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[Music]
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up next
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a bullet riddled car a missing driver
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and
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no witnesses it would seem she was still
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alive when she was removed from the car
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who would do such a thing like this on a
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public roadway
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was it an ambush or a random attack
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this is my defensive little girl who i'd
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been shot at it was a head scratcher
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from the get-go
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some tiny evidence provides the answer
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it was on her skin on her jacket you
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can't get rid of this stuff
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[Music]
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in southern california like elsewhere in
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the united states
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virtually everyone celebrates
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independence day
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some celebrate a little too much
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that's what police thought when they
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found a deserted car
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around four o'clock in the morning with
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the engine still running off route 118
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just north of los angeles a lot of
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people thought that maybe somebody was
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drunk and they had
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abandoned their car alongside the road
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but a closer look revealed something
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more serious
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we had several bullets that had went
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through the windshield
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into the vehicle and two additional
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bullets that had went through the side
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of the vehicle
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a woman's shoe was inside the car
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another was
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outside blood was on the steering wheel
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the driver's seat and floorboard
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police fanned out all over the area
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there was no blood trail no victim
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it was highly unusual for us to have a
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violent crime scene like that
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where the victim was missing the car was
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a rental
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and had been leased that day to megan
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barroso
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a 20 year old college student who lived
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nearby
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her purse was covered in blood
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her cell phone was inside it looked as
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if she had tried to use her phone
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to call for help
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she had gone to a fourth of july party
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with her best friend
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and some other young people i believe in
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the beach area
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according to friends megan left the
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party alone at 2 45 a.m
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a little more than an hour before her
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car was found
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police checked local hospitals but no
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one matching megan's description had
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checked in
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we didn't know if this person was either
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dead or alive at that point
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there was a significant amount of blood
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in the car not enough to
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suggest that the person was in fact dead
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my daughter was out there somewhere and
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i was hoping that i would get a call
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from her
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any any day in a minute no call came
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[Music]
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investigators found five shell casings
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at the end of the exit ramp
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and another about 200 feet away
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our forensic people were able to tell us
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that
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most likely was an ak-47 type rifle an
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assault rifle
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knowing that megan had been assaulted
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with this ak-47
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again yes just send shields of
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of agony through my mind investigators
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also noticed
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a fresh scrape along the driver's side
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of the car
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it looked as if megan's car had been
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sideswiped
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then investigators got a huge break
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they learned that megan's rental car was
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one of the first to be equipped with an
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event data recorder
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the event data recorder is a huge step
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forward in traffic safety
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it's like the black box in an aircraft
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that gives us an opportunity
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to better understand how crashes happen
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the recorder
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a small on-board computer is always on
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in the event of a crash it automatically
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saves the previous five seconds of
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information
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when megan's car hit the median it
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activated the data recorder
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it revealed that five seconds earlier
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megan's car
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was at a complete stop i think he
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started shooting at her she was probably
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ducking
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um but at some point she realized i
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better get out of there
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the recorder showed megan floored the
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accelerator
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she went to 100 open throttle she jammed
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that gas pedal to the floor and she
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tried to get out of there
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blood inside the car showed megan was
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wounded and
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possibly still alive but
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where was she we knew he had a body
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somewhere
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we just couldn't find her
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as police searched for twenty-year-old
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megan barroso they tried to reconstruct
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her activities
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on the night of her disappearance
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her friend said she left a fourth of
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july party at 2 45 in the morning and
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was alone
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her abandoned car was found at the
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bottom
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of an exit ramp off a deserted stretch
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of highway
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about an hour later we found that megan
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didn't have any boyfriend problems
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she didn't have anyone that was upset
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with her in fact it was the opposite
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everybody liked megan
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[Music]
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someone had fired multiple shots into
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megan's car
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with what investigators believed was an
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ak-47 assault rifle
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to recreate the shooting analysts used
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lasers to determine where the shooter
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was standing
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we use a laser beam because it's a nice
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straight
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light beam that we can just project
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through a number of holes and it makes a
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good display it allows us to see
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where the bullet is passed through what
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it's interacted with
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the laser analysis showed the shooter
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stood 60 feet away from megan's car when
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he started firing
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and he closed the distance with each
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shot
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one shot hit the hood three hit the
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windshield
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another hit the driver's side door
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investigators concluded the shot fired
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through the passenger side door
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happened somewhere else it came in from
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a completely different direction it
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couldn't have been part of the
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same series of gunfire without a
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dramatic change in the position of the
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shooter
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this gunshot along with the sideswipe on
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megan's car
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led analysts to conclude this
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altercation happen on
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the highway with the laser information
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and event data recorder investigators
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put
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together this animation of what they
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thought
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happened it was clear someone tried to
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force
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megan off the highway by side swiping
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her car
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then megan's attacker moved to the
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passenger side
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and fired into her backseat as megan
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drove off the exit ramp
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her attacker must have sped in front of
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her
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blocked her path and started shooting
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there were four shots she floored the
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accelerator
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a fifth shot went through the side door
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and hit megan
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the blood evidence shows megan tried to
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reach for her cell phone
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possibly to call police her car hit the
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median
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the assailant apparently dragged her
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into another vehicle
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and drove away you have to assume that
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the person who carried out this crime
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was very
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very bold very much a risk taker
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there were questions about who would do
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such a thing
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like this on a public roadway
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and 118 is a very public roadway
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the blood inside the car meant megan was
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wounded
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but was probably still alive when she
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was abducted
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at that point i i realized that my
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daughter was in horrible trouble that
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this is was
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not you know not a good situation and
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this was a real
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big bad thing that was happening
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the sheriff's department along with
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other law enforcement agencies offered a
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reward
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for information leading to an arrest
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but three long weeks passed with no
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leads
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on megan's abduction a simi valley
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resident called police
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with some information he said
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he found a homemade videotape in his
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roommate's trash
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showing sexual acts so horrifying
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he knew it needed to be reported to
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police
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lo and behold here's this guy raping
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these women
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the man said he had no doubt the rapist
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on the tape
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was his roommate 30 year old vincent
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sanchez an electrician
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who worked in the local film industry
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the tape showed sanchez raping numerous
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women
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on camera it was quite horrifying to
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actually see
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a woman being raped and sexually
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assaulted
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when investigators asked sanchez's
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roommate whether anyone in the house
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owned an assault rifle he said he did
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i'm sitting on the bed
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and he tells me well yeah the gun's
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right here it's underneath the bed
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and as soon as i looked at it the hair
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on the back of my neck stood up
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it was an ak-47
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detectives also found something near the
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trash
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outside the house i excused myself from
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the interview
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to take a phone call and i walked
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outside the residence
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and over by some trash cans i saw
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a garment of clothing on the ground and
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walked up to it
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and i saw that it was a green jacket it
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was a green gap jacket with an orange
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line it was fairly distinctive
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and he saw what he believed to be a
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bullet hole on the side
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it was the same color jacket megan
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barroso
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wore on the night she was abducted
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was it possible megan was still
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alive
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just days after investigators found
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megan barroso's green jacket in the
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trash
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outside a simi valley home a search team
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with a cadaver dog discovered
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some skeletal remains in a ravine
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10 miles from the abduction site
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dental records confirmed it was megan
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barroso
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i was devastated oh you know i mean
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i'm thinking this is wrong i'm drowning
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now you know this is this
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this is it was absolutely terrible oh
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you know it was like
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the lights are out now you know this is
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bad
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the medical examiner recovered bullet
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fragments
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and determined that megan died from a
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single
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gunshot wound to her abdomen
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but there was not forensic evidence who
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conclusively say
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that she had been sexually assaulted it
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looked as if megan
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was still alive when she was left
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in the ravine she was in a fetal
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position
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with one arm bent be under her head like
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he'd in a sleeping position
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that wouldn't be a position that a body
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would land in then
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the medical examiner noticed something
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unusual
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red glitter what they call pixie dust
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in megan's hair and on her clothing and
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it was
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red glitter in essence megan's green
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jacket was found outside the home
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of vincent sanchez a part-time
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electrician
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who came to police attention when his
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roommate found
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a homemade videotape of sanchez
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sexually assaulting several women
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when police studied the videotape in
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detail
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they discovered the women were the
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victims
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of the simi valley rapist 15
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unsolved rapes police had been trying to
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solve
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for the past five years the perpetrator
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would
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break into the home of the victims
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primarily in the evening some of the
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victims were young teenage girls
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15 16 years old with parents sleeping in
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another room
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within the household when questioned by
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police
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sanchez admitted he was the simi valley
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rapist but
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denied having anything to do with megan
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barroso's murder
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very hesitant to answer didn't want to
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talk anymore
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said he didn't know her didn't know what
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i was talking about had nothing to do
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with that
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investigators search sanchez's pickup
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truck for possible clues
00:13:02
it was clear the truck had been
00:13:04
thoroughly washed and cleaned
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but tape lifts of the upholstery found
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something very difficult to get rid of
00:13:13
tiny specks of red glitter
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investigators also found red glitter in
00:13:20
the green jacket found
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outside sanchez's home they even found
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one microscopic speck on the ak-47 rifle
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sanchez's roommate turned over to police
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to find out if all this glitter was from
00:13:36
the same
00:13:37
source investigators sent it to edwin
00:13:40
jones a forensic scientist with one of
00:13:44
the largest collections of glitter in
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the world
00:13:47
with close to 1 000 specimens
00:13:51
i have an unusual hobby of collecting
00:13:53
micro things
00:13:54
and i've been collecting glitter for
00:13:56
many years before this case i've been
00:13:57
collecting glitter since this case
00:14:00
under a microscope jones discovered
00:14:03
that this red glitter was a hexagon
00:14:06
shape
00:14:07
approximately 250 microns
00:14:11
jones knew immediately that this was
00:14:15
unlike any of the red glitter samples
00:14:17
he'd ever seen
00:14:19
i found out that the glitter had one
00:14:21
layer of aluminum for reflection
00:14:23
so literally the particle was
00:14:25
asymmetrical
00:14:26
meaning that it's not the same on both
00:14:29
sides
00:14:30
it's red on one side and silver in the
00:14:32
other it was a very unique type of
00:14:34
glitter
00:14:34
that just as one company had made jones
00:14:37
discovered
00:14:38
that this glitter was not a best-selling
00:14:41
item
00:14:42
only ten thousand bottles had ever been
00:14:44
made
00:14:46
investigators learned that during the
00:14:48
fourth of july party megan attended
00:14:50
the host threw red glitter on everyone
00:14:54
including megan
00:14:57
i said do you still have the bottle she
00:14:59
said yes i do
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so we then went and recovered the
00:15:02
remaining portion of the glitter
00:15:04
scientists confirmed the glitter in
00:15:07
megan barroso's hair
00:15:09
came from megan's friend and it was the
00:15:13
same glitter found
00:15:14
in sanchez's truck on the ak-47 rifle
00:15:19
on megan's jacket found in sanchez's
00:15:22
trash
00:15:22
and in megan's own car it was the only
00:15:27
piece of evidence that tied sanchez
00:15:30
to everything investigators also
00:15:34
searched sanchez's truck for blood
00:15:36
when the tech put luminol on the inside
00:15:39
of the vehicle
00:15:40
it lit up like a christmas tree dna
00:15:43
testing revealed
00:15:44
blood on the passenger seat was
00:15:48
megan's there was a horizontal apparent
00:15:51
blood stain
00:15:52
right in the area where megan's wound
00:15:54
was to her side
00:15:56
indicating that she had been sitting
00:15:58
upright in the passenger seat of that
00:16:00
truck at one point so she wasn't dead
00:16:04
she was sitting forensic tests on the
00:16:07
scrape mark on the side of megan's car
00:16:09
matched the paint from sanchez's truck
00:16:13
investigators test-fired the ak-47
00:16:16
and compared the bullets to fragments
00:16:18
found with megan's body
00:16:21
we tied that rifle to the crime scene
00:16:24
and to the body both with the fragments
00:16:26
that were taken
00:16:28
from the car from the crime scene
00:16:30
certainly
00:16:31
that helped to tie the rifle in to mr
00:16:34
sanchez and mr sanchez then to
00:16:37
the crime scene then police discovered
00:16:41
that sanchez's real target that night
00:16:44
wasn't
00:16:45
megan barroso at all but someone else
00:16:49
[Music]
00:16:54
investigators learned that on the 4th of
00:16:56
july
00:16:57
vincent sanchez had an argument with a
00:16:59
former girlfriend
00:17:01
and he was angry because she hadn't
00:17:04
invited him to her family picnic
00:17:07
we theorized he took that at ak-47
00:17:10
he got in his truck and he was
00:17:13
probably out looking for his girlfriend
00:17:16
whether he planned to use the weapon on
00:17:18
his girlfriend or her family
00:17:20
is unclear but along the way
00:17:25
investigators believe sanchez saw megan
00:17:28
at an intersection
00:17:29
changed his mind and decided to follow
00:17:32
her instead
00:17:33
[Music]
00:17:37
the evidence shows sanchez tried to get
00:17:39
megan to pull over
00:17:44
he then fired into megan's back seat
00:17:50
again megan refused to stop
00:18:00
sanchez pulled ahead of her
00:18:03
cut off her path and started shooting
00:18:08
[Music]
00:18:12
megan tried to get away she was hit by
00:18:15
the shot through the car door
00:18:17
megan may have reached for her phone to
00:18:19
call for help
00:18:20
lost control and hit the median barrier
00:18:31
sanchez then abducted megan and drove
00:18:35
off
00:18:35
[Music]
00:18:40
the whole time she shed the distinctive
00:18:42
red glitter
00:18:43
into his truck onto his rifle and on her
00:18:47
jacket
00:18:49
medical experts believe megan was alive
00:18:52
when sanchez
00:18:53
left her in the canyon ravine
00:18:56
he left her there without her pants and
00:18:59
probably took her jacket
00:19:01
as a trophy i couldn't get away from the
00:19:04
idea that this
00:19:06
this was this had happened to my little
00:19:08
girl that beautiful little girl who
00:19:10
always had a smile for
00:19:11
me who always gave dad a big hug i miss
00:19:15
her hugs to this day i miss her hugs
00:19:18
in october of 2001
00:19:21
sanchez pled guilty to being the
00:19:23
semivalley rapist
00:19:25
and was sentenced to life in prison he
00:19:28
also pled guilty to megan's murder
00:19:33
sanchez claimed he didn't sexually
00:19:36
assault
00:19:36
megan the defense in this case their
00:19:39
main objective
00:19:40
was to save him from a
00:19:43
death sentence but given sanchez's past
00:19:47
jurors concluded he did sexually assault
00:19:51
megan
00:19:52
and sentenced him to death
00:19:55
he has no conscience i hate to say he's
00:19:57
a an animal because it's just
00:20:00
it's it's too nice of a description for
00:20:02
him it was just so amazing all the
00:20:05
the detail and the amount of effort that
00:20:08
went into
00:20:08
each little piece of the puzzle of
00:20:11
the forensic science of it all no one
00:20:15
doubts that sanchez would have claimed
00:20:18
more victims but a strange combination
00:20:22
of evidence
00:20:23
ranging from laser ballistics to
00:20:26
analysis of a car's
00:20:28
onboard computer to something
00:20:31
as seemingly insignificant as glitter
00:20:34
proved his guilt it was just amazing
00:20:37
what
00:20:38
the kremlins were able to do and the
00:20:39
experts were able to say
00:20:42
to put together a very vivid picture
00:20:46
for the jury as to what happened out
00:20:49
there
00:20:49
i would say the most compelling science
00:20:52
was
00:20:53
the blood the blood found in vincent's
00:20:56
vehicle
00:20:57
and also the pixie glitter that was
00:21:00
amazing that they could put those pieces
00:21:02
of pixie glitter together
00:21:04
and show that we had been located in all
00:21:06
those different
00:21:07
areas and it was consistent amongst each
00:21:11
[Music]
00:21:13
other
