Her Murder Was Caught On Camera: Who Killed Liz Barraza? | Forensic Files

hi crime junkies I'm your host Ashley flowers and I'm Brit and the story I have for you it is about the baffling
murder of a young woman it is the kind of case where like Everything feels like it's going to fall into place at first
with all of the pieces that they have they literally have the murder on film so investigators are super confident
that they're going to catch their killer within hours but six years have gone by
and it is still unsolved and but like this is one where truly when I say I have no idea what
happened I have no idea what happened because there is no theory that makes complete sense and nah and I she's the
reporter that worked on this we were in my office I mean going round and round and round for literally like an hour
talking about theories and feelings and we're just losing our minds because we're trying to get the pieces to add up
but This Woman's family is hoping that someone maybe somebody listening or watching right now can help bring the
justice that they've been seeking so desperately this is the story of Elizabeth barza
[Music] it's around 7:20 on the morning of Friday January 25th 2019 when Bob and
rosemary Nelly wake up to their phones buzzing and it's a notification from the alarm system on their daughter's home
home now they know Elizabeth Liz as everyone calls her is holding a garage sale that day so at first they think
that she might have just accidentally set it off while she's like going in and out of the house or whatever but when
they call her to check she doesn't answer the phone and things get even more unsettling when the alarm company
contacts them directly because they tried calling Liz and they can't get a hold of her either so Rosemary gives
them the go ahead to notify police and she and Bob throw on some clothes jump in the car and head straight to lizz's
home in Tomball Texas which is like 15 minutes away Bob told our reporter nah that a lot of that morning is just a
blur for him at this point but he does remember speaking to their daughter's husband Sergio barazza on the drive over
now Sergio is not home as a crew chief for his father's flooring company he'd already left for the day but he tells
them that he also got the alarm alert and when he checked their nest doorbell camera like the live feed for it he saw
police tape and and cops like in the background and he even this is wild he like used the speaker on the doorbell
camera to try and talk to them but like what is going on he did get someone's attention but they wouldn't tell him
what was happening they just said that he needed to get home immediately so when Bob and rosemary pull into Liz's
neighborhood it is like every parents worst nightmare unfolding Before Their Eyes their daughter's usually quiet
street is swarming with emergency vehicles First Responders tell them that a young woman has just been airlifted to
the hospital and as they get closer they realize that all the commotion and activity is centered around their
daughter's house and there is this trail of Blood on the driveway mixed in near items that she had set out for the
garage sale now initially officers are tight lipped but they tell Bob and rosemary the most critical detail and
that is that it was Liz their daughter who's been shot how do they set off her alarm if she was shot out by the
driveway so the police were actually the ones who set it off they were responding
to 911 calls of gunshots in the neighborhood and when they arrived she was laying on the driveway near the
garage still breathing but barely she had like a faint pulse that's where she was shot and the alarm only went off
when officers went through the unlocked door between the garage and the house to
like secure the scene so Bob and rosemary are like reeling Liz is the most positive person they know she's
creative she's kind always helping others she's a Harry Potter fanatic who spends her free time reading and
dressing as Star Wars characters to visit sick kids so like in the immediate moment they're like who on Earth would
do this to our daughter and this isn't a high crime area either we're talking about it is this nice middleclass
neighborhood driveby shootings are not something that they deal with so before her parents can even begin to wrap their
heads around this Sergio pulls up and police ask him to stay nearby for questioning so while he waits there
along with his mom who shows up to be with him the Nellies rush to the trauma center to be with their daughter they
are clinging to hope the whole 40-minute drive over praying that she's going to pull through but when they get to the
hospital the same one where Liz spent so many hours volunteering doctors tell them that she's not going to make it
she's been shot Point Blank four times once through the side of her neck twice in the chess and finally once in the
head so while Liz is still technically alive police know that it's going to be a homicide case now and while her
parents grieve the Harris County Sheriff's Office jumps in with Deputy Michael Richie at the helm and as he and
other investigators question Sergio it quickly becomes clear to them that it actually hadn't been a typical morning
for the couple even before the shooting so normally Liz leaves for work by 6:30 6:45 but she had taken the day off for
that garage sale she was doing which she had prioritized to make some extra spending money for her and Sergio's trip
to Disney and Universal Studios they were supposed to leave for Florida that Sunday to celebrate their upcoming fifth
wedding anniversary so between what Sergio tells investigators and what they're able to pull from the doorbell
camera footage that he gives them police know that Liz was up super early she went to Starbucks at 6:08 and then the
couple started setting up the sale in the driveway when she got back and then Sergio left for work at exactly
6:48 now Sergio says that he drove to a Lowe's about 5 miles away to meet his flooring crew everything was fine until
he got that security alert on his phone and he explains that on his way home he like actually actively was like
rewinding the doorbell footage trying to find out what happen and while he couldn't see the shooting itself he
could hear it and he shares the footage with investigators too now the sound quality isn't great but what is Audible
is Liz greeting someone and she's cheerful she says good morning and there's this like muffled
brief exchange of words followed by four deafening gunshots and then Liz screams and there has been endless
speculation about what was said in that quick conversation but even after after detectives enhance the audio all they
can hear for sure is just Liz's good morning the shots and the scream so there's no visual of the shooter
themselves well not on the bar's camera but a neighbor security camera caught the entire thing this is what is so wild
and why I said this case is so frustrating so as Deputy Richie reviews all of the footage that he can get his
hands on he cannot believe how Brazen it was so what he sees is there's this dark
colored pickup that pulls up at around 6:52 a.m. this is 4 minutes after Sergio left the truck first passes Liz's house
then it like makes a uturn parks at the curb and then the driver who appeared to
be alone in the vehicle leaves the vehicle running walks over to where Liz was setting up and it's so weird they're
wearing what looks like a disguise what it's like this um you can't really see cuz it's a it's still dark outside so
like the footage is like almost like night vision kind of but it's like a flowy coat or robe paired with what
detectives call Gog go style boots like I can't really see the boots and then maybe really this person has a really
long hair or it might be a wig and I'm saying like they because like police can't even determine if this shooter is
a man or a woman the video quality like I said is super poor everything's cast in this like bluish Gray tint but this
shooter approaches Liz you can see them like have this exchange it looks like they might even have shown her something
like there's this moment where it looks like like kind of a transaction yeah but
police don't find anything like a note at the scene or pamplet or anything and this person pulls out a gun and they
shoot her three times she collapsed and then they stood over her and that's when
they like fired that final shot to her head and then as as that final shot is fired they run back to their truck and
leave the entire encounter is over in less than a minute which is a super short amount of time but I'm thinking
like people are leaving for work taking like their dogs on walks did anyone see this happen no like I said it was still
kind of dark out multiple people heard the gunshots they were the ones who contacted 911 the first call actually
came from a man who lived across the street he had a clear view of the shooter's truck which he's able to tell
them is a Nissan Frontier that is almost certainly black but this is what's really puzzling to investigators is that
in less than 2 minutes after the neighbor called while he was still on the phone with dispatch there's this
Eerie moment where the truck drives back past the bar's house again and like everything about this crime looks so
professional and planned and deliberate but this doubling back past the scene this is the part that seems sloppy like
an amateur move that like almost certainly would have gotten them caught like given the right circumstances were
they coming back to get something like did they stop or was it just a driveby no like they didn't stop they didn't get
out like I don't know what the reason was and unfortunately again this should have been the sloppy move but for
whatever reason luck was on this shooter side because no one gets a good look at
their license plate number and none of the surveillance footage that they do get is clear enough to ID it but still
in those Early Times Deputy Richie is optimist they've got this video footage plus
constables were on the scene within minutes and they quickly put out a bolo for a black Nissan Frontier so whoever
did this didn't get a big head start no like minutes top from the time police arrived but the real reason that Richie
is so confident is that this seems way too methodical to be random like this had to have been targeted feels pointed
right like take how the shooter approached when they pulled up the bar's house was to their left so the driver's
side door was already facing the driveway the easiest move would have been to just stop right next to it quick
and quick out instead they make that U-turn they turn around and park like farther down the street that meant
getting out walking around the front of the truck to reach the driveway then running back after the shooting but the
maneuvering kept them mostly hidden from the bazza's nest camera so Deputy Richie
thinks that they knew where that camera was and what that camera could see and maybe they parked further away because
they had spotted that camera maybe but whoever did this the real feeling they're getting is that they must know a
lot about the bares I mean on any other day Liz would not have even have been home let alone Outside Alone Now
investigators figure that Sergio is going to give them a name like who is the person that has a grudge against Liz
who drives a black Nissan Frontier like case closed but that's not what happens Sergio mentions there is one woman who
Liz had a disagreement with she is a member of a Star Wars fan group that they belong to it's called the 51st
Legion but he insists that like whatever disagreement they had like it was petty
drama nothing that would ever lead to murder actually the first thing Sergio suggests is maybe this was some kind of
robbery gone wrong I think this was just for $100 well at this point but police know that doesn't track
like nothing had been taken Liz had 100 bucks in a lock boox for making change for the garage sale that's still there
untouched so obvious question but what about Sergio you're right it is obvious and Deputy Richie isn't taking anything
Sergio says at face value he knows they have to start at square one and square one is always the person closest to the
victim two branches of the same tree two pieces of a soul where one sister goes the other will be for she is but
half of the whole the missing half pre-order your copy at Ashley flowers.com the investigators ask about the couple's
marriage which according to Sergio is perfect they've been together for years just like living their best lives with
their docks and Diesel no Affairs no serious issues he tells them that he would never harm Liz and detectives are
confident that he didn't pull the trigger I mean even if they hadn't checked with the people that like he met
up with at Lowe's he doesn't even match the shooter scene on camera like he's way more heavy set than the person on
the footage like to be fair they know that doesn't rule out his involvement now in the moment he's like
Cooperative he's respectful even when Deputy Richie tells him like Hey nothing personal but like as the husband you're
probably the prime suspect but he gives them access to everything the house their Electronics his phone lizz's phone
which she had with her and according to an episode of on the case with paulaz on
he even tells them about a life insurance policy that she had through her employer which he would be the
beneficiary of although he says that he doesn't even think it's worth that that much but from the start investigators
think even if he is so Cooperative like there is something off about him like Sergio keeps saying how worried he was
about Liz holding that garage sale alone that he encouraged her to have someone with her but she said she'd be fine and
that's actually why the alarm was set on the house to begin with even though she
was outside he says that he had her set it on the door from the garage at the house that way if anything went wrong
all she was have to do was run to the door and open it and then help would be on the
way okay I guess I'm trying to decide where the line is between like crime junky paranoid and laying out all this
groundwork to cover Your Tracks it's strange yeah again they're in a pretty nice neighborhood too which is like I
keep taking into account I don't think there was like a history of garage sale robberies or anything even remotely
close but Sergio like just tells police that they're just super cautious people but that isn't the only thing that's
raising red flags his overall demeanor is odd to them like sitting in a police car listening to the doorbell camera
audio with Deputy richy he almost seems calm like the deputy is expecting some kind of reaction as they hear those like
booming gunshots and they hear Liz scream but Sergio's face is just blank now some early police reports claim that
Sergio never asked about lizz's condition but that is actually not entirely accurate so he was talking to
investigators from at least two different agencies and while he might not have asked everyone at some point he
definitely inquired about her status and whether he could go to the hospital but
when detectives finish questioning him and tell him he can leave he doesn't Deputy Richie watches as he kind of just
lingers around he's like talking to neighbors he's checking out what the media is doing is he aware that Liz
isn't going to make it I don't I'm not sure what investigators have told him or like what updates he's getting from her
family but obviously he knows that she's shot and has been airlifted to the hospital right like it's clearly a
pretty serious injury yeah and his lack of urgency isn't what detectives expect in that
situation now meanwhile the Nellies are at the hospital trying to process what feels like a nightmare Liz is registered
under an I in case the shooter is still after her which is like such a weird like reality for them to be in they have
no idea what is going to happen next or what they're supposed to do next are they wondering where Sergio their
son-in-law is not really no like everyone I think everyone is just so focused on Liz and they know police
needed to question him plus Bob and rosemary trust him they have never doubted that he loves their daughter so
when Sergio and his mom do finally get to the hospital which is sometime that afternoon he and Bob arrange one final
Act of generosity on lizz's behalf they are going to donate her organs and even in this devastating moment they're
thinking about how she can help others so Liz is declared dead on Saturday January 26th at 1:40 p.m but she is kept
on life support for the next few days to preserve her organs her loved ones barely leave her side during that time I
mean they're hardly sleeping or showering let alone thinking about the investigation now Deputy Richie does
show them a censored version of the shooting footage hoping that they'll recognize the killer or maybe the truck
which they don't but after listening to the audio they are convinced that Liz didn't know the shooter cuz they said if
she did she wouldn't have said like good morning she would have said like good morning so and so like their name and
and they're they're sure about that I think so yes they are I guess I'm trying to like think of how I greet my friends
or my neighbors I don't yeah I don't say people's I'm not like good morning Brad
I'm just like hey you like you know what I mean yeah like I would say like good morning to anyone walking down the
street I think whether I knew them or not yeah I kind of went back and forth this is actually something I had nah
like like push on and but she said she talked to them and they are like adamant that whoever the shooter was Liz did not
know the shooter so by this point the shooting video is circulating in the media as well and while it hasn't given
police the big break that they thought it would it is still a huge help they might not be able to ID the killer but
they can start ruling people out like Liz was 52 and all things considered detectives estimate that the killer was
somewhere between 5'4 and 5'8 and they think they have an athletic build maybe they're like 140 to 175 PBS do they have
a better sense of the shooter's gender no it's not clear enough on the video for them to say there's a lot of early
speculation that it's a woman Deputy Richie specifically thinks they're mannerisms and gate appear kind of
feminine but he knows that doesn't necessarily mean anything but while they're grappling
with the uncertainty they are getting Clarity on other areas too so like piecing together a timeline of the
killer movements from the area surveillance cameras now it turns out that the frontier was in the bar's
neighborhood hours before the shooting at around like 2:00 in the morning the investigator Richie says that it didn't
pass by their house at that time it was just in the neighborhood and they can't see who's driving because the footage is
too grainy and without a plate number they can't be 100% sure that it's the same Frontier but like everything else
matches they're like pretty sure it was in the neighborhood at 2: a.m. which makes even less sense if we're working
off the theory that they knew she'd be outside and timed it to when like Sergio might be leaving then why why even get
there that early why would you be waiting around at 2: a.m. like if they're already there why not attack
when she goes out to get Starbucks at like 6:00 it's not I don't think they think that the person was sitting there
from like 2: to 7:00 or at least that's like or at least maybe not in the same spot the camera only catches them from
what I understand briefly at a round two but then after that we don't know where
the truck goes or what they're doing like if it's even there in the neighborhood at all were they lying in
weight off camera maybe did they leave and then come back what we do know for sure is that they're back at around 64
8:00 a.m. literally right as Sergio was leaving for work so there's a chance that they came by at 2 to scope the area
out maybe but even that doesn't totally make sense because like they didn't actually
apparently they weren't by the house at two they were just like in the neighborhood right cuz they didn't drive
they they the bar's camera doesn't pick them up so if they're scoping out the house they're scoping the house out
outside of where the house actually is the camera view which which to me would mean that
you already know about the house or that there's a camera yeah I don't know it feels like pre- scoped right but maybe
they were just getting a feel for the neighborhood or like how they're going to like Escape rout situation anyways
when they returned later that morning the driver briefly rolled into the parking lot of a preschool near the
entrance of the brz's subdivision then they pulled out and headed toward their street but instead of turning right
toward their house they make that left hit a U-turn stop the truck and then cut the lights now from where they parked
they could see lizz's house but it seems like they knew Sergio's van would pass them almost like about 4 minutes after
he left that's when the killer makes their move and I know this is a lot to visualize so we are going to have maps
and stuff on the blog post along with links to the videos that I've been talking about which various news sites
have already shared the whole thing seen carefully planned even the murder weapon
which they haven't found points to that so there were no shell casings at the scene suggesting that the killer used a
revolver likely a 38 caliber based on the bullets that they recovered and revolvers keep their shell casings
inside which would be a smart choice for anyone who wants to avoid like leaving evidence behind or having to take the
time to clean up evidence they left behind so someone went to a lot of trouble to kill Liz and to get away with
it but now police need to figure out why because the why should lead them to The
Who and as detectives delve into lizz's World there is one major focus and that's the 501st legion that Star Wars
group this isn't some casual fan club it requires a serious commitment from members who dress as Star Wars villains
while doing charity work which makes them think kind of about the strange disguise that the shooter wore M maybe
that unusual flowy costume in those boots could have been part of a stormtrooper uniform maybe like I
actually have it's so hard to see but I have like a screenshot and I think it's actually
better like in Motion in the video yeah yeah because you can see I've heard Princess Leia somewhere as well but you
can like see how it flows out definitely you described it as like a robe or I thought it look like a house robe yeah
like a long coat that's like kind of billowing out or could billow out and there's definitely like again go go
boots or now that you mention it Stormtrooper boots would that's what they think make sense I don't know and
listen like even though like most of what this group is about is Charity anytime you have a large passionate
group of people drama feels a little inevitable and lizz's local Squadron was no exception investigators hear about
personality clashes rivalries arguments and what about the women that Sergio had
mentioned earlier especially since there's a chance the shooter might be female they check her out but after
interviewing her they're convinced that she's not involved and actually after looking at all of them in this group
they don't think Liz's killer was on the group's roster and by the way none of them drive a
frontier so at that point the investigators turn their attention to another big part of Liz's life her job
now she's a data reporter at the Rosen Group which is this company that inspects oil and gas pipelines so she
worked at the Houston Branch with a small close-knit team and it doesn't take investigators long to clear all of
them too Liz was the only one who was out of office that Friday and when they map out her colleagues addresses and
times that they showed up for work it is clear that none of them could have killed her and again no Frontiers in the
mix so what about her actual work like could she have found out about something she wasn't supposed to Deputy Richie
considers that but he says that her job duties were like really straightforward she literally just like took data from
robots that inspect pipelines and then turned in reports so like there is nothing he can see that would make her a
Target the thing that seemed to maybe make her a Target or I should say like an easy target on that particular day
was the garage sale and I have to believe like so many people I've seen like talk about this on the internet
like that that is the key to everything because it turns out that almost no one knew she was having it that
day the only people in Liz and Sergio's life that they told about the garage sale were some family members and her
co-workers they didn't post anything online Sergio says that they only put up two signs neither of which even listed
the address but this it wasn't a last minute thing either I should say so it was lizz's idea and her mom rosemary
told us that she had been talking about it for at least a month although it's not clear when she finalized the date or
like requested the time off from work I mean it's not like a garage sale is a secret though that's kind of the whole
point I mean surely someone mentioned it or heard about it in passing in the past
month but it's still like a pretty small group of people like even more so now that they've ruled out her co-workers
you know what I mean like at least when you post on Facebook Marketplace or something like your suspect pool becomes
like it's the whole internet right but that didn't happen here so we're working with a very small very specific group of
people and why were they holding it on a Friday wouldn't a Saturday make more sense apparently that's like how it's
done around there her dad Bob says that Friday is like when the serious garage yeah and Liz planned to like run the
sale through Saturday before they left they were going to leave on Sunday so like that's just how it works down there
and there's not some like garage sale spree killer out there at the time right I don't think I've heard of any similar
cases to this no and again and again police keep coming back to one thing based on everything they know Liz was
the target it what this doesn't feel random it wasn't like it was going to be her or someone else that day it was
about her and only her so they go again and they look back at the person closest
to her Sergio now they learned that he and Liz were College sweethearts who bonded over shared interest just like
traveling and dressing up for Star Wars events and Renaissance Fairs they married in February of 2014 bought their
house a couple of years later and truly detectives comb through their stuff their phones their bank records they are
looking for anything that might connect Sergio to the crime a strange call or text around the time of the shooting
unexplained Financial transactions but there is nothing yeah but everyone knows that police check phone records like
what if he used a burner I mean did they use like one of those cell tower dumps that they do where they just get
everything they wanted to but investigator Richie says that the DA's office wouldn't authorize it when you're
talking about I think you're what you're talking about is a cell phone dumb so those are actually pretty controversial
because phone companies are basically turning over data on every single device that pinged a specific Tower during a
set of time so it becomes like a privacy thing yeah a wide area even phones that
like weren't being used news and they've become the subject of a lot of legal battles so long story short is if Sergio
did have a burner phone we might never know right and I do want to add like a little caveat about their finances so
Sergio is an independent contractor for his dad's business so he has to handle his own taxes the brazas have a
financial adviser but Liz managed their shared accounts Sergio just kind of like
handed over his paycheck each week and the only separate accounts that they had were very like low limit Credit cards
used to buy each other gifts which is all that to say yes the bank records are clean I don't know if that like proves
everything I mean if you're hiring someone to kill your spouse you're probably not paying them from your
checking account I would assume your joint checking account right but it wouldn't necessarily have to be like a
fortune that we're talking about and we've heard stories about Hitman working for pennies practically nothing well
here's what I can tell you so the longer the case drags on without finding the shooter the more convinced everyone is
that it was a professional hit to your point like it doesn't have to be a lot and
they're sure someone was hired to do this and while police can't connect Sergio directly to it he is still the
obvious suspect for this but Sergio keeps cooperating he takes and passes a polygraph like anything police want he
gives them but I me when you think about everything that had to line up like just
perfect so perfectly for all of this to happen this way well yes and there were some inconsistencies in his story like
at first he told police that he and Liz put up the garage sale signs the morning
of the shooting then later he changes says it was the night before which had been Thursday January 24th which might
not mean anything but I'm still curious about it because I haven't spotted pictures of these signs in any of the
news coverage and in all of our reporting we haven't actually found anyone one who saw the signs even Deputy
Richie Deputy Richie hasn't even seen them but I also don't know if police looked for them like with everything
going on it probably wasn't a high priority so again maybe it's nothing still if anyone listening has
seen them like our DMS are open yeah but honestly the whole sign thing is pretty
minor compared to what investigators learn about lizz's life insurance so remember how Sergio told detectives that
Liz had a policy was through her work but it wasn't that much money or anything right yeah well it turns out me
and Sergio have different ideas about like what not a whole lot means because that policy is actually worth a quarter
of a million dollars what yeah and since Liz was murdered a double indemnity clause doubles that payout to half a
million dollar and like you said since when is half a million dollars not that much I know which feels like all the red
flags we need but hang on because this is where like I don't know this might not be the Smoking Gun I
think it would be in every like husband did it case right so the weird part is by all accounts Sergio genuinely didn't
seem to know how much the policy was worth Liz got the policy when she started working at Rosen back in 2014
and it was actually her dad not Sergio who encouraged her to get all of the coverage that her company offered Bob
thought it was like too good of a deal to pass up but either way whether knew about it whether he didn't know about it
like all the things Deputy Richie like warned Sergio he's like don't even think about trying to go collect that money
because when the insurance company calls me and like asks me about my investigation I will make it very clear
that I do not want that money released until this case is solved but even just knowing about the policy could be enough
of a motive even if you never actually get the money true and you still haven't mentioned anyone else who knew lizz's
schedule and had something to gain from her death just him just him yeah but here is the big problem with like Sergio
as The Mastermind Theory every single person detectives talk to friends family co-workers everyone tells them that he
and Liz were really happy together like normally when you dig right you got the life insurance policy and the timing is
so weird there's something someone that yeah someone like says like oh I I thought this was weird that they did
they seem to have this in their relationship she mentioned this one time there's nothing there is like Deputy
Richie he digs and digs he doesn't find anything to suggest like anything funky going on in texts in emails he goes
through all of it there is no hint of an affair there is no fights nothing and look like who couldn't use an extra half
a million dollars to make life easier but it's not like the couple was in major debt or anything like that like
normally you'll see okay like the money was the motive that's not the case here they lived within their means he didn't
need that money to get out of a bind or to start over but there was someone else very
close to Sergio who was apparently in a significant financial bind that is Sergio's 57-year-old father Oscar now
you see Sergio's mom had recently discovered that Oscar was cheating with multiple women and that was bad enough
but then they learned that he was also spending a lot of money on these girlfriends like to the point where his
finances were suffering one of Sergio's paychecks that he had gotten bounced recently and while they weren't hurting
for money Liz was like understandably upset by this and according to that paulon episode Oscar blames Sergio's
bounce check on just like an accounting air he tells investigators that his finances are like totally straight
everything's good but County court records show that around this time Oscar was hit with several lawsuits for unpaid
taxes and in divorce filing Sergio's mom said that he gave over $20,000 to three different women and
hang on did Liz confront Oscar about any of this it feels like she's kind of removed from all of this financial stuff
she kind of was so this again this is where like it doesn't totally add up like cuz from what Sergio tells police
she never confronted Oscar about this Sergio says that he and Liz decided basically to stay out of it and after
all I mean he still worked for his dad like well and it's not even like his dad would have gotten the money when Liz
died I don't see how it helps him the only thing that investigators have theorized is like well what if Oscar
knew about lizz's life insurance and then he thought Sergio might invest the payout into the family
business okay but if we're supposed to believe that Sergio didn't even know the amount of the policy he didn't know it
was going to double if she was murdered how the heck would Oscar have known that that's what I'm saying it
doesn't makes sense cuz police can't find any proof that Oscar did know about the life
insurance it's still a possible Theory but it seems so farfetched I know now it's clear to them same thing with
Sergio it's like clear to them that the surveillance footage doesn't show Oscar he isn't the shooter but then they have
the same question right like did Oscar have someone orchestrate this it becomes like Oscar is The Mastermind the right
is Sergio suspicious of his dad at all maybe so on the pazon episode Sergio implies that he was the one who first
suggested his dad's potential connection oh yeah but investigator Richie says that the suspicion started when Oscar
lied to police and tried to downplay the affair so I don't know I don't know where Sergio's suspicions started but at
any rate like his son Oscar is cooperative he passes a polygraph and when detectives go through his phone and
bank records they can't find anything linking him to Liz's murder so while Oscar has made some questionable
decisions with his life like there is no evidence that he plotted to have his daughter-in-law killed and so a couple
of weeks into their investigation and police aren't much further than they were when they started they've ruled
people out but they're not any closer to arresting anyone and that seems impossible in a case that
feels like it should be so straightforward like they need something more they need something solid to go on
so they decide they're going to go ask the public for help and on Wednesday February 6th investigators and
Crimestoppers join Liz's loved ones for this big press conference to announce a $20,000 reward for information and Bob
followed by Sergio make heartbreaking pleas to the public so it's seems like Liz's family is standing by Sergio oh
yeah I mean he's actually been living with the Nellies since the shooting so they're still like presenting as one
unit they're still close and standing next to her family her parents and Sergio Deputy Richie feels the weight of
their pain and the mounting frustration of unanswered questions but what keeps him optimistic is that they already do
have a critical piece of the puzzle information about the shooter's truck a Nissan Frontier is what's considered a
midsize pickup and in Texas where big full siiz pickups dominate he figures that it should stick out like a sore
thumb so they pour their efforts into tracking this car down hoping that this is going to be the break they so
desperately need when Deputy Richie gets the registration records for Harris County
which includes Houston and the surrounding areas he finds out that there are over
1,000 frontiers of course and guess what the most popular color is of course it's
got to be black yes and ultimately they do narrow it down a bit more thanks to Nissan they have the salesman who
recognizes the specific style so it's a four-door Pro 4X crew cab that was made from like 2013 to 2019 great
unfortunately the registration database only lists the basic so it doesn't specifically say if it like someone has
a pro 4X or whatever like two door four-door or what so they have to check every single one manually not quite so
what they decide to do is they actually go and use a license plate reader system
to sift through the database highlighting potential matches and then using photos to eliminate trucks that
clearly don't fit but they also can't just go knocking on the door of every dark colored but probably black Frontier
owner in Texas so instead they look for trucks caught on the Plate Reader camera
near the crime scene that morning but even that doesn't lead anywhere like for instance there's a
black Frontier that Police Stopped nearby right after the shooting but it didn't have the same decals as the
Killer's truck and then they can't like those aren't things that can just be like removed on a whim plus the driver
was an older Hispanic man whose body type didn't even match the shooter so like they quickly rule that one out
narrow it down by looking at like other connections trying to triangulate people
who like own a frontier or a dark colored Frontier and a 38 revolver well no because it's Texas like there are
there's no state level registration requirements for firearms and honestly like if I had to guess I don't even know
that the killer would use a legally registered gun for this and I was honestly about to say something similar
about the truck I mean maybe it was stolen or borrowed from a friend at least look into that like or at least
the stolen there weren't any reports of stolen Frontiers or even like stolen license plates from Frontiers like
during that whole time but it is still possible or like they used a fake plate or maybe they borrowed a plate and then
put it back before anyone even knew there were just like too many Mayes for detectives to draw any real
conclusions but speaking of the truck so the one thing they hone in on remember the strange doubling back that the
shooter did yeah well surveillance footage shows that after shooting Liz this person drove all the way to the
main entrance of the subdivision nearly a good quarter of a mile away before making a U-turn and then driving back
past the barazas and again initially nobody knew what that was about like cuz they didn't
get out they didn't stop whatever so it gets Deputy Richie wondering if the shooter maybe someone like called the
shooter like the person who's pulling the strings and told them to go back and make sure she was dead so he gets this
idea he's like I'm going to try Geo fencing which is completely different than like the cell tower dump we were
talking about geofencing like you literally get a very specific area for a very specific time and it'll tell you
like what all the activity yeah so he puts a digital perimeter around the brz's house and he gets a warrant for
Google location data from every device in that zone around that time of the shooting hope being that if a device
moved in and out of the Geo fens at the right time that could lead to the shoter
so detectives wait and they wait and finally around May or June of 2020 they get the results but it's another
disappointment because the only device with unusual movement belonged to First Responders so the killer at least
they're thinking probably didn't even bring a phone with them and there could be another simple explanation for why
they came back by the barza house the other thing they start thinking is like what if they turned around because they
were trying to avoid running into police oh yeah a resident security camera caught the truck heading toward a
deadend culdesac right after the shooting and that is the last anyone sees the truck it doesn't turn around it
doesn't come back and so couldn't have just vanished though no they think that maybe it went off-roading like jumped
the curb like at the end of this C tore out through yeah like there like this um
Green Belt area that gets you to the main road and they're thinking that maybe they went far enough away where
law enforcement because if you think about it like I told you law enforcements there within like minutes
so if they're coming in the main entrance which they probably would have used like you can't get out without
passing them yeah they might have seen them they turn around and they like hight tail it out of there and this
feels like a no-brainer but I assume they checked everyone in the neighborhood like especially in that
specific culdesac so uh investigator Richie says that they went house to house by the way I don't think that
theory was part of the initial police investigation though like lizz's parents learned and I'm talking about like the
them jumping the yeah the off-roading yeah lizz's parents learned that through a YouTuber named Aaron Stoner who
analyzes cold cases and so while this might not be the Breakthrough that catches their daughter's killer it at
least matters to Bob and rosemary like in the face of so much uncertainty at any Clarity that that like they can be
brought brings them Comfort but it doesn't bring them answers and life without Liz is a constant struggle
Sergio never goes back to the house that they shared Bob helps him sell it he stays with the Nellies for nearly a year
though eventually he does get a new place he does start dating again and for Bob and rosemary it's like that moment
is Bittersweet like it's hard to see him moving on but they are happy for him I mean they know it's what Liz would have
wanted the public however has like a very different reaction like it's it's always
the people not closest to everyone who has like the strongest feelings um cuz when Sergio posts something online about
being engaged again police are like flooded with tips rumors start swirling that he and his fiance Amber were having
an affair before Liz was murdered that Amber was somehow involved Sergio denies it all he and Amber went to the same
high school but like so did thousand of other students and they insist they didn't know each other at the time he
tells kou1 reporter Grace white that they ended up meeting on a dating app in 2020 which was after her
murder now investigators don't just dismiss the gossip outright by now Michael Richie has been promoted to
Sergeant he's transferred to another division but he is still working in the case he like goes so far as to like dig
through old high school yearbooks after hearing like maybe there's a photo of Sergio and Amber together he comes up
empty Amber even ends up taking a polygraph which she passes so while no one has
been completely cleared Sergeant Richie is confident that Amber had nothing to do with Liz's murder I mean this is just
kind of what happens right like the longer a case stays unsolved the more room there is for speculation and
misinformation and rumors and gossip and it's not even just because of social media like that these stories are
spinning so the con office accidentally released incorrect information early on which just like added to the confusion
of everything and that's why Bob and rosemary created their own website who killed Liz bar.com it gives them a
chance to set the record straight keep lizz's story alive but they know a website alone isn't going to get them
Justice someone out there has to know something maybe they just need a little incentive so on the 3rd anniversary of
lizz's murder they announced that the reward is now up to $50,000 thanks in large part to a community fundraiser and
they're not the only ones who refuse to give up when Sergeant Richie transfers back to homicide in early 2023 he takes
over as lead investigator again he's grown close to the Nellies and all this time and he wants to get them answers
but he warns Bob and rosemary that learning the truth about who's behind her murder is going to devastate them
that sounds like something you would say if you knew who did it and knew that that person was close to them that's
what I thought too but he told us it wasn't about a specific suspect it's more like he's been trying to prepare
them from the start that whatever happened whoever did this it was probably someone close to them I mean it
goes back to the original Theory right like someone targeted her someone who knew she'd be out there that day it it
feels very targeted right do her parents have any theories they're really careful
not to point fingers they are confident and police agree that this wasn't the work of just one person they think that
they was a shooter and then there was someone who put the shooter up to it but figuring out who those people are and
why is enough to drive anyone up a wall like I said nah and I sat in my office spiraling when I first decided we were
going to cover this case I had heard about it like I knew the story and I was like this has to be one where
when you talk to detectives when you talk to the family we're just missing a piece of it that's not in the in the
reporting right now right like oh we just can't say this thing out loud let me be the one to assure you as a crime
junkie there is not something that I'm not telling you out loud you turned over every Rock and this is it this is it and
nothing makes sense so in a world where nothing makes sense what her parents have done is they've tried to focus on
things that give them a sense of purpose like the impact of lizz's final gift the
recipients of her organs had spent a combined 22 years on transplant lists before receiving her heart her liver
kidneys and corneas and her best friend started the Liz Library which donates Harry Potter books um like the sets of
them to children's hospitals in her honor and Bob and rosemary are channeling their energy into supporting
other parents of homicide victims as well are they still in touch with Sergio at all they're not as much as they used
to be but I mean he joined them for another press conference on the fifth anniversary of lizz's murder they also
reached out to him on our behalf to see if he would speak with us he told him that he'd think about it but then we
never heard back and I get it like he's got a new life now he's got a new wife he recently became a dad he doesn't work
for his father anymore he still from what I can tell doesn't know if Oscar was involved in Liz's death and that I
would imagine like put a big wedge between them and did he ever end up collecting on that life insurance policy
no he told Grace white that he doesn't need it but the reality also has to be that he knows investigators would like
fight to keep that money from being really still so and they can't just keep it away forever though I mean they can
they can ask the insurance company to deny payment they can't block it indefinitely without a court order and
since Sergio hasn't been charged with anything like he could push for that money if he wanted to I think the
insurance company would probably have to pay up eventually like if he started that fight but he would be have to be
the one to start that process and that won't look good yeah I don't think he will like he knows a lot of people
believe that he's responsible for Liz's death and he I think he thinks trying to
claim that money would like just add fuel to that fire and again like the life insurance is just one piece of a
larger puzzle one that the internet sloes have been trying to solve since the day Liz was murdered and if you go
down these online rabbit holes which believe me I have you will find every scenario Under the Sun but there are a
couple that I've seen pop up like a couple times that just it's worth hitting on one is that the shooter might
have had access to the brz's nest doorbell camera system and like could have been monitoring their movements in
real time like they were hacked maybe or there was speculation maybe that Sergio
and Liz might have had a public URL enabled on their camera meaning that anyone with the link could View the live
stream but like Liz's parents were adamant that's just not something she would do and as for whether Liz or
Sergio gave the login to anyone like I highly doubt it since I mean Bob and rosemary didn't have it and we know how
security conscious they were yeah like if it wasn't them who else would they have given it to right but then if
someone did have it or hacked it or whatever like that would have left a digital footprint and that kind of data
might be able to connect to a specific person or device or location or whatever but it doesn't seem like police access
those records although I don't know why they left that out is there a reason people are saying this is a possibility
like to me I feel like we know this person is waiting specifically for Sergio to leave like they don't need the
camera you don't need the camera cuz this is like part of their routine I think we're all just grasping at straws
grasping at anything because I'm telling you nothing makes sense and the timing is so
precise so another theory is that lizza's murder was a gang initiation like someone had to commit a random act
of violence to prove themselves but I I'm not buying that this this doesn't feel random nothing about this feels
random I know and I I think this this one only started at least in part because I think the um at one point it
was noted that the Texas anti-gang unit got involved with the investigation but specialized units often help with
complex cases like they have resources expertise that local departments don't have so like I don't read much into it
like if anything I don't know what's clear though is that this case has never truly gone cold the sheriff's office has
worked with the Texas Rangers they've worked with the FBI they are following leads across the country even into
Mexico at one point no one has been completely ruled out as a suspect including Sergio and Oscar but
investigators have looked at them from every angle and as of right now they have hit a wall all so Sergeant Richie
is challenging himself to think differently to reconsider every assumption but no matter how he
approaches it he keeps circling back to the same core questions who knew about the garage sale who had motive to kill
Liz and who could fit the description of the shooter lizz's loved ones have spent
six years searching for those answers and they now need crime junkies help so if you know anything about what happened
to Liz barza please call the Houston Crim Stoppers at 713 222 tips the $50,000 reward is still on the table and
it can be collected anonymously you can also contact the Harris County Sheriff's
Office at 713 27491 you can find all the source material for this episode on our website
crime junky podcast.com and you can follow us on Instagram at crime junkie podcast make sure to follow the channel
if you want even more video episodes and don't forget every week in our RSS feed
you can find new crime junkie episodes search for Crime junkie wherever you get your podcasts
[Music]

Elizabeth Barraza was 29 when she was gunned down in her driveway in Tomball, Texas, while setting up for a garage sale. The murder was so calculated and shocking, police were certain they’d catch her killer within hours. But years later, the case is still unsolved. And her family’s hoping that someone can help bring them the justice they’ve been desperately seeking.

For a full list of sources, please visit https://crimejunkiepodcast.com/murdered-elizabeth-barraza/

On January 25, 2019, Elizabeth "Liz" Barraza was tragically killed during a garage sale at her home in Tomball, Texas. The murder was captured on CCTV, showing a person approaching Liz before she was shot. The case remains unsolved, with various theories about possible suspects, including Liz's husband, Sergio Barraza, and members of the 501st Legion, a group Liz and her husband were involved with. Despite ongoing investigations, no one has been charged, and the community continues to search for answers. In this video, we explore the timeline of events, the key details surrounding the investigation, and the efforts made by law enforcement to bring justice to Liz Baraza and her family.

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Brief Summary

Elizabeth Barza was murdered during a garage sale; the case remains unsolved despite extensive investigation and public appeals for information.

Key points

The Baffling Murder of Elizabeth Barza. A young woman's murder remains unsolved despite having been caught on film.
The Morning of the Incident. Bob and Rosemary Nelly receive alarming news about their daughter Liz.
The Shocking Discovery. Bob and Rosemary arrive to find their daughter's home surrounded by police.
The Investigation Begins. Detectives start piecing together the timeline of Liz's last moments.
A Tragic Decision. Liz is declared dead, and her family decides to donate her organs.
The Mysterious Timing of the Attack. Investigators ponder why the attackers waited until 2 a.m. instead of striking at a more opportune time.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

This isn't a high crime area.

Bob reflects on the unexpected nature of the crime.

4:47WatchFeb 13, 2025

Tension

70/ 100High tension

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