13x32 - All That Glitters is Gold

[bunniefuu]

Up next, a
b*llet-riddled car, a missing

driver, and no witnesses.

It would seem that she was
still alive when she was removed

from the car.

Who would do such a thing
like this on a public roadway?

Was it an ambush
or a random attack?

This is my defenseless little
girl who had been shot at.

It was a head-scratcher from
the get-go.

Some tiny evidence
provides the answer.

It was on her skin, on her
jacket.

You can't get rid of this stuff.

In Southern
California, like elsewhere in

the United States, virtually
everyone celebrates

independence day.

Some celebrate a little too
much.

That's what police thought when
they found a deserted car around


engine still running, off

route 118, just north of
Los Angeles.

A lot of people thought that
maybe somebody was drunk and

they had abandoned their car
alongside the road.

But a closer look
revealed something more serious.

We had several b*ll*ts that
had went through the windshield

into the vehicle, and two
additional b*ll*ts that had went

through the side of the vehicle.

A woman's shoe was
inside the car.

Another was outside.

Blood was on the steering wheel,
the driver's seat, and

floorboard.

Police fanned out all over the
area.

There was no blood trail, no
victim.

It was highly unusual for us
to have a violent-crime scene

like that where the victim was
missing.

The car was a
rental and had been leased that

day to Megan barroso, a


lived nearby.

Her purse was covered in blood.

Her cellphone was inside.

It looked as if she had tried to
use her phone to call for help.

She had gone to a fourth of
July party with her best friend

and other young people, I
believe in the beach area.

According to
friends, Megan left the party

alone at 2:45 A.M., a little
more than an hour before her car

was found.

Police checked local hospitals,
but no one matching Megan's

description had checked in.

We didn't know if this person
was either dead or alive at that

point.

There was a significant amount
of blood in the car, but not

enough to suggest that the
person was, in fact, dead.

My daughter was out there
somewhere, and I was hoping that

I would get a call from her any
day, any minute.

No call came.

Investigators found
five shell casings at the end of

the exit ramp and another about


Our forensic people were able
to tell us that it most likely

was an ak-47-type r*fle... an
as*ault r*fle.

Knowing that Megan had been
assaulted with this ak-47,

again, just sent chills of
agony through my mind.

Investigators also
noticed a fresh scrape along the

driver's side of the car.

It looked as if Megan's car had
been sideswiped.

Then investigators got a huge
break.

They learned that Megan's rental
car was one of the first to be

equipped with an event-data
recorder.

The event-data recorder is a
huge step forward in traffic

safety.

It's like the black box in an
aircraft that gives us an

opportunity to better understand
how crashes happen.

The recorder, a
small on-board computer, is

always on.

In the event of a crash, it
automatically saves the previous

five seconds of information.

When Megan's car hit the median,
it activated the data recorder.

It revealed that five seconds
earlier, Megan's car was at a

complete stop.

I think he started sh**ting
at her.

She was probably ducking, but at
some point, she realized, "I'd

better get out of there."

The recorder showed
Megan floored the accelerator.

She went to 100% open throttle.

She jammed that gas pedal to the
floor, and she tried to get out

of there.

Blood inside the
car showed Megan was wounded and

possibly still alive.

But where was she?

We knew we had a body somewhere.

We just couldn't find her.

As police searched
for 20-year-old Megan barroso,

they tried to reconstruct her
activities on the night of her

disappearance.

Her friends said she left a
fourth of July party at 2:45 in

the morning and was alone.

Her abandoned car was found at
the bottom of an exit ramp off a

deserted stretch of highway
about an hour later.

We found that Megan didn't
have any boyfriend problems.

She didn't have anyone that was
upset with her.

In fact, it was the opposite.

Everybody liked Megan.

Someone had fired
multiple sh*ts into Megan's car

with what investigators believed
was an ak-47 as*ault r*fle.

To re-create the sh**ting,
analysts used lasers to

determine where the sh**t was
standing.

We use a laser beam because
it's a nice, straight light

beam that we can just project
through a number of holes.

And it makes a good display.

It allows us to see where the
b*llet has passed through,

what it's interacted with.

The laser analysis
showed the sh**t stood 60 feet

away from Megan's car when he
started firing, and he closed

the distance with each shot.

One shot hit the hood.

Three hit the windshield.

Another hit the driver's-side
door.

Investigators concluded the shot
fired through the passenger-side

door happened somewhere else.

It came in from a completely
different direction.

It couldn't have been part of
the same series of g*nf*re

without a dramatic change in the
position of the sh**t.

This g*nsh*t, along
with the sideswipe on Megan's

car, led analysts to conclude
this altercation happened on the

highway.

With the laser information and
event-data recorder,

investigators put together this
animation of what they thought

happened.

It was clear... someone tried to
force Megan off the highway by

sideswiping her car.

Then Megan's attacker moved to
the passenger side and fired

into her backseat.

As Megan drove off the exit
ramp, her attacker must have

sped in front of her, blocked
her path, and started sh**ting.

There were four sh*ts.

She floored the accelerator.

A fifth shot went through the
side door and hit Megan.

The blood evidence shows Megan
tried to reach for her

cellphone, possibly to call
police.

Her car hit the median.

The assailant apparently dragged
her into another vehicle and

drove away.

You have to assume that the
person that carried out this

crime was very bold, very much
a risk-taker.

There were questions about
who would do such a thing like

this on a public roadway, and


The blood inside
the car meant Megan was wounded,

but was probably still alive
when she was abducted.

At that point, I realized
that my daughter was in horrible

trouble, that this was not a
good situation.

And this was a real big, bad
thing that was happening.

The sheriff's
department, along with other

law-enforcement agencies,
offered a reward for information

leading to an arrest.

But three long weeks passed with
no leads on Megan's abduction.

Then a simi valley resident
called police with some

information.

He said he found a homemade
videotape in his roommate's

trash showing sexual acts so
horrifying, he knew it needed to

be reported to police.

Lo and behold, here's this
guy raping these women.

The man said he had
no doubt the r*pist on the tape

was his roommate, 30-year-old
Vincent Sanchez, an electrician

who worked in the local film
industry.

The tape showed Sanchez raping
numerous women on-camera.

It was quite horrifying to
actually see a woman being r*ped

and sexually assaulted.

When investigators
asked Sanchez's roommate whether

anyone in the house owned an
as*ault r*fle, he said he did.

I'm sitting on the bed, and
he tells me, "well, yeah, the

g*n's right here.

It's underneath the bed."

And as soon as I looked at it,
the hair on the back of my neck

stood up.

It was an ak-47.

Detectives also found something
near the trash outside the

house.

I excused myself from the
interview to take a phone call,

and I walked outside the
residence, and over by some

trash cans, I saw a garment of
clothing on the ground and

walked up to it.

And I saw that it was a green
jacket.

It was a green gap jacket
with an orange lining.

It was fairly distinctive.

And he saw what he believed to
be a b*llet hole in the side.

It was the
same-color jacket Megan barroso

wore on the night she was
abducted.

Was it possible Megan was still
alive?

Just days after
investigators found

Megan barroso's green jacket in
the trash outside a simi valley

home, a search team with a
cadaver dog discovered some

skeletal remains in a ravine


site.

Dental records confirmed it was
Megan barroso.

I was devastated, oh!

You know, I mean...

I'm thinking, "this is...

I'm drowning now."

You know, this is... this is...
This is... it was absolutely

terrible.

Oh!

You know, it was like, "the
lights are out now.

This is bad."

The medical
examiner recovered b*llet

fragments and determined that
Megan died from a single g*nsh*t

wound to her abdomen.

But there was not forensic
evidence to conclusively say

that she had been sexually
assaulted.

It looked as if
Megan was still alive when she

was left in the ravine.

She was in a fetal position
with one arm bent under her

head, like in a sleeping
position.

That wouldn't be a position that
a body would land in.

Then the medical
examiner noticed something

unusual... red glitter.

What they call "pixie dust"
in Megan's hair and on her

clothing.

And it was red glitter, in
essence.

Megan's green
jacket was found outside the

home of Vincent Sanchez, a
part-time electrician who came

to police attention when his
roommate found a homemade

videotape of Sanchez sexually
assaulting several women.

When police studied the
videotape in detail, they

discovered the women were the
victims of the simi valley

r*pist.


been trying to solve for the

past 5 years.

The perpetrator would break
in to the home of the victims,

primarily in the evening.

Some of the victims were young
teenage girls, 15, 16 years old,

with parents sleeping in another
room within the household.

When questioned by
police, Sanchez admitted he was

the simi valley r*pist, but
denied having anything to do

with Megan barroso's m*rder.

Very hesitant to answer,
didn't want to talk anymore.

Said he didn't know her, didn't
know what I was talking about,

had nothing to do with that.

Investigators
searched Sanchez's pickup truck

for possible clues.

It was clear the truck had been
thoroughly washed and cleaned.

But tape lifts of the upholstery
found something very difficult

to get rid of... tiny specks of
red glitter.

Investigators also found red
glitter in the green jacket

found outside Sanchez's home.

They even found one microscopic
speck on the ak-47 r*fle

Sanchez's roommate turned over
to police.

To find out if all this glitter
was from the same source,

investigators sent it to
Edwin Jones, a forensic

scientist with one of the
largest collections of glitter

in the world, with close to


I have an unusual hobby of
collecting micro things, and

I've been collecting glitter for
many years before this case, and

I've been collecting glitter
since this case.

Under a microscope,
Jones discovered that this red

glitter was a hexagon shape
approximately 250 microns.

Jones knew immediately that this
was unlike any of the

red-glitter samples he'd ever
seen.

I found out that the glitter
had one layer of aluminum for

reflection.

So literally, the particle was
asymmetrical, meaning that it's

not the same on both sides.

It's red on one side and
silver on the other.

It was a very unique type of
glitter that just this one

company had made.

Jones discovered
that this glitter was not a

best-selling item.

Only 10,000 bottles had ever
been made.

Investigators learned that
during the fourth of July party

Megan attended, the host threw
red glitter on everyone,

including Megan.

Thanks.

I said, "do you still have
the bottle?"

She says, "yes, I do."

So we then went and recovered
the remaining portion of the

glitter.

Scientists
confirmed the glitter in

Megan barroso's hair came from
Megan's friend, and it was the

same glitter found in Sanchez's
truck, on the ak-47 r*fle, on

Megan's jacket found in
Sanchez's trash, and in Megan's

own car.

It was the only piece of
evidence that tied Sanchez to

everything.

Investigators also searched
Sanchez's truck for blood.

When the tech put the luminol
on the inside of the vehicle, it

lit up like a Christmas tree.

DNA testing
revealed blood on the passenger

seat was Megan's.

There was a horizontal
apparent bloodstain right in

the area where Megan's wound was
to her side, indicating that she

had been sitting upright in the
passenger seat of that truck at

one point, so she wasn't dead.

She was sitting.

Forensic tests on
the scrape mark on the side of

Megan's car matched the paint
from Sanchez's truck.

Investigators test-fired the
ak-47 and compared the b*ll*ts

to fragments found with Megan's
body.

We tied that r*fle to the
crime scene and to the body,

both, with the fragments that
were taken from the car, from

the crime scene.

Certainly that helped to tie the
r*fle in to Mr. Sanchez, and

Mr. Sanchez then to the crime
scene.

Then police
discovered that Sanchez's real

target that night wasn't
Megan barroso at all, but

someone else.

Investigators
learned that on the fourth of

July, Vincent Sanchez had an
argument with a former

girlfriend, and he was angry
because she hadn't invited him

to her family picnic.

We theorize he took that
ak-47, he got in his truck, and

he was probably out looking for
his girlfriend.

Whether he planned
to use the w*apon on his

girlfriend or her family is
unclear.

But along the way, investigators
believe Sanchez saw Megan at an

intersection, changed his mind,
and decided to follow her

instead.

The evidence shows Sanchez tried
to get Megan to pull over.

He then fired into Megan's
backseat.

Again, Megan refused to stop.

Sanchez pulled ahead of her, cut
off her path, and started

sh**ting.

Megan tried to get away.

She was hit by the shot through
the car door.

Megan may have reached for her
phone to call for help, lost

control, and hit the median
barrier.

Sanchez then abducted Megan and
drove off.

The whole time, she shed the
distinctive red glitter into his

truck, onto his r*fle, and on
her jacket.

Medical experts believe Megan
was alive when Sanchez left her

in the canyon ravine.

He left her there without her
pants and probably took her

jacket as a trophy.

I couldn't get away from the
idea that this had happened to

my little girl... that beautiful
little girl who always had a

smile for me, who always gave
dad a big hug.

I miss her hugs.

To this day, I miss her hugs.

In October of 2001,
Sanchez pled guilty to being the

simi valley r*pist and was
sentenced to life in prison.

He also pled guilty to Megan's
m*rder.

Sanchez claimed he didn't
sexually as*ault Megan.

The defense in this case,
their main objective was to save

him from a death sentence.

But given Sanchez's
past, jurors concluded he did

sexually as*ault Megan...

And sentenced him to death.

He has no conscience.

I hate to say he's an animal
because it's just... it's too

nice of a description for him.

It was just so amazing, all
the detail and the amount of

effort that went into each
little piece of the puzzle of

the forensic science of it all.

No one doubts that
Sanchez would have claimed more

victims.

But a strange combination of
evidence, ranging from laser

ballistics to analysis of a
car's on-board computer to

something as seemingly
insignificant as glitter, proved

his guilt.

It was just amazing what the
criminalists were able to do and

the experts were able to say to
put together a very vivid

picture for the jury as to what
happened out there.

I would say the most
compelling science was the

blood... the blood found in
Vincent's vehicle, and also the

pixie glitter.

That was amazing that they could
put those pieces of pixie

glitter together and show that
it had been located at all those

different areas, and it was
consistent amongst each other.