Tomball slaying remains a mystery
Sergio Barraza, husband of Elizabeth Barraza, listens to Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez Wednesday asking for the public’s help in solving her shooting death.
Elizabeth “Liz” Barraza was setting up for a garage sale outside her Tomball-area home early morning one day last month, hoping to make some extra spending money for an upcoming wedding anniversary trip.
Her husband had just left for work the morning of Jan. 25 when someone in a pickup shot the 29year-old woman in the driveway outside her home, striking her several times and fatally wounding her. The driver in the older, dark-colored Nissan Frontier pickup sped off. She died the next day. “How someone could be so monstrous to commit an act like this . ... I just really can’t understand,” her husband, Sergio Barraza, said a news conference Wednesday in which authorities asked for help in finding her killer. “I had to trade our fifth anniversary for a funeral.”
Sergio Barraza described Liz as an loving wife and avid Star Wars fan. The two were active members of the 501st Legion — a Star Wars fan group infatuated with the saga’s villains.
At a press conference on Wednesday, Houston Crime Stoppers and the 501st Legion said they are working together to offer a $20,000 reward for her killer
Their actions with the group were more heroic though, spending hours dressing up in costume with other members, bringing smiles to sick children and adults at area hospitals. Liz Barraza died in the same hospital she had spent those hours bringing cheer to countless patients.
At the news conference, her relatives wore T-shirts with the words “Justice for Liz May the force be with you. Always.”
Detectives with the Harris County Sheriff’s Office said only one person was in the truck that drove up to the home in the 8600 block of Cedar Walk Drive about 7 a.m. that Friday. They are unsure if the shooter was a man or a woman.
Sheriff Ed Gonzalez urged the public to check surveillance cameras near the neighborhood to see if the pickup shows up that morning on their video. Investigators said the pickup truck was seen on camera shortly before Sergio Barraza left for work that morning, possibly indicating that the shooter was waiting for the victim to be alone with her guard down.
The woman’s father, Bob Nuelle, also pleaded for witnesses or anyone with knowledge about the case to come forward.
“A coward drove up, approached my daughter and forever changed our lives,” Nuelle said, fighting tears. “An unknown assailant shot and killed an unarmed and defenseless woman in a brutal act that demands justice.”