Jacket May Link to Slaying
Investigators searching for the killer of 20-year-old Moorpark College student Megan Barroso met with prosecutors Monday to share information and to discuss developments in the case.
But Deputy Dist. Atty. Lela M. Henke-Dobroth said there are no plans at this time to file additional charges against Simi Valley rape suspect Vincent Henry Sanchez, whom authorities have been focusing on in the Barroso case.
Meanwhile, the victim’s mother said Monday that sheriff’s investigators told her that an olive-colored jacket missing from her daughter’s apartment may match one found at Sanchez’s house in Simi Valley.
“I have a lot of questions about what happened,” Suzan Barroso said.
Sheriff’s spokesman Eric Nishimoto said he would not comment “on any specific items we have taken from the house.”
In a letter sent to Sheriff Bob Brooks on Monday, Art Barroso, Megan’s father, thanked the department for its work on the case. Brooks could not be reached for comment.
Barroso’s body was discovered Saturday in a canyon near Simi Valley after a monthlong search. She died of a gunshot wound to the abdomen, coroner’s officials said.
Her bullet-riddled car was found July 5 under a freeway overpass about a mile from her Moorpark home. Traces of blood were found inside.
Authorities are conducting tests on an AK47 assault rifle seized at Sanchez’s Woodrow Avenue home to determine if it was the weapon used to shoot up Barroso’s car.
Sanchez was arrested July 29 and has been charged with 57 counts of sexual assaults, kidnappings and burglaries committed in Simi Valley over the last five years.
In addition to the assault weapon, police said they found photographs and videotapes of women bound and gagged, including one who appeared to be bleeding, in Sanchez’s home. Shortly after his arrest, Sanchez was named as the chief suspect in the Barroso case.
Sanchez is scheduled to appear at an arraignment hearing in Ventura County Superior Court on Friday.
Barroso’s body was buried under a pile of leaves and branches in a ravine off Black Canyon Road southeast of Simi Valley.
She was only wearing a green T-shirt. Suzan Barroso said she was with her daughter when they bought the T-shirt on Father’s Day at Pacific View Mall. It was the last day she saw her daughter alive.
Coroners officials also returned other items found on the body to Suzan Barroso, including a purple and gray stone bracelet, a silver ring and a metal chain necklace.
Barroso’s parents have scheduled a memorial for 4 p.m. Sunday at Peace Lutheran Church in Camarillo.
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