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

[arielilane]

Just starting to listen to this. Ritchie says that Sergio's dad lied to him when he characterized his infidelity as involving sex workers/prostitutes, when in reality he had semi-serious *girlfriends* on the side. And he was, apparently, funneling money to the girlfriends to cover their expenses.

If Liz was PO'd about the fact that she and Sergio had to actually take money from their own accounts to cover some bounced paychecks issued by Sergio's dad to his workers, then knowing that he was sliding money into the pockets of his girlfriends surely would've made her even more angry. If one of Sergio's dad's girlfriends knew that Liz was giving Sergio's dad a hard time about money/threatening to make it impossible for Sergio's dad to continue giving money to his girlfriends, could she have been angry enough to murder Liz?

Im interested in knowing if Sgt. Ritchie interviewed any or most of OB's sex workers and girlfriends. Sgt. Ritchie stated he conducted a lot of interviews, but didnt specify who he interviewed. IIRC, Sgt. did say that OB didnt know one of the SW's name (how convenient). jmo

 

[arielilane]

This has nothing to do with Sgt. Ritchie, he is doing an excellent job; however, this story makes no sense!
If I am understanding it correctly Liz's workers/former supervisor shared this story with Sgt.

Maybe Ive missed something, but, no, I'll have to sit back and think about this. jmo


Timestamp: 1:51

I believe, a few days after the murder, I went to,
uh, Liz's workplace, Rosen, and I interviewed all of her uh, fellow
employees. And I believe I interviewed a total of five uh, employees. her for her kind of
And I believe I interviewed a total of five uh, employees. her for her kind of
her best friend at the company, her former uh supervisor, then her current supervisor, and the
other employees that she she worked with in the in that little what I call fishbowl that she worked.

So, one thing that led me to start looking into Oscar, uh Sergio's father, Liz's father-in-law,
was two things that were bothering Liz before she was killed both had to do with him.

One was that they had discovered and I believe it was Sergio's mother suspected or discovered that Oscar was having an affair. What I was told is that she had told her co-workers that they had found um the the wife of
Oscar, Sergio's mother, had found condoms in his truck and uh so she suspected him of, you know, having an affair and cheating on her. Uh, so that was something that was bothering Liz.

And there's it's always been a debate and it's 100 it's not 100% known
whether Liz ever confronted Oscar about the affair.

I've heard things that possibly she did, but originally talking to SB,
they decided to not because uh they didn't want it to affect his job
and they didn't want a strained relationship with his father. They didn't want the father getting mad at Sergio and then firing Sergio and then therefore he didn't have a job, didn't have income. So, I was told by Sergio they left it alone.

Liz's parents never were told by Liz that she confronted Oscar about the affair.
So, there's no proof that she did. Um, and then of course Oscar said that he didn't, but
Oscar also lied to me as well. the the the other thing that was bothering and
I'm going to get to Oscar a little bit more, but the other thing that was bothering the second item that was
bothering Liz that she her co-workers about is that one of their I don't know
if it was the last paycheck, the pre the most previous paycheck before she was murdered or it might have been it was
very recent though that uh Sergio's paycheck had bounced that his father had
given him and so she was very upset about this because that caused financial issues for
them and it wasn't the first time that this had happened. It had happened previously and actually Sergio and Liz
had had to use money out of their own account to cover some of the employees
checks that that had also bounced. So, um those were the two things that were
bothering Liz before she was murdered and both of them had to do with Oscar.

 

[arielilane]

Timestamp 10:40

TCU people seem to really want clarity on, and I don't know if you can help us with it or not, is what time
the signs would have gone up for that garage sale. If they went up the night before, if they went up that morning, it
seems like there seems to be a a perception that Sergio has had trouble either remembering or has changed that
story. Did you experience that at all in in talking with him or is there any light you can shed on that?

Sgt: Yeah, I've heard people talk about that and I can't I can't remember a time
where I've seen an interview with him because there's been a lot of different interviews that's been done with me, with the Nelly's, with Sergio. So, I can't say I've seen all of his interviews, but I know he's done a bunch that I haven't seen uh that other people have. But from if if I remember correctly, he told me that him and Liz did put out signs like the night before, right? It wasn't that morning because I watched that morning. Liz got up first and she went to Starbucks, got a coffee, came back, then Sergio got up, and then they kind of set up the garage sale together, and then he left and and headed uh to the Lowe's to go meet his father and his co-workers to head to a job.



Now we know about the Miami trip.

Timestamp 25:57 (OB's financials)
every week he would he was a lot of money was going in and out of his accounts but a lot of it was paying his
employees you know every Thursday or Friday whatever it was it was payday and so he was getting money out of the bank to pay his guys and usually it was around the same amount of money each each week there was one thing that the private investigator found that there was a large check that bounced that he had wrote to a woman and and it was for I'm trying to remember it was it was a large amount of money like $60,000 around there and but it had bounced, you know, it wasn't it wasn't cashed and uh myself and detective Wally Wyatt were able to track down that young woman and we interviewed her and that was when we went to Miami and we were able to to confirm she had nothing to do with with the murder and but it was just a box.

What I say all the time when I talk about this, it was a box that we had to check. We had to look into that because that check did bounce shortly. I can't remember if it was before or after the murder, but it was around the the time of the murder when that check did bounce. So, that was something that we definitely had to look into. And we did and were able to confirm that, you know, she and the check had nothing to do with with the murder of Liz Barraza.

 

[CrimeTheorist]

Maybe I missed it but did Sgt Ritchie say he saw the signs for himself? I always wondered what time was written on them.

 

[sunspun]

If Sergio did have 2 different answers to the question regarding when (if) signs were placed about the sale, it sounds to me like he probably used the phrase "last night" when technically, it had actually been early morning when they put them out, because it would have been after midnight. So he may have said "the night before" or "early that morning". at different times that he was asked the question, meaning the same thing, sometime after midnight. But this could have been mischaracterized as him giving contradictory answers, when in fact, he was not.

This is speculation on my part based on how it's common for people to call any time after midnight "last night", even though technically, that's really morning, not night. And if he did this, that would explain him possibly seeming to "change his story", which Sgt. Ritchie was asked about, as someone posted above.

 

[sunspun]

... myself and detective Wally Wyatt were able to track down that young woman and we interviewed her and that was when we went to Miami and we were able to to confirm she had nothing to do with with the murder and but it was just a box.

What I say all the time when I talk about this, it was a box that we had to check...

I don't understand what he's saying here about a box. Is this a mistranscription or is this clear to others?

 

[DTPeke]

Maybe I missed it but did Sgt Ritchie say he saw the signs for himself? I always wondered what time was written on them.

No. Ritchie never says.

He believes Sergio originally told him the night before and has not seen an interview where Sergio changed this (we have 1st Press Conference). Ritchie checked the cam footage from hours before murder; he says signs were definitely not put up that morning. He chalks this up to Sergio's memory being cloudy due to time, Ritchie is not accounting that it was originally said a week after at the press conference.

Liz's mother said that's what she would do, put signs out. She talks about them in the one approved True Crime Broads episode. 54:00. I recall in one of Sergio's interviews he gave the location of signs, one at front of subdivision, and another at Huffsmith/Kuykendahl, no address and time is never mentioned.

 

[DTPeke]

If Sergio did have 2 different answers to the question regarding when (if) signs were placed about the sale, it sounds to me like he probably used the phrase "last night" when technically, it had actually been early morning when they put them out, because it would have been after midnight. So he may have said "the night before" or "early that morning". at different times that he was asked the question, meaning the same thing, sometime after midnight. But this could have been mischaracterized as him giving contradictory answers, when in fact, he was not.

This is speculation on my part based on how it's common for people to call any time after midnight "last night", even though technically, that's really morning, not night. And if he did this, that would explain him possibly seeming to "change his story", which Sgt. Ritchie was asked about, as someone posted above.

He's very specific about it his long KHOU interview, around 15:00

"and whenever we placed signs out the night before, we placed two signs, one at the entrance of our neighborhood and one just down the road at Huffsmith and Kuykendahl. Those were the only signs we put up....
What time did you put the signs out? Was it past dark?
Yeah, it was dark. So, my guess is around like 6 to 7 at night
Um, just. Put the signs up, came back to the house. Just watch TV and relax together, you know?"

 

[sunspun]

He's very specific about it his long KHOU interview, around 15:00

"and whenever we placed signs out the night before, we placed two signs, one at the entrance of our neighborhood and one just down the road at Huffsmith and Kuykendahl. Those were the only signs we put up....

What time did you put the signs out? Was it past dark?
Yeah, it was dark. So, my guess is around like 6 to 7 at night

Um, just. Put the signs up, came back to the house. Just watch TV and relax together, you know?"

ok earlier than I thought then, so ignore my speculations above!

 

[realanastasia]

I don't understand what he's saying here about a box. Is this a mistranscription or is this clear to others?

I believe he is using the English idiom "check a box" to describe interviewing people like this girlfriend of Liz's dad because although he did not necessarily think she was involved in the crime, he had a professional duty to interview her nonetheless, even though no new or useful information may have come to light as a result. So the interview was conducted as a formality, rather than because he actually suspected that she might've been involved.

 

[DTPeke]

I just have read for the first time, that SB sometimes drove his sedan and sometimes the work van on his way to work (the van also at the evening before to get home, logically).

Did the night-driver do his "exploration tour", because he wanted to see, if Sergio had parked the work van outside the home? Then the killer would have known, which car to expect the following morning, when waiting near the Barraza home for Sergio to leave.

Maybe, this info was important enough to drive "miles away" in the middle of the night? Idk, because I'm no murderer in the making just as the killer in the midnight-car could have been.

That's been the best running theory and Mr. Nuelle's as well, but in this new interview Ritchie says the Frontier never passed the Barraza house the night before. That's news.

It was only in the neighborhood caught on other cameras, not on theirs or the one across the street. Either they could see the van without passing their house or had enough familiarity to know each vehicle.

Sergio's drove a Toyota Tundra truck and would leave it at his parents' house when he drove the work van.

Something was important enough to risk being in that neighborhood driving around the night before. Ritchie thinks they were scouting exit routes.

 

[no greed]

That's been the best running theory and Mr. Nuelle's as well, but in this new interview Ritchie says the Frontier never passed the Barraza house the night before. That's news.

It was only in the neighborhood caught on other cameras, not on theirs or the one across the street. Either they could see the van without passing their house or had enough familiarity to know each vehicle.

Sergio's drove a Toyota Tundra truck and would leave it at his parents' house when he drove the work van.

Something was important enough to risk being in that neighborhood driving around the night before. Ritchie thinks they were scouting exit routes.

Outside of the box speculation on my part. I wonder if there was a person or small group of people in the neighborhood that opposed random garage sales in their neighborhood? Perhaps had tried to pass rules or fines through a POA? I know Garage Sales have become a legitimate problem in some inner city Houston neighborhoods. A out of area friend of such person with a Frontier was taking them home earlier that night when it was spotted on cameras. They had spotted the Liz & Sergio’s signs posted. Such neighbor was so enraged and had the right mix of intoxication and bravado to hatch a quick plan. They would try to stop the advertised garage sale before it got started by intimidation. Maybe that would make others in the neighborhood that had frequent sales fearful of continuing. I know this would be stretching logical actions, but we have found many bizarre reasons in many other crimes we have sleuthed.

 

[Andreee]

That's been the best running theory and Mr. Nuelle's as well, but in this new interview Ritchie says the Frontier never passed the Barraza house the night before. That's news.

It was only in the neighborhood caught on other cameras, not on theirs or the one across the street. Either they could see the van without passing their house or had enough familiarity to know each vehicle.

Sergio's drove a Toyota Tundra truck and would leave it at his parents' house when he drove the work van.

Something was important enough to risk being in that neighborhood driving around the night before. Ritchie thinks they were scouting exit routes.

That is interesting! I guess the general assumption was that the Frontier passed the Barraza's house the night before! It is wild how that turns out not to be the case. Ritchie sounds about right with the scouting theory.

 

[FromGermany1]

That is interesting! I guess the general assumption was that the Frontier passed the Barraza's house the night before! It is wild how that turns out not to be the case. Ritchie sounds about right with the scouting theory.

IF the killer was indeed someone very close to Liz, why did they need scouting for the exit routes? One could think, the person/s knew the routes already, unless it was a hitman, ordered by someone very close to the victim. MOO

 

[FromGermany1]

Outside of the box speculation on my part. I wonder if there was a person or small group of people in the neighborhood that opposed random garage sales in their neighborhood? Perhaps had tried to pass rules or fines through a POA? I know Garage Sales have become a legitimate problem in some inner city Houston neighborhoods. A out of area friend of such person with a Frontier was taking them home earlier that night when it was spotted on cameras. They had spotted the Liz & Sergio’s signs posted. Such neighbor was so enraged and had the right mix of intoxication and bravado to hatch a quick plan. They would try to stop the advertised garage sale before it got started by intimidation. Maybe that would make others in the neighborhood that had frequent sales fearful of continuing. I know this would be stretching logical actions, but we have found many bizarre reasons in many other crimes we have sleuthed.

Why shoting a nice young woman, if both the wife AND the husband automatically are responsible for each garage sale? In my eyes it doesn't make sense, but of course it is an idea.

 

[FromGermany1]

If Sergio doesn't lie and even took money from his own bank account to pay for the employees of his father OS because of bounced checks, then he would IMO do also all sorts of monetary shenanigans to please his father/employer. I am convinced of it!
I don't know, why Sergio named his own father as a suspect, but I think, Sergio was so involved in the scams, that he had no choice but to keep quiet and downplay his early suspicions.

Does it make sense, when the $60.000 (for a mistress?) , which didn't pay out because of a bounced check, would be a part of Liz' life insurance, half of it maybe? I've forgotten the sum. That Sergio can't request the payout, isn't his guilt (thank godness for Sergio?), but the result of an unresolved murder case. His father has to live with that and has to calm his girlfriend until the insurance is flowing. Maybe.

Who knows, what OS told his girlfriend (and btw. also his wife)? Maybe he only blamed his daughter-in-law, praised his "suffering" son Sergio and said, all would be okay without this wife on Sergio's side. "No desire for children, only a dog, the regiment in the house including the income of both spouses" - and so on and so forth. These men are very good at telling lies. (I imagine, I know.) - Maybe, there are criminals in the background of this lady in Miami or where ever and LE didn't find the connection yet?

All MOO and my speculation.

 

[Megnut]

IF the killer was indeed someone very close to Liz, why did they need scouting for the exit routes? One could think, the person/s knew the routes already, unless it was a hitman, ordered by someone very close to the victim. MOO

Not a professional hit IMO.

My thinking is somewhat opposite-- not ordered by someone close but rather someone distant had gotten the impression that SB's marriage was costing them personally. Trickle down.

Someone who had a very one-sided understanding of the facts/situation.

So troubling it hasn't yet been solved.

JMO

 

[Charlot123]

This has nothing to do with Sgt. Ritchie, he is doing an excellent job; however, this story makes no sense!
If I am understanding it correctly Liz's workers/former supervisor shared this story with Sgt.

Maybe Ive missed something, but, no, I'll have to sit back and think about this. jmo


Timestamp: 1:51

I believe, a few days after the murder, I went to,
uh, Liz's workplace, Rosen, and I interviewed all of her uh, fellow
employees. And I believe I interviewed a total of five uh, employees. her for her kind of
And I believe I interviewed a total of five uh, employees. her for her kind of
her best friend at the company, her former uh supervisor, then her current supervisor, and the
other employees that she she worked with in the in that little what I call fishbowl that she worked.

So, one thing that led me to start looking into Oscar, uh Sergio's father, Liz's father-in-law,
was two things that were bothering Liz before she was killed both had to do with him.

One was that they had discovered and I believe it was Sergio's mother suspected or discovered that Oscar was having an affair. What I was told is that she had told her co-workers that they had found um the the wife of
Oscar, Sergio's mother, had found condoms in his truck and uh so she suspected him of, you know, having an affair and cheating on her. Uh, so that was something that was bothering Liz.

And there's it's always been a debate and it's 100 it's not 100% known
whether Liz ever confronted Oscar about the affair.

I've heard things that possibly she did, but originally talking to SB,
they decided to not because uh they didn't want it to affect his job
and they didn't want a strained relationship with his father. They didn't want the father getting mad at Sergio and then firing Sergio and then therefore he didn't have a job, didn't have income. So, I was told by Sergio they left it alone.

Liz's parents never were told by Liz that she confronted Oscar about the affair.
So, there's no proof that she did. Um, and then of course Oscar said that he didn't, but
Oscar also lied to me as well. the the the other thing that was bothering and
I'm going to get to Oscar a little bit more, but the other thing that was bothering the second item that was
bothering Liz that she her co-workers about is that one of their I don't know
if it was the last paycheck, the pre the most previous paycheck before she was murdered or it might have been it was
very recent though that uh Sergio's paycheck had bounced that his father had
given him and so she was very upset about this because that caused financial issues for
them and it wasn't the first time that this had happened. It had happened previously and actually Sergio and Liz
had had to use money out of their own account to cover some of the employees
checks that that had also bounced. So, um those were the two things that were
bothering Liz before she was murdered and both of them had to do with Oscar.

I honestly think that Oscar's affairs may not be bringing us closer to the murder.

So Sergio's mom found condoms in husband's trucks.

It immediately tells me that Oscar controls the house, that he is unafraid of big consequences should it happen. His wife is not going to leave him.

Also, his son and daughter-in-law are not going to stop talking to him because financially, they depend on him.

So for Oscar to organize killing of his daughter-in-law because of own infidelity is senseless. In this situation, he holds the strings to the purse.

Unless he knew about Liz's life insurance... But then, it is killing for the money, not out of anger. Different principles apply.

Oscar was just the FIL. Who's to foretell that the son would get the money, cash it out and will share a portion with the dad? As opposing to "abscond with it without sharing"? If you don't ever discuss it with the son previously, you can't rely on any money.

Could there be an element of co-conspiracy? But in this case, the conspirators have to absolutely trust one another.

However, this situation raises a few questions and is not impossible.

First, a trip to another city and withdrawal of money may have little to do with a woman. What else did he do in a city? Whom else did he meet? Perhaps small prior withdrawals were meant to be to accumulate a sum for a payment? Not to spend on women?

I think that the financial situation of Oscar before and after the murder needs to be checked.

If he is a person who constantly traveled, then that trip didn't stand out. But if it was something that stood out, his movements in that city are interesting. A woman might be a cover up.

Lastly, was Oscar the only one who used his truck or could someone close occasionally borrow it?

 

[CrimeTheorist]

Does anyone know if Oscar did a polygraph test or was asked to do one?

 

[CrimeTheorist]

Does anyone know if Oscar did a polygraph test or was asked to do one?

Ok I just read that he did take one and passed. I'm not big on lie detector test results but his willingness to do one does count for something.