Crime Fix with Angenette Levy - TikTok Star on First Date Murdered in Theater Watching Horror Movie

Episode Date: February 28, 2024

Anthony Barajas,19, and Rylee Goodrich,18, were shot to death as they watched a movie at a theater in Corona, California in July 2021. The man who murdered them, Joseph Jimenez Jr., was schizophrenic and not taking his medication when he said he heard voices telling him to kill two people to spare his life. This week, a judge sentenced Jimenez to two life sentences without parole. Law&Crime's Angenette Levy talks with Riverside County Managing Deputy District Attorney Kevin Beecham about the case in this episode of Crime Fix — a daily show covering the biggest stories in crime.Get 50% off of confidential background reports at truthfinder.com/lccrimefix and access information about almost anyone!Host: Angenette Levy  twitter.com/Angenette5Guest: Kevin Beecham  facebook.com/RivCoDACRIME FIX PRODUCTION:Head of Social Media, YouTube - Bobby SzokeSocial Media Management - Vanessa BeinVideo Editing - Daniel CamachoAudio Editing - Brad MaybeGuest Booking - Alyssa Fisher & Diane KayeSTAY UP-TO-DATE WITH THE LAW&CRIME NETWORK:Watch Law&Crime Network on YouTubeTV: https://bit.ly/3td2e3yWhere To Watch Law&Crime Network: https://bit.ly/3akxLK5Sign Up For Law&Crime's Daily Newsletter: https://bit.ly/LawandCrimeNewsletterRead Fascinating Articles From Law&Crime Network: https://bit.ly/3td2IqoLAW&CRIME NETWORK SOCIAL MEDIA:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lawandcrime/Twitter: https://twitter.com/LawCrimeNetworkFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/lawandcrimeTwitch: https://www.twitch.tv/lawandcrimenetworkTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@LawandCrimeSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Wondery Plus subscribers can binge all episodes of this law and crimes series ad-free right now. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify. Update, Jake's ruining the vacations. Anthony Barajas recorded that video days before he was shot to death while on a date with Riley Goodrich at a movie theater. The man who murdered them has now learned his punishment, and the prosecutor who helped put him in prison is here. I'm Anjanette Levy and thanks for joining me for Crime Fix. Anthony Barajas was a charming TikTok star from Corona, California. On July 26, 2021,

Anthony went on a date with Riley Goodrich. They went to a 9.35 showing of the movie The Forever Purge. Riley's father later told the Daily Mail that she was really excited to go on a date with Anthony, who had such a high profile on TikTok. During the movie, Joseph Jimenez Jr. shot Anthony and Riley. Anthony was only 19 and Riley just 18. Theater employees found them bleeding after the movie ended. Apparently, the sound of the movie muffled sounds of the gunshots. Anthony and Riley were the only other people in the theater with Jimenez at the time. Anthony died days after the shooting after being placed on life support. Jimenez claimed to suffer from schizophrenia and admitted that he had stopped taking his medication before the shooting.

He claimed he heard two voices instructing him to take two lives in exchange for his own. At his trial last December, Judge Timothy Hollenhorst found him guilty of two counts of first-degree murder and found that Jimenez was sane when he killed both Anthony and Riley. Judge Hollenhorst told Jimenez he was incapable of remorse and sentenced him to two life sentences in prison without parole. Riley's grandfather and Anthony's mother spoke after the sentencing. And her loss is not only a loss for our family, but I think it's a loss for humanity because she was destined to do wonderful things. But we would ask that you guys would remember him in the way that we described him today for his beautiful smile and for the way that he actually made a difference. Anthony's family has started the Anthony Michael

Barajas Foundation to spread acts of kindness in his memory. Joining me to discuss this incredibly sad case is someone who was handling it from the very beginning. He is the managing deputy district attorney for Riverside County. He's Kevin Beecham. Kevin, thank you so much for coming on. First of all, your thoughts on what the judge had to say to Joseph Jimenez earlier this week. Yeah, it was very heartfelt. And I know it was a tough sentence for everyone, including the judge. But I feel that he acted appropriately, judiciously, and sentenced Mr. Jimenez to the just sentence. Kevin, this is one of those cases that really just makes me shake my head because Anthony and Riley, by all accounts, were just out on a date. They were doing what young

people do. Riley's father had told a media outlet that she was really excited to go on a date with somebody who was this big TikTok star. And they're sitting there watching a movie. They're doing what people do, and they're killed. I mean, it's beyond senseless. I don't even think that that really conveys how awful this is. And these families are forever scarred. Can you explain to us what it's been like to handle this case from the very beginning and to deal with the families who are grieving and who will never be the same? Yes, it was terrible. I was one of the call-out DAs when we got the news that this happened. And I was there when Mr. Jimenez was arrested. It was very horrific, sad to say the least, but it's a tragedy that should never have happened and something that's so random that really affects the community, right? Because it's something that we would never suspect. There's no real motive behind it. And so this was a troubling case from the very

beginning. And then meeting with both the victim's families, day of arraignment all the way through to date of sentencing over the last few years, you know, meeting them and consoling them and giving them basically the procedural aspect of what's going on in the criminal case, while at the same time trying to help them along the way as they're affected, as you can imagine, just so emotionally through their losses. So it was one of the more difficult cases for sure that we've had handled. I saw that Riley's grandparents spoke on her behalf or on her family's behalf in court on Monday for the sentencing. Apparently her father and her mother were just, they couldn't do it. They were too upset to attend the hearing. At least that's what I was reading in some of the media reports. So that kind of shows you just how

difficult this has been with Riley's parents losing their daughter and the grandparents stepping in to come to court and address the court. Yes, for sure. Riley's father attended the arraignments and he he hadn't. This was all an open court and on the record, but he he had an outburst and he had to leave because of it. And understandably so. Right. I could understand where he's coming from, but it was something that was it was just too hard for them to hear the evidence and what happened to their daughter. I'm really excited to tell you that Truthfinder.com is sponsoring this episode of Crime Fix. And honestly, with the cases that we cover and how long I've been doing this, I really can't think of a better website that can help you stay safe. Truthfinder is one of the

largest public record search services in the world. Their goal is to help people like you learn the truth about the people in your lives. I have a young son and I use Truthfinder every single time he goes over to a new house to look up his friend's parents. I've covered way too many stories about sex offenders and other criminals to know that you just can't be too careful. Truthfinder background checks these parents and finds any possible red flags. So here's how it works. You log on to truthfinder.com and type in the name of, let's say, a new or maybe semi-creepy neighbor. And within minutes, you get the scoop about who's living next door to you.

You get access to reports that include information like phone numbers, addresses, previous arrests, criminal convictions, and even sex offender statuses. Also, because I'm addicted to the site, I did a background check on myself and my sister, and you can find out what someone would find when they run a background check on you. It's actually pretty shocking. So right now you can get 50% off of confidential background reports. Just log on to www.truthfinder.com slash LC crime fix and access information about almost anyone. Going through this trial, obviously Jimenez, Joseph Jimenez Jr., opted for a bench trial and the judge found him guilty, found that he was indeed responsible for what he did, that he was sane when he carried out these crimes and but did find he suffered from schizophrenia. The judge told him that he didn't believe he felt any remorse.

He didn't feel he was capable of feeling remorse. Did you have a similar opinion? And was there anything that you saw with looking at Joseph Jimenez through this process? Was there anything that you saw that made you feel the same way? Or did you think that he was sorry at all? Well, what's interesting is he was evaluated by two psychologists. And in their testimony, they described how somebody with this level of schizophrenia probably does not feel the sense of remorse that we would think a normal person would feel. And what Mr. Jimenez had stated, he did give an apology during the sentencing, but it was it.

And I think that the way it came across, it was very short and kind of to the point, but it's something that we saw throughout the trial and what the psychologist had testified to that he may say certain things, but the way that he expresses or the lack of expression, the lack of empathy that comes through his, whether it's his tone, his mannerisms, just doesn't come through due to his disorder. And I think that's what the judge was basing that off of. Interesting. So that's part of his condition is that he may have like a flat affect where it doesn't appear that he is able to actually feel anything or at least convey it. Right. Correct. Okay. That would make sense. You know, prosecuting this case,

it sounds like it obviously was not a matter of who did this. It was one of those cases where it's called an affirmative defense. You know who did it. Right. And the defendant admits that they carried out the act. It was just whether or not he was legally culpable, which the judge found that he was. But prosecuting this case, I mean, it had to be very difficult, obviously emotionally, but just for the community too. I mean, people should be able to go out to a movie theater in Riverside County and feel safe. And people should watch their children go out, you know, teenagers on a date or out with friends and go to a movie theater and know that their kids are going to be safe. So are you hoping that this may send a message to the community at large for anybody who may be entertaining something like this or or just the community

in general, you know, for people who are your constituents who may be thinking, you know, this is a really terrifying thing that that took place. Absolutely. I mean, it's it's so rare and it really struck the heart of the community. What was said in the sentencing is that 600 people showed up for Anthony Brahas at the hospital. And he was a social media influencer and he touched a lot of people. You know, he had a direct effect on so many people. And for him and Riley to go out on a date and just go see a movie and then for no reason, no, no real motive, but to get shot and killed makes no sense. And so I'm hoping that people see this for what it really was, is unfortunately, it uh individual who had a disorder um and it was a rare event and it was just unfortunate. You know, it was just a um it's a it's a tragedy. It's it's awful and um

this is what we can do as a society and he's never going to get out of prison. He's been sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole, plus some additional years. So Kevin Beachum, thank you so much for coming on. We really appreciate your time. Great. Thank you very much. And that's it for this edition of Crime Fix. I'm Ann Jeanette Levy. Thanks so much for being with us. We'll see you back here tomorrow. Until then, have a great night. You can download Crime Fix on Apple, Spotify, Google,

and wherever else you get your favorite podcasts and new episodes post each weeknight at 6 Eastern time on Law and Crime's YouTube channel. Daniel Camacho does our video editing. Our head of social media is Bobby Zoki. Our senior director of social media is Vanessa Vine. Savannah Williamson is one of our producers. Diane Kay and Alyssa Fisher book our guests.

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