A Possible Suspect in Disappearance

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.

A team of sheriff’s deputies searched the Simi Valley home of Vincent Henry Sanchez late Tuesday night, seizing 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.

Sanchez, 30, remains in jail on $1-million bail after being charged with 57 counts of sex crimes, burglary and kidnapping. He was arrested Sunday in connection with the five-year crime spree in which about a dozen women were attacked.

Scientists at the county’s crime lab were running ballistics tests on the rifle found in the house Sanchez rented to determine if the weapon was used to shoot Barroso’s car.

Authorities also plan to cross-check blood found in Barroso’s car with any genetic material they may have obtained from Sanchez and his home.

Deputies also searched the trailer of Sanchez’s Woodrow Avenue neighbor and questioned him at length Tuesday night. 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 parked 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.