .22 revolver from a closet or sock drawer, then fires quickly and accurately, killing the victim.

 

[NoSpoonFeeding]

I don't remember the caliber but I am certain I read it was NOT .22

22 is also the most commonly used murder weapon. Its quiet, cheap, etc

This hasn't been the case for many years.
The exact figures are not known as it is not recorded/reported for each homicide. From personal experience the following is thought accurate by most, if not all, LE.

"It's widely believed that the 9mm is the most common caliber used in murders. However, the U.S. does not consistently keep records of firearm calibers used in homicides. A 2018 study in Boston found that 9mm was involved in 50 of 184 fatal shootings and 65 non-fatal shootings.

In this study, medium calibers (.38, .380, and 9mm) were used in more shootings (113 non-fatal and 100 fatal) than larger calibers (.357, .40, .44 Mag, .45 ACP, 10mm, and 7.62x39mm)."

Gun Death Statistics by Caliber: A Review of Calibers and Crime in 2024

Which calibers kill more people in America and why? This article provides a well-rounded explanation of gun deaths in the U.S.

ammo.com

 

[lonewanderer]

Respecting your views fully, I have another speculative vibe on the shooter.

The shooter is not inexperienced. Rather they are just not formally trained. So, no drilled in two handed shooting techniques. Though almost nothing is truly rare in the age of the internet, .22 revolvers are just not that common. A casual purchaser could walk through more than a few pawn shops, gun stores and even gun shows and not readily see one.

So... my vague vibes point me towards:

A "daddy's tom girl" (shooter really seems feminine to me). Relatively big boned, but light on her feet. Softball produces a number of those types of girls.

Daddy introduced "Sally" to .22 plinking with a revolver at a young age- and she got pretty good at it. Sally .22 plinked to please her father (always wanted a boy). But... she never developed a personal interest in guns. So, no gun purchases in larger bores.

One day, Sally gets enraged by something (she may have a history of rages over 'disses, "stolen" boyfriends, jealousy over sports team positions etc.) Sally retrieves the old .22 revolver from a closet or sock drawer, then fires quickly and accurately, killing the victim.

I have gone back and forth on how the gun was obtained.

I lean toward it being more of a "pro" murder and less impulsive.

When I first watched the footage (first few times) the figure that shoots Liz comes off as a woman around Liz's age dressed for a morning activity like walking the dog, smoking, taking out trash, etc. I thought this may have been a woman who basically rolled out of bed and grabbed grandpa/gun nut boyfriends revolver as the closest weapon they could find. In many of the other "driveway shootings" the murder weapon was provided to the shooter and claimed to have been stolen later in order to avoid liability.

I lean now more towards the weapon being strategically picked to not leave casings, and revolvers are much, MUCH, less likely to jam than magazine fed handguns.

 

[Charlot123]

I have gone back and forth on how the gun was obtained.

I lean toward it being more of a "pro" murder and less impulsive.

When I first watched the footage (first few times) the figure that shoots Liz comes off as a woman around Liz's age dressed for a morning activity like walking the dog, smoking, taking out trash, etc. I thought this may have been a woman who basically rolled out of bed and grabbed grandpa/gun nut boyfriends revolver as the closest weapon they could find. In many of the other "driveway shootings" the murder weapon was provided to the shooter and claimed to have been stolen later in order to avoid liability.

I lean now more towards the weapon being strategically picked to not leave casings, and revolvers are much, MUCH, less likely to jam than magazine fed handguns.

Agree. Mr. Nuelle said that there were no casings left.

I don't want to sound conspiratorial, but the murderer was an excellent shooter from the standpoint of transplantology.

Liz donated two kidneys, a heart, a liver and two corneas.

How would one aim when shooting at a person in front of him? If the person is of comparable height, I'd aim at the L chest. But this is far from what the murderer did.

His first shot hit Liz in the low stomach/pelvis. It did not hit either kidney, probably avoided descending aorta and did not touch the liver. So, midline?

I don't know about the rest, but even the head shot was peculiar. To me, the murderer is a very good shooter, and a a revolver is less traumatic.

It sounds unrealistic because, among other things, one can't control when the EMTs will arrive. However, the neighbor across the street was on the phone with the police, as he noticed the car coming back again. What if the shooter came back to check if the neighborhood was up and aware of the murder?

Is seems as if shooter or whoever ordered the assassination hated Liz, but shared some of her views. They also must have know that Liz was a donor. I am interested to know the year and the circumstances of her choosing to be a donor, and who else, besides her family, was aware of it?

 

[NoSpoonFeeding]

Agree. Mr. Nuelle said that there were no casings left.

I don't want to sound conspiratorial, but the murderer was an excellent shooter from the standpoint of transplantology.

Liz donated two kidneys, a heart, a liver and two corneas.

How would one aim when shooting at a person in front of him? If the person is of comparable height, I'd aim at the L chest. But this is far from what the murderer did.

His first shot hit Liz in the low stomach/pelvis. It did not hit either kidney, probably avoided descending aorta and did not touch the liver. So, midline?

I don't know about the rest, but even the head shot was peculiar. To me, the murderer is a very good shooter, and a a revolver is less traumatic.

It sounds unrealistic because, among other things, one can't control when the EMTs will arrive. However, the neighbor across the street was on the phone with the police, as he noticed the car coming back again. What if the shooter came back to check if the neighborhood was up and aware of the murder?

Is seems as if shooter or whoever ordered the assassination hated Liz, but shared some of her views. They also must have know that Liz was a donor. I am interested to know the year and the circumstances of her choosing to be a donor, and who else, besides her family, was aware of it?

The danger of this idea is that it perpetuates the unfortunate idea that people can be murdered for the purpose of getting/harvesting organs, keeping this in the U.S. The only reason Liz was transported was that she was still alive when they got to her. Anyone that shoots someone 4 times, with an execution type head shot after she fell to the ground (and then possibly came back to be sure she was dead/down) expects the person to immediately perish. No one can shoot someone 4 times and expect them to be still alive but brain dead, and transported to the hospital. They took her organs for transplant at the time she was taken off life support.

Any interuption of blood flow to the organs would have made them not viable for transplant and it was miraculous that blood flow did not cease at the scene, but this was not due to the skill of a shooter.
The rule is, only persons that die in the hospital can donate organs. If she had no pulse, they perhaps would have intubated her but if she did not regain a pulse, she never would have been transported. She would have remained at the scene and the ME would have eventually responded.

You are also not considering blood/tissue matching and that the decison of where the donated organs go is complex, there is no arrangement anyone could make in advance to receive her organs.
Considering the controls in place, how could someone "rig" the transplants?

From the link, odds are against organs being used from a victim of gunshot wounds to the head.

• Gunshot wounds to the head are fatal about 90% of the time, with many victims dying before arriving to the hospital.
• For victims who survive the initial trauma, about 50% die in the emergency room.

Gunshot Wound Head Trauma

Gunshot wounds to the head have become a leading cause of traumatic brain injury (TBI) in many urban areas in the U.S. due, in part, to a surge in gang

www.aans.org

From the link:

Information on the organs available for donation, the donor’s blood type and body size is provided to UNOS (United Network for Organ Sharing) by the CORE coordinator. The UNOS computer then matches the donated organs to potential recipients. Recipient selection is based on blood type, body size, medical urgency and length of time on the waiting list. In matching the pancreas and kidneys, genetic tissue type is also considered.

Donation Process - CORE

CORE coordinates the recovery of organs, tissues and corneas for transplant. Traditional organ donation requires a person to be in a hospital and on a ventilator when they are pronounced brain dead. If a person experiences cardiac death, which means the heart has stopped and will not work again...

www.core.org

 

[CrimeTheorist]

Does anyone know if police also did searches for Nissan Frontier Desert Runner's in the area? The Nissan dealer couldn't rule out that being the vehicle, so maybe when police saw the Pro 4-X decal (which I think was maybe added to throw police off) they didn't bother to look into any Nissan Frontier Desert Runners?

 

[Sjöberg]

We have so little information about the case despite the video and everything...
I am still unsure about the gender of the shooter.
I think the motive is emotional (probably romantic) and the killer is the person or one of the people that wanted Liz dead.
I feel that for now the car and it's movements are more useful for finding the killer than the video or the gun.
Why did the killer act the way it did? What does it indicate?

 

[windrower]

Agree. Mr. Nuelle said that there were no casings left.

I don't want to sound conspiratorial, but the murderer was an excellent shooter from the standpoint of transplantology.

Liz donated two kidneys, a heart, a liver and two corneas.

How would one aim when shooting at a person in front of him? If the person is of comparable height, I'd aim at the L chest. But this is far from what the murderer did.

His first shot hit Liz in the low stomach/pelvis. It did not hit either kidney, probably avoided descending aorta and did not touch the liver. So, midline?

I don't know about the rest, but even the head shot was peculiar. To me, the murderer is a very good shooter, and a a revolver is less traumatic.

It sounds unrealistic because, among other things, one can't control when the EMTs will arrive. However, the neighbor across the street was on the phone with the police, as he noticed the car coming back again. What if the shooter came back to check if the neighborhood was up and aware of the murder?

Is seems as if shooter or whoever ordered the assassination hated Liz, but shared some of her views. They also must have know that Liz was a donor. I am interested to know the year and the circumstances of her choosing to be a donor, and who else, besides her family, was aware of it?

The danger of this idea is that it perpetuates the unfortunate idea that people can be murdered for the purpose of getting/harvesting organs, keeping this in the U.S. The only reason Liz was transported was that she was still alive when they got to her. Anyone that shoots someone 4 times, with an execution type head shot after she fell to the ground (and then possibly came back to be sure she was dead/down) expects the person to immediately perish. No one can shoot someone 4 times and expect them to be still alive but brain dead, and transported to the hospital. They took her organs for transplant at the time she was taken off life support.

Any interuption of blood flow to the organs would have made them not viable for transplant and it was miraculous that blood flow did not cease at the scene, but this was not due to the skill of a shooter.
The rule is, only persons that die in the hospital can donate organs. If she had no pulse, they perhaps would have intubated her but if she did not regain a pulse, she never would have been transported. She would have remained at the scene and the ME would have eventually responded.

You are also not considering blood/tissue matching and that the decison of where the donated organs go is complex, there is no arrangement anyone could make in advance to receive her organs.
Considering the controls in place, how could someone "rig" the transplants?

From the link, odds are against organs being used from a victim of gunshot wounds to the head.

• Gunshot wounds to the head are fatal about 90% of the time, with many victims dying before arriving to the hospital.
• For victims who survive the initial trauma, about 50% die in the emergency room.

Gunshot Wound Head Trauma

Gunshot wounds to the head have become a leading cause of traumatic brain injury (TBI) in many urban areas in the U.S. due, in part, to a surge in gang

www.aans.org

From the link:

Information on the organs available for donation, the donor’s blood type and body size is provided to UNOS (United Network for Organ Sharing) by the CORE coordinator. The UNOS computer then matches the donated organs to potential recipients. Recipient selection is based on blood type, body size, medical urgency and length of time on the waiting list. In matching the pancreas and kidneys, genetic tissue type is also considered.

Donation Process - CORE

CORE coordinates the recovery of organs, tissues and corneas for transplant. Traditional organ donation requires a person to be in a hospital and on a ventilator when they are pronounced brain dead. If a person experiences cardiac death, which means the heart has stopped and will not work again...

www.core.org

I understand procedures and protocols are in place for organ transplantations, but at this point in Liz’s case, almost six years after her murder, I’d say take a look at anything and everything.

Doesn’t have to be a super deep dive to start with. Who knows what might be revealed.

Didn’t Liz volunteer at a hospital? Yes, a tenuous connection, and yes, the transplants are probably not what got her killed, but if it’s an avenue that hasn’t been explored, maybe some inquiries could be made.

Especially since all of the “normal suspects” have led nowhere.

 

[Centaurus]

IMO I think it is a man that did this. The reason I think this is bc of the audio enhancement done by a guy on YT and he did a really pro job with the audio frequency. The range is too low for a female. I forget the guy's name to reference it but I learned about it either in reddit or here. Also, the gait and mannerisms appear male to me and not female. Just MOO

It was Aaron Stoner and that audio analysis, along with the gait, and costume is why I believe the shooter is male, too.

 

[NoSpoonFeeding]

the transplants are probably not what got her killed, but if it’s an avenue that hasn’t been explored, maybe some inquiries could be made.

The reason the recipients haven't been investigated as arranging for Liz to be murdered is that in the U.S., LE/first responders and anyone with a medical degree know it is not possible and deplore the myth of organ harvesting/murder for organs/aliens taking organs, etc. My opinion based on personal knowledge, education, LE career, many years of discussing the problem/misinformation on social media's cries of "they wanted his organs".

I could list hundreds of unlikely avenues that haven't been explored, but that is not how investigations are worked.

 

[Charlot123]

The danger of this idea is that it perpetuates the unfortunate idea that people can be murdered for the purpose of getting/harvesting organs, keeping this in the U.S. The only reason Liz was transported was that she was still alive when they got to her. Anyone that shoots someone 4 times, with an execution type head shot after she fell to the ground (and then possibly came back to be sure she was dead/down) expects the person to immediately perish. No one can shoot someone 4 times and expect them to be still alive but brain dead, and transported to the hospital. They took her organs for transplant at the time she was taken off life support.

Any interuption of blood flow to the organs would have made them not viable for transplant and it was miraculous that blood flow did not cease at the scene, but this was not due to the skill of a shooter.
The rule is, only persons that die in the hospital can donate organs. If she had no pulse, they perhaps would have intubated her but if she did not regain a pulse, she never would have been transported. She would have remained at the scene and the ME would have eventually responded.

You are also not considering blood/tissue matching and that the decison of where the donated organs go is complex, there is no arrangement anyone could make in advance to receive her organs.
Considering the controls in place, how could someone "rig" the transplants?

From the link, odds are against organs being used from a victim of gunshot wounds to the head.

• Gunshot wounds to the head are fatal about 90% of the time, with many victims dying before arriving to the hospital.
• For victims who survive the initial trauma, about 50% die in the emergency room.

Gunshot Wound Head Trauma

Gunshot wounds to the head have become a leading cause of traumatic brain injury (TBI) in many urban areas in the U.S. due, in part, to a surge in gang

www.aans.org

From the link:

Information on the organs available for donation, the donor’s blood type and body size is provided to UNOS (United Network for Organ Sharing) by the CORE coordinator. The UNOS computer then matches the donated organs to potential recipients. Recipient selection is based on blood type, body size, medical urgency and length of time on the waiting list. In matching the pancreas and kidneys, genetic tissue type is also considered.

Donation Process - CORE

CORE coordinates the recovery of organs, tissues and corneas for transplant. Traditional organ donation requires a person to be in a hospital and on a ventilator when they are pronounced brain dead. If a person experiences cardiac death, which means the heart has stopped and will not work again...

www.core.org

I am the last person to support that conspiracy. When eons ago there was a drive for bone marrow for a boy living in the neighborhood, I agreed to be typed for BMT transplants. Fast forward, years later, I wasn’t a good match even for my own mom.

When I posted yesterday, I was shocked at how many organs were harvested and why was the shooting pattern so strange.

Most aspects you posted I agree with, and hope that the development of genetics would put transplantology out of business. However, I read the statistics about transplantations. Theoretically, whether a trauma or a gunshot wound, wouldn’t matter. One mass casualty generated material for transplantology, although this is the last thing the perpetrator thought of.

I am aware of HLA histocompatibility, and in general, how difficult it is to find a match. Sometimes even among relatives. (( Especially in non-endogamous populations.

But mainly, planned harvesting would likely include abduction, not execution in front of the house.

What I can’t exclude, though, is that the shooter or the person who ordered the execution was sharing Liz’s view on organ donation, and maybe was a donor themselves. Is it an impossible scenario?

P.S. This is what I want to know - when Liz decided to become a donor, what were the circumstances, who else signed in that day? The case is, most likely, a planned execution of an odd type. The easiest thing is to suspect Sergio, but if we drop the possibility of his involvement, we are left with a very strange cluster of facts. I don’t want us to negate them. There are many other things we don’t know, the vandalism in their prior abode, what was taken, etc.

 

[Charlot123]

We have so little information about the case despite the video and everything...
I am still unsure about the gender of the shooter.
I think the motive is emotional (probably romantic) and the killer is the person or one of the people that wanted Liz dead.
I feel that for now the car and it's movements are more useful for finding the killer than the video or the gun.
Why did the killer act the way it did? What does it indicate?

That’s what Liz’s parents said, “if we know why, maybe we’d know, who”, or something like it.

 

[TraxMaster]

It was Aaron Stoner and that audio analysis, along with the gait, and costume is why I believe the shooter is male, too.

Yep that's who it was! Thanks!

I agree with his assessment that there is 2 people involved. The shooter being male and there being a female passenger. I really wonder if it wasn't someone with the party supplies store she was working at? Maybe someone was recently fired and blamed Liz. On her LinkedIn it shows she was a supervisor there....so maybe she fired someone or wrote someone up? Maybe this group can help to dig more into that angle? Enough years have gone by that the 501, Sergio, her work at Rosen and extended family members have been looked heavily into without much evidence. Is there a way to find out who use to work there?

 

[TraxMaster]

I have gone back and forth on how the gun was obtained.

I lean toward it being more of a "pro" murder and less impulsive.

When I first watched the footage (first few times) the figure that shoots Liz comes off as a woman around Liz's age dressed for a morning activity like walking the dog, smoking, taking out trash, etc. I thought this may have been a woman who basically rolled out of bed and grabbed grandpa/gun nut boyfriends revolver as the closest weapon they could find. In many of the other "driveway shootings" the murder weapon was provided to the shooter and claimed to have been stolen later in order to avoid liability.

I lean now more towards the weapon being strategically picked to not leave casings, and revolvers are much, MUCH, less likely to jam than magazine fed handguns.

I disagree. I think this was an inexperienced shooter. He was very very close to Liz and still missed the first shot and hit her neck apparently. They also shot with one hand....this is someone not trained as people even with small amounts of pistol training know to use 2 hands to stabilize the gun for a better shot. Just MOO

 

[Charlot123]

I disagree. I think this was an inexperienced shooter. He was very very close to Liz and still missed the first shot and hit her neck apparently. They also shot with one hand....this is someone not trained as people even with small amounts of pistol training know to use 2 hands to stabilize the gun for a better shot. Just MOO

They likely know about the cameras in the neighborhood. The attacker does a very good job masquerading. Even now, we don’t know the gender for sure, merely “assume”. They may be very professional but trying to look an “amateurish woman” on the camera. I am inclined to think it is “likely” a man because all “puffiness” comes from the upper torso and does not prevent them from running, but nothing would surprise me. Incidentally, if it is a man wearing a padded bra, how easy would it be for him to use both hands for shooting? Unless it is their daily attire, perhaps not?

 

[fridaybaker]

Charlotte, you mentioned in an earlier post that the comment made to the Barazzas that they would be “devasted” when they eventually found out who the killer is was made very early on in the investigation. I hadn’t realized that. If so, it’s certainly discouraging, rather than encouraging.

Not sure now that they have any idea who did this, but I’m happy to see that there continue to be interesting posts on this thread about possibilities and various aspects of the case not previously presented here. Hopefully, one day, there will be a break. Someone out there murdered a defenseless woman at her own home, just going about her daily life. She lay dying, alone, on a hard, cold, concrete sidewalk, her last thoughts of someone willfully doing brutal, violent, fatal harm to her. There are thousands of cases here and around the world like Liz’s, where someone is simply going about their business and they end up brutally murdered. Liz’s case, for me, represents all of them.

 

[TraxMaster]

Is there some way to see who she worked with at the Party Supply store and if there had been a beef with the owner or maybe a co-worker?

 

[Charlot123]

Charlotte, you mentioned in an earlier post that the comment made to the Barazzas that they would be “devasted” when they eventually found out who the killer is was made very early on in the investigation. I hadn’t realized that. If so, it’s certainly discouraging, rather than encouraging.

Not sure now that they have any idea who did this, but I’m happy to see that there continue to be interesting posts on this thread about possibilities and various aspects of the case not previously presented here. Hopefully, one day, there will be a break. Someone out there murdered a defenseless woman at her own home, just going about her daily life. She lay dying, alone, on a hard, cold, concrete sidewalk, her last thoughts of someone willfully doing brutal, violent, fatal harm to her. There are thousands of cases here and around the world like Liz’s, where someone is simply going about their business and they end up brutally murdered. Liz’s case, for me, represents all of them.

I know. And we understand why this case touches us all, don’t we? And this is why we continuously get back to it.

Also, I strongly suspect that there was nothing in Liz’s life that would justify nor explain such end. I mean, no human is perfect, but the main reason the case is unsolved is that there are no “bad” connections, acts or hair-raising stories that have been concealed. Another reason that the police is stuck is because it happened in 2019, and in a year, COVID and all, things got slowed. And, in this case, too many connections have to be sieved through.

I just hope that her parents persevere, and wish them good health. I also hope that her detective doesn’t burn out, as it is a difficult situation.

And, hoping for the new technology.

 

[TraxMaster]

So this could be nothing....but I'm looking at the Cool Kat Party angle. I found out that to get to it from Liz's house you would go south on Kuykendahl before heading east towards I-45. It is located right next to an Academy and I found a couple of interesting items for sale at Academy that looks similar to what the killer was wearing IMO. What do yall think?

 

[Charlot123]

So this could be nothing....but I'm looking at the Cool Kat Party angle. I found out that to get to it from Liz's house you would go south on Kuykendahl before heading east towards I-45. It is located right next to an Academy and I found a couple of interesting items for sale at Academy that looks similar to what the killer was wearing IMO. What do yall think?View attachment 545617View attachment 545618View attachment 545617

It is an interesting idea to look through their merchandise, but the upper part IMHO resembles inexpensive “plushy” house robe with a belt and big pockets. The poncho that you show looks shorter and has no pockets. Of course things have to be layered, but consider this, the person has to appear more or less natural to Liz. What is wrong with them is not seen from afar. A house robe would be OK for a person stopping to buy stuff in early morning. I see such robes often, they are soft, comfortable and not always white. I have something that reminds me of what the person wears, it is of very light melange salad color. Off-white. These things are usually of the same length, I assume that the person is no taller than 5’4”. It falls rather low. JMO. On the other hand, vinyl would fit the purpose. Do they sell vinyl raincoats with pockets?

About the boots: I think ribs are a good idea (good grip on ice), but something makes this footwear inconvenient for the person - either it is a man walking in heels, or maybe the boots are of a larger size? It appears so from the video. The opposite (right size, but slippery) could be possible, but they seem to feel more sure when running back to the car.