A Glitter of Hope: How an Unlikely Piece of Evidence Put Away A Violent Rapist and Killer
On July 4, 2001, 20-year-old Megan Barroso disappeared after celebrating with friends. One month later, her body was found. The investigation would lead to the apprehension of a violent serial rapist
Background
After partaking in Independence Day festivities in 2001, 20-year-old Moorpark Community College student Megan Barroso disappeared. Prior to her disappearance, Megan had spent the evening at a barbeque held at the family home of one of her good friends, Lindsay Gross.
After the barbeque, Megan and Lindsay went to Silver Strand Beach to watch fireworks. The two girls met up with some friends from high school and were enjoying the festive atmosphere.
Around 10:30 pm, Barroso and Gross headed to a friend’s apartment in Newbury Park, California. As the hours passed, the friends continued to enjoy the holiday.
Then, around 2:45 am, Megan told Lindsay that she was going to head home. Megan had been offered an opportunity to stay over at the apartment, but she declined. Lindsay kissed her friend goodbye before she left.
She could have never imagined that this would be the last time that anyone except for her killer would ever see Megan Barroso alive.
Disappearance
The following day, July 5th, police made a disturbing discovery. Megan’s rental car was found on the center median near a highway underpass. The car was still running. Even more concerning was the condition of the car.
The car had five bullet holes in it, with the majority being in the windshield. Investigators also observed blood on the seat and steering wheel. Another troubling sign was the fact that Megan’s cell phone and purse were still in the vehicle while she was nowhere to be found.
When one of her sandals was also discovered in the car, it became apparent that Megan had either fled the car in such a hurry that she left these important items or that she was hastily removed from the car and abducted.
Police did find bullet shell casings near Megan’s car. They were eventually found to have been fired by an AK-47 rifle.
Believing that she may have fled and hidden nearby, police checked the surrounding area carefully but found no trace of Megan.
On July 6th, Megan had still not been found. The police began to question any witnesses from the 4th of July celebrations.
According to everyone interviewed, Megan was a sweet and kindhearted person who was not known to have had any enemies.
Everyone who the detectives questioned had an alibi, including a guy who had tried unsuccessfully to flirt with Megan that night.
There were no suspects or leads as to Megan’s whereabouts.
Vincent Sanchez
On July 26th, 2001, 22 days after Megan went missing, a man by the name of Vincent Sanchez was arrested for burglarizing his neighbor’s house.
At the time of his arrest, Sanchez was a 31-year-old unemployed carpenter who had injured himself and was living on disability.
One of eight children, Sanchez was reportedly raised by loving but strict parents. However, Vincent’s troubles began early; not long after dropping out of Simi Valley High School, he moved to Lancaster and began a tumultuous relationship with a 17-year-old single mother.
In 1992, both he and the child’s mother were arrested for child abuse after the one-year-old child was rushed to the hospital struggling to breathe. Sanchez would serve less than two years in prison for the incident.
Upon his release, Sanchez returned to Simi Valley and began working in construction. In 1995, he was injured during a work accident and was awarded a substantial workman’s compensation settlement.
Around this same time, he began a relationship with a woman ten years his senior. Luz LaFarga already had four children by the time she began a relationship with Sanchez. By her account, the relationship was quite toxic, and Sanchez was extremely possessive, bordering on obsessive.
LaFarga recalls that Sanchez would sometimes drop by unannounced to check up on her. She also caught him on several occasions peeping through her windows late at night.
Finally, after several more frightening incidents, LaFarga contacted the police and filed a restraining order against Sanchez. He continued to contact her to try and mend the relationship. She finally made it clear to him that it was over.
The Simi Valley Rapist
At the same time that police were investigating Megan Barroso’s disappearance, they were also looking for a violent and dangerous predator who had been dubbed “The Simi Valley Rapist.” By the time of Megan’s disappearance, he had already attacked more than a dozen women.
The attacks began in late 1996, and over the years, their aggression and intensity increased. From what police were able to gather, the rapist stalked the majority of his victims before attacking them. He would even try to learn their names and, if possible, the names of their family members.
He would sometimes threaten the victim’s family members by name to keep them from reporting the attack.
He became increasingly bold, kidnapping his victims and taking them to his home, where he recorded some of the rapes on video.
The attacker would often threaten his victims at knifepoint. However, some of his would-be victims were able to fight back and turn the tables on him, forcing him to flee.
Some of those who were not fortunate enough to get away recalled that the attacker would take nude photos of them while wearing his mask, and he would often steal “trophies” like underwear or other personal items.
His M.O. was to break into his victim’s home in the middle of the night by prying off window screens or slipping through sliding glass doors. He was also very careful not to let any of his victims get a look at his face. He always wore a mask.
Unmasked
Following his arrest for burglary, Sanchez called his roommate to ask him to throw away a bag he had left near a bin by their apartment building.
The roommate saw that the bag was filled with photographs and videos of Sanchez assaulting women. Women’s underwear and jewelry were also found in the bag. The roommate immediately called the police and handed over the evidence.
The police recognized many of the women as survivors of the suspected Simi Valley rapist. The survivors were all teenage girls or young women with dark hair. Megan Barroso fit that description.
With the evidence now piling up, authorities were fairly confident that they had captured the Simi Valley Rapist.
Megan’s Body Found
On August 4th, 2001, one month after Megan Barroso was last seen alive, her body was discovered at the bottom of a 50-foot ravine in Black Canyon just outside of the Simi Valley city limits.
She was found wearing a black T-shirt and underwear with twine tied around her neck. However, due to the level of decomposition, it was impossible to determine if she had been sexually assaulted.
Now that they had a body and a potential suspect, investigators obtained a search warrant for Sanchez’s truck and residence. During the search, in a trash bin outside of his apartment, Megan’s green jacket was found with a bullet hole in it.
Sanchez’s roommate confirmed to police that he had an AK-47 rifle, which Sanchez had “borrowed” weeks earlier. This was the same kind of gun that had shot Megan’s car and had presumably killed her.
The most damning piece of evidence, however, would come in an unexpected form. A few tiny specs of glitter.
All That Glitters
Found on both the rifle and Sanchez’s truck were tiny flakes of red glitter. This information would prove to be a crucial break in the case.
Megan’s friend Lindsay Gross recalled that she playfully sprinkled Megan with red glitter the night she disappeared.
Retired forensic scientist Ed Jones from the Ventura County Sheriff's Laboratory of Forensic Sciences is a glitter collector and an expert in its analysis. He has over one thousand unique samples in a binder.
Jones was working in the lab during this time and he was responsible for analyzing the trace evidence at the scene of Megan’s disappearance.
“The victim was celebrating a 4th of July party with friends and was sprinkled with red hexagonal glitter approximately 250 microns in diameter,” Jones described. “The empty bottle used to sprinkle the victim was recovered.”
When Lindsay offered it as evidence to the police, Jones used these samples to complete the trace evidence triangle.
“Glitter was recovered from the tape lifts of the suspect's vehicle, the victim's jacket (with bullet damage) recovered from the suspect's residence and the victim's scalp.”
Sanchez’s roommate recalls that on July 5th, Sanchez was acting strangely and appeared to have scratches on his face. He recalled that Sanchez stayed inside his room all day, only coming out at night.
Several people testified to a grand jury that Sanchez’s behavior over the past few years had been concerning and that he had been treated for depression and suicidal ideation.
Trial and Sentencing
Sanchez was charged with first-degree murder and the possible rape of Megan Barroso. Proceedings began in 2003, nearly two years after Megan’s death. He was also charged in 14 other cases involving the Simi Valley sexual assaults.
Although Sanchez admitted to killing Megan Barroso, his lawyers argued that since the state could not prove that he had raped her, he should not be charged with first-degree murder.
The argument did not sway the jury, who found Sanchez guilty and recommended the death penalty. The judge in the case agreed with the jury’s decision and imposed a sentence of death by lethal injection, as well as multiple life sentences for the other violent rapes he was responsible for.
One of his victims stated in court, “I hope you won’t take it easy on him because he didn’t take it easy on us.”
It was determined that Sanchez likely killed Megan because, of all his victims; she was the only one who had seen his face and could give a description of him and his truck. She was an innocent victim who happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Lindsay Gross has never forgotten her good friend Megan; “Five minutes don’t go by that I don’t think of her.”
Sources:
Dziemianowicz, Joe. “Specks of Glitter Help Lead to Man Who Murdered College Student After 4th of July Fireworks.” Oxygen True Crime, 17 June 2023, https://www.oxygen.com/homicide-for-the-holidays/megan-barroso-killed-by-vincent-sanchez-4th-of-july
Wilson, Tracy. “Sanchez Receives Death Sentence.” Los Angeles Times, 5 November 2003, https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2003-nov-05-me-sanchez5-story.html
Crane, Josh and Lindberg, James. “Glitter's Connection To Forensic Science.” wbur, 15 November 2019, https://www.wbur.org/endlessthread/2019/11/15/glitter-forensic-science
Saillant, Catherine and Chawkins, Steve. “A Chilling Picture of Accused Killer.” Los Angeles Times, 4 November 2001, https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2001-nov-04-cl-65425-story.html