Rape Suspect, Missing Woman May Be Linked

Authorities are investigating a possible link between the suspected Simi Valley serial rapist and the disappearance of Megan Barroso, a 20-year-old Moorpark woman whose bullet-riddled car was found three weeks ago under a freeway overpass.

During a search of the Simi Valley home of rape suspect Vincent Henry Sanchez late Tuesday, sheriff’s deputies seized an assault rifle, women’s clothing, videotapes and other possessions.

“We are looking at him as a possible suspect because we conducted a search of his house, found a rifle that may have been used and because the profile of some serial rapists shows a propensity to progress to more violent crimes,” said Ventura County Sheriff Bob Brooks.

Barroso has not been found.

Sanchez, 30, remains in jail on $1-million bail. He was charged Tuesday with 57 counts; the charges against him include rape, kidnapping, burglary and assault with a deadly weapon. He was arrested Sunday on suspicion of having attacked more than a dozen women over a five-year period.

Scientists at Ventura County’s crime lab were doing ballistics tests on the rifle found in the house Sanchez rented to determine whether the weapon had been used to shoot Barroso’s rental car.

Authorities said they would compare blood found in Barroso’s car with any genetic material they obtained from Sanchez and the house.

“They confiscated a lot of Vincent’s stuff and a bunch of stuff he had borrowed or stolen from other roommates,” said one of Sanchez’s four roommates, who asked not to be identified.

In addition to seizing the assault rifle, deputies searched the trailer of Curtis Jensen, Sanchez’s Woodrow Avenue neighbor, and questioned him at length Tuesday night. Deputies were back Wednesday and escorted Jensen away from the scene, returning him to his home later.

“We cannot discount that there may be more than one suspect,” said a law enforcement official involved in the case who asked for anonymity.

Late Wednesday, deputies returned to Sanchez’s Woodrow Avenue neighborhood with a bloodhound and searched the yards of several houses, including Sanchez’s and Jensen’s.

Jensen, whose wife is pregnant, said he felt the investigation had suddenly focused on him, with detectives questioning him at his home for several hours Tuesday and Wednesday nights.

The 28-year-old Simi Valley Adult School student said authorities asked him about Sanchez, whom Jensen described only as an acquaintance. He was also questioned about Barroso’s disappearance.

Neighbor Says He Is ‘Easy Prey’

Jensen said he knows nothing about the rape cases or Barroso and feels he is being singled out because of his criminal record. He said he is a registered sex offender and served time in jail for a misdemeanor lewd conduct offense in Escondido when he was 17.

“I’m easy prey, I’m dead meat,” Jensen said. “No one gives a damn about me because I’m easy pickings. . . . Simi Valley has got two big cases and all of a sudden the focus is on my house and me.”

On Monday night, Jensen and Sanchez’s roommates apparently argued over Jensen’s contention that Sanchez had some of Jensen’s belongings, including a video camera, according to neighbors who called the police.

No arrests have been made in the Barroso case. She was last seen leaving a friend’s house about 2:30 a.m. July 5. A dark green Pontiac Sunfire she was driving was found sideways on a street median beneath California 23. Traces of blood were found inside the vehicle.

Based on six shell casings found at the scene, the bullet holes in the car are thought to have been made by an assault rifle, deputies said last month.

Sanchez was being interviewed at the jail about the Barroso case late Wednesday, an official said.

In addition, deputies impounded three vehicles belonging to Sanchez or recently driven by him, the law enforcement official said. One of the vehicles had body damage.

Sanchez’s white pickup, a green truck owned by his girlfriend and his sister’s champagne-colored sport utility vehicle were being analyzed for evidence at the sheriff’s crime lab, the official said. Results could be available as early as today.

Videotapes containing images of different women were seized Sunday and Tuesday in the house where Sanchez lived,the official said.

Deputies have also organized another search for Barroso this weekend in the remote mountain areas near Sanchez’s home, including the Tapo Canyon and Rocky Peak areas of the Santa Susana mountains, the official said.

Barroso’s father, Art Barroso, said he had not been told by authorities that there might be a link between Sanchez and his missing daughter. He was stunned to learn that an assault rifle had been found at Sanchez’s house.

“That could be very important,” Barroso said.

Unsolved Cases Being Reviewed

Brooks said several deputies were also assigned to review all unsolved murder, rape and missing persons cases to look for any connections to the suspected serial rapist, including the 1998 unsolved killing of Melinda Brown, whose body was found in a state recreation area in northern Ventura County.

Neighboring law enforcement agencies have also been contacted and told to review all unsolved cases, Brooks said.

Times staff writer Margaret Talev contributed to this story.