Going West: True Crime - Erica Alonso // 283

Episode Date: March 1, 2023

After going out to a nightclub in February of 2015, a 27-year-old California woman disappeared. When police released surveillance footage of her at the club with her ex-boyfriend and another couple, they hoped people would come forward with answers. But when her car was found abandoned and her body was discovered in a creek bed in the mountains, her family became suspicious of one particular person. This is the story of Erica Alonso. BONUS EPISODES patreon.com/goingwestpodcast CASE SOURCES 1. KCAL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lVejpPBcbnA 2. NBC: https://www.nbcnews.com/feature/missing-in-america/missing-america-erica-alonso-n311221?fbclid=IwAR2-PS6-vaXqmW02gqMwjoWcVO85bYmXAHFgoA-Z8Po1zAN7QGGUjMywMLg 3. CBS: https://www.cbsnews.com/losangeles/news/couple-who-gave-missing-oc-woman-a-ride-home-identified/ 4. The Orange County Register: https://www.ocregister.com/2015/04/30/erica-alonsos-body-verified-by-coroner-through-fingerprints/ 5. The Orange County Register:  https://www.ocregister.com/2015/04/30/as-family-mourns-erica-alonso-questions-remain-as-autopsy-fails-to-reveal-cause-of-death/ 6. Erica's Find A Grave: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/164502854/erica-melissa-alonso/flower 7. Medium: https://medium.com/things-we-find-in-the-dark/remembering-erica-alonso-6490443e5458 8. Patch: https://patch.com/california/lagunabeach/desperate-family-scrapes-together-5000-reward-missing-laguna-hills-woman 9. KTLA: https://ktla.com/news/local-news/missing-laguna-hills-woman-was-subject-of-restraining-order-over-alleged-domestic-violence/ 10. Sutra: https://www.yelp.com/biz/sutra-costa-mesa 11. Justice for Erica Alonso Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/WeLoveEricaAlonso 12. CBS: https://www.cbsnews.com/losangeles/news/deputies-find-car-belonging-to-missing-laguna-hills-woman-27/ 13. ABC 7 Chicago: https://abc7chicago.com/erica-alonso-san-juan-capistrano-decomposed-body-cleveland-national-forest/686704/ 14. Orange County Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/orangecounty/comments/3e8wsb/erica_alonsos_death_ruled_overdose/?sort=new 15. New Santa Ana: https://newsantaana.com/toxicology-results-show-that-erica-alonso-had-a-lethal-dose-of-ghb-and-alcohol-in-her-system/#:~:text=UPDATE%3A%20Toxicology%20Results%20%26%20Cause%20of%20Death&text=%E2%80%93%20(July%2022%2C%202015),The%20results%20indicate%20Ms. 16. The Capistrano Dispatch: https://www.thecapistranodispatch.com/cause-of-erica-alonsos-death-determined-an-overdose/ 17. The Orange County Register: https://www.ocregister.com/2015/07/23/it-doesnt-make-sense-to-me-father-of-erica-alonso-surprised-to-hear-daughters-death-ruled-an-overdose/ 18. The David Pakman Show: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wQOYEiyuF94 19. Patch: https://patch.com/california/missionviejo/ericas-law-regarding-body-dumping-goes-effect-2018 20. People: https://people.com/crime/woman-who-disappeared-after-valentines-day-date-spurs-body-dumping-bill/ 21. Erica's Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/raspberica/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

What is going on True Crime fans, I'm your host Tee. And I'm your host Daphne. And you're listening to Going West. Hello everybody, big thank you to Marina for recommending today's case. Also, so sorry to be flooding you guys with so much Apple subscriptions talk about our bonus episodes, but last episode I said that it was already out because I thought it was going to be by the time the episode aired and it's still not out, but it's because Apple is currently transferring all of our bonus episodes from Patreon up or over to Apple

whole podcast subscriptions. So we just came out with an episode on Andrew Gawstin, which is a crazy case that takes place in England. It's about a 14 year old boy who got on a train to London and was never seen again. So crazy story, there's a lot of surveillance footage in that one and a lot of theories. So if you want to listen to that now, it's over on our patreon patreon.com slash going with podcasts this week. I promise it will be on Apple podcast subscriptions Yes, and this will be the last time that we bring this up to you guys for a little bit except from Friday I'm gonna bring it up again. Oh wait except for on Friday. Sorry. I'm a liar because Friday

It will be all by then right? Yes, it should be. Then I'll be like, hey y'all, it's out, it's up. So anyway, thank you for putting up with all that. And let's talk about this case. This is a fairly recent one. There's been a lot happening over the years with it. So thank you so much again to Marina for suggesting it. All right, guys, this is episode 282 of Going West, so let's get into it. After going out to a nightclub in February of 2015, a 27-year-old California woman disappeared.

When police released surveillance footage of her at the club with her ex-boyfriend and another couple, they hoped that people would come forward with answers. But when her car was found abandoned and her body was discovered in a creek bed in the mountains. Her family became suspicious of one particular person. Erica Melissa Alonzo was born on March 26, 1987 in Orange County, California. She had a big, loving family, her mother Margarita, who was from El Salvador, and her father Isaac, who was from Mexico. The two met and married in California and had six children, the third

of whom was Erika. Now, by all accounts, Erika was always the most fun person in the room. She's described by her family as bubbly and outgoing, and that she could make friends with anyone and she did. Her brother, who is Isaac Jr. remembered, quote, I hate to say it, but that was probably her downfall. She befriended everybody. She never really put up any barriers. After graduating from Laguna Hills High School in 2005, Erica was unsure what she wanted

to do with her life. She knew that she absolutely loved Disneyland, which was less than a 30-minute drive from her house, and she even worked there for a time. But years later in 2015, when she disappeared, she had just started a job at Victoria's Secret. While living at home with her parents and sister, Erica was making plans for her future, telling her family that she wanted to go back to school to get a degree. She also promised her dad Isaac Sr. that she would give him grandchildren in the next

five years or less, so by the time she was about 32, and she was really excited to be a mother. She's remembered as especially close to her niece, who refer to Erica as her best friend. But until Erica was ready to step into the role of motherhood herself, she enjoyed going out with friends and like I said, making new ones, and she absolutely loved going to concerts and dancing. Isaac said, quote, she really was your typical Orange County young adult. You could really say that she did live life to the fullest.

One of her great-nacks was always to make a fun memory. And her social media is pretty much a tapestry of pictures of Erica dressed up and going out with friends, going hiking, traveling, and exploring Orange County and Los Angeles. She was also a die-hard baseball fan rooting for her beloved Los Angeles Angels, who were based in Anaheim, California.

And actually when she was a fan, they were called the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim before then the Anaheim Angels. So the last picture on her Instagram posted just days before she disappeared was a photo of her and her two friends dressed up in colorful socks and tights at a roller skating rink.

Every single one of the hundreds of comments left on her posts after her disappearance talked about how sweet she was, whether the commenter knew her well or not. Despite her outwardly sunny disposition and warm demeanor, Erica was caught in a bit of a tumultuous romantic relationship. In the final two years of her life, she was involved in an on and off again relationship with a man named Larry Rivera, who was 18 years older than her. Larry lived in Irvine, California and had a young daughter whom Erica doded on and loved.

But the couple had their problems. And happier times, 45-year-old Larry and 27-year-old Erica could be seen posing on beaches, hiking trails, and in clubs with friends together. According to Erica's sister Patricia, the two were, quote, working on their relationship. She said, quote, I know she really loved him and cared for him a lot. That's why she wanted to really try and make things work. They were very much alike, which isn't always a good thing. But Larry's neighbors remembered a darker side of their relationship, and that they fought frequently.

Fights that became so loud and violent that the entire neighborhood could hear. One female neighbor of Larry's who wished to remain anonymous told a local news outlet, quote, I've seen them argue to the point that I had to call the cops on them. It's very severe. I've also seen them have a lot of fun at the same time. I've seen both sides of this relationship. The fighting came to a head when on November 2, 2014, police responded to a call of, quote, spousal abuse at Larry's home in Irvine. Erica was arrested, and two days later, charged with misdemeanor domestic violence

with corporal injury. That night, the neighbor remembered, quote, one day when they were out in the street, it looked abusive. It looked like something bad was going on. I called the police. When I looked out the window, he looked perfectly fine. I really can't say what happened that night, but I remember hearing a lot of screaming. And also, I just wanted to say regarding this particular incident, Larry Rivera was listed in the police report as the victim. And then in December of 2014, Erica was ordered by a judge to undergo alcohol abuse counseling.

It seemed that the couple's loudest and most violent disputes occurred under the influence of alcohol. And Larry also imposed a restraining order against Erica. However, on February 6, 2015, the restraining order was lifted, and the charges against Erica were dropped. Now this was the public account of what happened between Erica and Larry leading up to her disappearance, but her family tells a very different story. And before I go into what her family says about this, so that means that Larry had a restraining order against Erica for less than two months and then dropped it. And as we're going to go into, they did kind of start seeing each other again so it's weird to me that he put this order on her and then kind of went back and and seemed to fix things I wonder like what

that's all about because as I'm about to say Erica's family thinks that the abuse was really the other way around so let's just get into that first so on a YouTube video that talks about Erica's disappearance, one commenter wrote that Larry was, quote, a victim of domestic abuse at the hands of Erica. Erica's sister, Denora, who runs both Twitter and YouTube pages in honor of her sister, under the handle at Dino Might 078.

Yeah, and that's spelled D-I-N-O-M-I-T-7-8. Yes. So, Denora, basically like clap back at this comment saying, quote, get your story straight. Police were called multiple times by Erica and by neighbors, and every time Erica would not press charges. One time the cops came and Larry had a scratch. He then pressed charges. He then told Erica's sister that it was not up to him

to press charges. Bullshit. He went to the cops to try to fix things, but it was too late. On paper, Erica looks like she's the abuser because of the one time he had a scratch. Did you know he almost broke her jaw and she never reported it? Don't you dare try and blame her, blame the victim when she is not here to defend herself.

Shame on you. In response to another comment that called Larry the victim, DeNora wrote quote, Get the facts before you open your mouth. All the times Erica was abused and she called or neighbors called, she did not want trouble for him. The one time he had a damn scratch, he pressed charges. I guess you want to make a six foot man that outweighs her a five foot woman who weighs 110 pounds look like the criminal?

Now, on February 14th, 2015, which was Valentine's Day, with the drama subsiding, Erica was excited to have a laid-back Saturday night with her sister. Erica and Patricia planned on staying in and watching what they called cheesy romantic movies. But before that happened, Erica had lunch plans for the day, meeting with Larry to resolve what had happened between them. So apparently, lunch went pretty well because Erica's family didn't hear from her for the rest of the day. Erica, who frequently shared updates on social media, posted pictures later that evening with Larry from inside a club.

Now, Erica's mom and sister saw her update on Snapchat, and that was the last that they would see her or hear from her. Larry and Erica wound up at Sutra Lounge in Costa Mesa, California, which is another city in Orange County. Costa Mesa is just like 20 minutes from where Erica lived in Laguna Hills, and nestled right next to Irvine where Larry resided. Sutra was noted as one of the only true nightclubs in the area with a large indoor space and was known for being packed just about every week and night. They attracted big names for DJs and live performances and the evening of Valentine's

Day 2015 was no different. Sutra also had a bit of a bad reputation for being wild. In fact, one commenter on the Reddit thread about Erica's case even said, quote, �Sutra equals bottle service equals drugs. So many stories I've heard over the years about people being drugged there. In the crowded club drinking and dancing, Erica and Larry met another couple with whom they really hit it off with. After staying almost until the club closed around 2am, Larry invited Erica and

this other couple back to his house in Irvine to just keep on partying. So the couple gave 45-year-old Larry and 27-year-old Erica a ride back to Larry's house in their red Toyota Sion and continued to hang out until 3.45am, so almost two hours after the club closed. And that was the last time anyone reported seeing Erica. Later that morning, which was Sunday, February 15, 2015, Erica's family was growing pretty concerned that they hadn't heard from her because they hadn't even heard from her since lunch the previous day. Right.

And especially because they did know that she was out drinking with Larry the night before, they just wondered kind of what had happened. Right, and they also knew that, you know, things had been kind of rough between Larry and Erica recently. Exactly. I mean, less than two months earlier, he put a restraining order on her and lifted it, probably just before Valentine's Day, because it happened in early February.

So this is all like very, very recent stuff. Now as the day wore on, no sign of either Erica or her car emerged. So hoping that she was just kind of sleeping off a hangover, they abstained from reporting her missing just yet. But when Monday, February 16th rolled around, so two days later, her mom Margarita received a call that her daughter had not shown up for her scheduled shift at Victoria's secret. This was completely unlike Erica, who was usually very communicative and responsible,

so her family filed a missing persons report that day. In a press conference held by local law enforcement, Erica's dad, again Isaac Sr., said he remained hopeful that this was just a fluke occurrence and that Erica would be home safely soon. Margarita said Erica, quote, was always a good girl. She was always in contact with us. That's why we started suspecting something was wrong. When the next day and the following day, she never called us or texted us or anything. A friend of Erica's started a fundraiser on GiveForward.com, which is a company which was later purchased by GoFundMe, just hoping to raise money for a reward fund.

The Pledge Page Red quote, creating more awareness all over California and the U.S. of her disappearance. Her friends and family have been searching desperately for their dear Erica, with hope in their heart that she will in fact be found. Erica's story has been on the news, in newspapers, and all over social media.

Word of mouth and the internet have helped out immensely, but all of them in search of her are still needing so much more support in bringing her home. So obviously with the fact that Erica's been gone for a few days, and also the fact that she was, you she was last really seen at the Sutra nightclub, police determined that they needed to go to Sutra and kind of pull some stills of the security camera footage and then publish them hoping for answers

as to the identities of the other couple who was with her and Larry that night. Right, because at this point, they had not come forward. So not kind of helps. Okay, these are the people we're looking for. Right. Now we can get some progress. Right.

So after seeing reports about Erica having gone missing along with their pictures on the news, the couple who had been with Erica and Larry that night came forward to police to tell their side of the story. Now, according to their accounts, the four of them had left Sutra around 135am in their car, and then headed to Larry's home near the intersection of Culver Drive and Deerfield Avenue in Irvine.

Now they claimed that they had stayed for another two hours or so, and then continued drinking and parting. Then, Erica and Larry apparently got in such a nasty fight that the couple was really uncomfortable, and they left around 3.45 am on the early morning of February 15th. And that's really interesting to know too, and something to remember everybody as we continue to tell the story is that this couple is saying they're leaving because Erica and Larry got in such a bad fight. Right.

And then Erica goes missing. Now, according to Larry, Erica stormed out of his home 15 minutes later at around 4 a.m. drove off in her vehicle, which had been parked in front of his house, and that he had not seen or heard from her since. So basically, he's saying that she just took off

in the middle of the night and he hasn't seen her. So please interview both members of the couple who have never been publicly identified, as well as Larry Rivera, and confirmed that the three accounts were pretty consistent. At a February 20, 2015 press conference, so five days after Erica went missing, the sheriff's spokesman, Lieutenant Jeff Hallick, announced, quote, the couple has been identified after extensive media coverage, and they have contacted sheriff's investigators. Miss Alonzo remains missing.

So Erica's family just continued to emphasize how unlike her, these circumstances were, and that she had not been suffering from any kind of depression or anxiety at the time that would have caused her to want to flee. She had just started her new job, and she was thrilled about what was coming next for her. While police were not ruling out the theory that she had disappeared on her own accord, they couldn't deny the dubious nature of her disappearance. However, they were not necessarily investigating it as a foul play case either.

Regarding Larry, Lieutenant Hallick remarked, This person, he was not somebody that Erica met a day ago. There has been some type of on-again, off-again relationship. We're not looking at this as a crime." He also added that they believed her to have disappeared in or with her car, and her sister Patricia addressed the public through tears, saying, quote, It's very unlikely for her not to contact us. Please, you guys, if anybody has seen anything, knows anything, has heard from her. Things they've seen her, her car, or heard anything. Please call.

All information is very, very important, and we just want her home. We miss her so much. Okay, so before that quick break, we talked about the fact that Erica's been missing for a few days and police don't believe that foul play was involved here. So Erica's bank account and social media accounts remained untouched, and she had not used her phone since the early morning hours of February 15th, which is obviously very alarming. Police released a missing person's poster, urging the public for more information. It read, quote, Missing from Irvine, California. Date Missing February 14, 2015. Age 27. Sex Female. Height 5.3. Weight 110 pounds. Build petite. Eyes brown. Hair long

brown. Race Hispanic. Vehicle. White 2014. Honda Civic EX, California license number 7FSS563. They also included a picture of Erica and her car. So her family continued to go to bat for her and vowed not to stop looking until she was found. Her mom started a Facebook page called Help Find Erica Alonzo, which is sadly morphed into a page called Justice for Erica Alonzo. But we'll get into that here in a minute. Erica's sisters especially continued to advocate for her, believing without a doubt that Larry

was involved in whatever happened to her. Denora wrote in the comments of one report, quote, "...Larry Rivera, her ex, knows more. He had physically heard her before many times, and she never reported it. One day they got into a physical argument, and the neighbors called the police, which they did many times. Larry had a scratch and pressed charges on her. So on paper, he looks like the victim. A huge man against a petite woman.

She trusted him. She cared for this selfish man. Instead of calling 911, all he could do was panic and didn't give her a chance to live. Larry, many times told Erica to pay cash, not to use her cards because that way she couldn't be tracked. He lived that lifestyle of living under the radar. Larry, one day when it's your turn to take your last breath, fear will take over because you know that you're going straight to hell. You didn't give us the chance to even say goodbye to her. She cared for you, and all you did was look after yourself that night.

She believed in you. She thought that you cared. Larry, what would you do if someone did this to your daughter? Wouldn't you want answers? Closure? She cared for your daughter more than your own family. She played with her and gave her attention like not even you or your family did. Does that not mean anything to you?

Have a heart and give us and yourself peace by telling the truth. But according to the family, their pleas did nothing to persuade Larry to aid in the investigation, or to come forward with any additional information. Which always looks sketchy on its own when someone the family or police feel confident is involved, like doesn't give up information or publicly try to help with the search, especially when that person is in a relationship with the missing party. Yeah, I mean, I understand they, you know, had a fight that night, but obviously they were in this on and off again, relationships.

So she meant something to him. It's not like, yeah, and he lifted the restraining order. He took her out to lunch and then took her out for Valentine's Day to a night club where they had a good night together reportedly. And then she goes missing and you don't help and you don't search and you don't talk to the family and you don't do everything you can

or even like a small percentage of what you can is just like it makes you look really bad. Yeah, and the details of this case are just gonna get even more frustrating from here on out. So true. So along with their online advocacy, at Erika's family, diligently doled out flyers in and around the community, just hoping someone had seen or heard something.

They held a candlelight vigil to raise awareness and worked tirelessly to put together a reward. The Alonzo's crowd funded $3,000 of donations from family and friends as a reward fund, and an Orange County Sheriff's Deputy himself donated another $2,000, bringing the total up to $5,000. Made March of 2015, marked one month since Erica had vanished, and her 28th birthday was fast approaching. Her sister, Denora, said sadly, quote, I want my sister to come back home. Her birthday is coming up and we all want to be together again.

Her brother, Isaac Jr. attended City Council meetings in both Laguna Hills and Irvine to speak about his sister's disappearance, saying, quote, that was the whole goal to let people know who Erica was and why we miss her so much. Then the day before her birthday, March 25, investigators located Erica's car. So about a mile or 1.6 kilometers from her home in Laguna Hills, which was near the intersection of Alicia Parkway and Molten Parkway, Erica's white Honda Civic EX was discovered in a parking lot. Near the intersection of Redwood and Cedar Brook in a housing subdivision in Aliso Viejo, Erika's car was reported by residents who had noticed that it hadn't moved

in over a month. It was covered in a layer of dust and had accumulated multiple parking stickers. One neighbor said, quote, that car had been here for a couple of weeks and there was dust getting all over it. And I noticed that there were little parking violation stickers on it. It just kind of got that weird feeling and I looked in there and I saw a purse

and like a stuffed animal and stuff like that. So Erika's purse had been left in plain view in the front of her car. Again, about a mile away from her house, in her next to and kind of in a very nice neighborhood. So, let's talk about this for just a second, because this is so strange. The fact that it was so close to where she was living at the time, and also the fact that it took an entire month to find this car.

Like were they not, were police not searching for her car? Like it's just, it blows my mind that that car would sit there for an entire month, so close to where she lived. It's so hard because she didn't have a terribly unique vehicle. Like, I understand why the people who did eventually report it, you know, report seeing it, were like, oh yeah, I got a weird feeling because it was there for so long. But every other time they saw it, it's like, oh, it's just a car, you know? Yeah, and I suppose that she had gone missing from Irvine. So police were probably searching

more so in that area, rather than Laguna Hills. But I do hear what you mean because like it was only a mile away from her house. So it was in the area and it was in a very populated area. It wasn't in some remote area. This is like in a neighborhood. Right. That's what I mean is it's not remote. It's in a neighborhood where you know many people can see it and it just sits there for a month.

And obviously on the poster, the missing person's poster, it has her vehicle and her plate number. So I just, it blows my mind that nobody reported it sooner or that police hadn't found it sooner. It's really bizarre for sure. And I wonder if, you know, people see this and they're like, oh, I'll keep an eye out for it. And then you kind of forget, because like I said, her car, it was just a white Honda, you know, it's like not a unique car that had a special color or was different in any way. You know, it was just like a car. Yeah. So maybe that's why, but it does seem weird for sure. And my first thought was actually, you know, did somebody, had somebody maybe moved her car later, but now we know that that wasn't the case because the parking stickers and the fact

that there was a layer of dust on it. Yeah, well, you know what I think is weird though, about the whole thing, about it not being found the most is that there were parking stickers on it. So there were officers going to this car and writing tickets for it. So I don't know how it works. I don't know if you enter that into a system,

but I feel like you do, right? I mean, yeah, you would assume that they would enter this into some sort of system. But again, you know, these aren't police officers, these are traffic officers. Absolutely. So if somebody knows out there, because I did try to look this up and figure out

what kind of system this would be uploaded into, but especially because she had multiple tickets, I kind of surprised that somehow did not, that information didn't make its way to police. Right. That her license plate was attached to tickets. Exactly. So, despite this harrowing discovery, her loved ones celebrated her 28th birthday on March 26th by releasing red balloons, still holding

out hope that she would be found alive. Isaac Jr. said fondly, quote, �I don't think we ever get tired of talking about her. She always made her presence felt, that's for sure. Sadly, their hopes were dashed soon after. In the late evening of April 27, 2015, a group of biologists had been combing a wooded area on site for a research project when they came across the decaying remains of a young woman. The group were biologists for CalTrans, which is the California Department of Transportation,

and they were searching the area for an endangered species of frog. The body was located in a rugged and remote area outside of San Juan Capastrano in the Cleveland National Forest. It was a little ways off the Ortega Highway about a mile east of the United States Forest Service Firehouse. It took investigators until the next day, April 28th, to properly recover the body. But rumors had already been spreading that a body had been recovered until the next day, April 28th, to properly recover the body. But rumors had already been spreading that a body had been recovered and that it was believed to be that of an adult woman. Erica's father rushed to the area, wanting to aid in the search, and also still holding

out hope that the remains did not belong to Erica, saying quote, I just hope it's not my daughter. I'm going to drive out there. I want to know, I want to find out. I just want to find out. The body had been left in a dry creek bed, and because of the amount of time that had passed and the exposure to the elements, she was not able to be identified right away. But the following day, April 29, 2015, using her fingerprints, the medical examiner concluded

that the body did in fact belong to Erica Lanzo. Her body was discovered more than 30 miles or 48 kilometers away from Larry's house, and more than 20 miles or 32 kilometers from where her car had been abandoned, making it feel obvious that she was potentially met with foul play since she was so far from her car, right? So an embankment off of the Artega highway near where her body was recovered became a makeshift memorial site

for Erica's grieving friends and family. Isaac Jr. said, sadly, quote, this is gonna make us closer, but Erica was a strong piece of the glue that held us together. The autopsy did not initially reveal a cause of death, but when it did, the Alonzo's were left with even more questions than they already had.

On Tuesday, July 21, 2015, investigators received a copy of the autopsy results. Erica's death had been ruled an overdose. At the time of her death, Erica had a blood alcohol level of 0.22%, which is more than double the legal driving limit in California of .08%. So curiously, also present in her system was Gamma Hydroxobuteraid, or GHB, better known

as the date rape drug. So this obviously looks incredibly suspicious, especially because Erika's family do not believe her to be into recreational drug use. Her dad commented, quote, �It was a big surprise to hear what they told me because I don't think she did that on purpose. If she had a dose of that, somebody put it in her without her knowing.

Even if she was drunk, she never tried that drug. When she did drugs, she did it lightly and wasn't addicted. I have to think about this deeply because it doesn't make sense to me. And I know a lot of people are probably thinking that maybe she had been doing drugs and she wasn't disclosing that information to her parents or family. Yeah, I mean, she's 27. Right. Yeah, but it's still a very strange discovery to find GHB in her system.

Totally agree. However, many people, including investigators, have argued that the presence of GHB does not necessarily point to her having been drugged. Lieutenant Jeff Hallick agreed with this assessment, saying, quote, it can occur that way, but it's also utilized for lack of a better term as a party drug.

He explained that people will sometimes take it in small doses in a party setting to achieve an effect similar to ecstasy, saying, quote, It gives a sedative or euphoric type feeling. Much to the dismay of the Alonzo's, Lieutenant Halik announced after the Toxicology report, quote, based on the totality of the investigation, including interviews, evidence collection, autopsy and toxicology results, investigators do not believe Miss Alonzo was the victim of a homicide. They continue to pursue information as to the circumstance that led to Miss Alonzo's death, and her body being located off of Ortega Highway.

Throughout the investigation, information obtained by investigators supports the toxicology results and the cause of death. However, the investigation is ongoing. I understand this ruling to an extent, because it doesn't automatically point to homicide just because GHB was found in her system, got it. I mean, I don't know anybody who has taken that recreationally, but I don't know everybody on earth. Yeah, I haven't heard of it, but.

You haven't either? No, no, I haven't heard of anybody taking it. Interesting. I know somebody out there is like, I do, which is totally fair, and obviously people do that, but it's still, I think to us especially, because that is mostly known as a date rape drug and we know that people have said about this club that people sometimes

get drug there and that it happens because it's a night club. Like it just makes us weary. Well not only that, but also just the circumstances surrounding the situation, the fact that her car was left behind, the fact that her body was found, and then there's GHB in her system. Right, so what is the explanation for her being found 20 miles away from her car? And we have a map that we made, and we're gonna post that on our socials

by the time the episode drops, because it's a really good visual to have. I mean, her car was found in a quiet residential neighborhood on a nice street, and then her body is found literally out in the mountains almost 30 minutes away. And I'm going to post street view screenshots as well. Well, let's get into all of that right now because clearly there are quite a few questions left unanswered here.

First of all, if Erica was so intoxicated, how would she have been able to get herself from Larry's house in Irvine to Aliso Viejo at least a 20 minute drive away? Then after leaving her car and Aliso Viejo, it would have been another 30 minutes or so to the location where her body was found. Yes, so how did she even get there? Also, there was no damage done to her car indicating that she had been in any sort of accident and there were no signs on her body that she had been involved in a struggle or a fight. And that really makes me wonder because we know that she was found two months after she

went missing. That's two months of being outside exposed and deceased. That's two months of being outside, exposed and deceased. That's two months of decomposition. So I wonder if there was some kind of struggle. I know they ruled her cause of death and overdose, but we know that the couple said, they left Larry's house because Larry and Erica got in such a bad fight that they felt awkward. Right.

So then how did she die? Like, how did this, like, what? There is such a big gap missing here. Yeah, there's a lot of just unanswered questions, of course. And you know, a possible scenario is that she did die of an accidental overdose. And that whomever she was with, either Larry or Larry and the couple that they met at Sutra, panicked and then maybe disposed of her body. But I mean, it's impossible that Erica got to the creek bed by herself, meaning that there had to have been at least one other person and one other car involved to get her car

to where it was found and to get Erica to where she was found. Agreeed like there's no other way to put it. There's no other way that her body got in the freaking mountains in a rugged and remote area, and her car was in a residential neighborhood one mile from her house. The only other scenario in my mind that I could possibly think of is that she was abducted,

you know, where her car was left left and then her body was dumped later. That is another possibility. It's another theory. This is complete speculation, but it can't really be ruled out. But that still just makes me wonder about the cause of death. Like, we know that she was very intoxicated, sorry, when she would have left Larry's if that even happened, right? Yeah. So, like you had mentioned earlier, how did she even get over to her house if she was that drunk? And then, yeah, if she had been abducted from her car, was she alive and then somebody

gave her a date rape drug and then left her in the mountains, like definitely a possibility. But I just wish we had evidence of whether or not she left Larry's house, like if she was seen driving her car. Like on a surveillance footage, yeah, I was like, oh, she is behind the wheel, or Larry's behind the wheel, you know, like I'm really surprised that in 2015,

they weren't able to drag up any kind of surveillance footage. Like one angle, one shot of this vehicle traveling. And of course, we obviously don't know the route that she would have taken to get to where her car was found. It could have just not had any cameras available around that area. So I just feel like especially in 2015 with all the technology that we had at that point, that there isn't more of a concrete way to determine if it was her in the car or him,

was his DNA on the steering wheel, was her, you know, like there's so many little things like that that I wonder that are not available to us. Also where's her phone? I mean, did the phone ping in certain areas? Could that give us a better understanding of her? I don't know. Yeah, I mean, that's what I'm talking about here is it's just so hard to know.

Yeah, there is so much that it feels like the, you know, I understand that her case is not being looked as a homicide, but then that makes me think if it's case closed overdose, then where's this other information that we're looking for? Yeah, where are the other missing pieces to this puzzle? Or did they just not look into any of that? I don't know.

But kind of going back to the idea that somebody put her car where it was and hid her body where it was found. Like this doesn't necessarily mean that the other couple was involved, though if Larry is involved, you would guess that after planting her car if he even did that, that he either would have needed to get like an Uber

or a taxi or a friend to pick him up unless the couple helped him. You know, like somebody else had to be involved to pick him up unless the couple helped him. Like somebody else had to be involved to pick him up from 20 miles away in the middle of the night. Where's that proof? Well, just entertaining the idea that Larry was involved, he would have had to driven her car to where it was found. And then gotten, basically took her body,

put it into a separate car, drove that car out, dumped her body, and then driven, you know, back home. Yeah, so then, but that's what I mean to about this other evidence. Was there evidence of her hair and her trunk or his trunk, you know, things like that that could help put together the picture more? It feels like are just completely absent. Yeah, and I think people, that's why people are very frustrated with this case, is because it does feel in certain ways

that police may have dropped the ball a bit here. Well, this is what Eric is dad had to say about this whole idea of an overdose and possibly Larry being involved in that and knowing what happened and instead of getting her help just hiding her body. So here's what he said quote, they saw that she was dying. How come they didn't call 911? We're supposed to help anybody stay alive. So what really happened that night? Well Isaac Jr said quote, we don't have those answers right now. We hope to have them in the future. said, quote, we don't have those answers right now. We hope to have them in the future. Erica Melissa Alonzo was laid to rest on May 8, 2015. So at least a couple of months before

they got the autopsy report back after a lavish ceremony, which was very fitting for the person that she was. She was buried at the Ascension Cemetery in Orange County, California, and at the funeral her father said of Larry, quote, we were expecting him to come forward and say, I'm with you, I want to help search for Erica. I don't know what happened, but he never did. I don't know. Her family remains convinced that Larry Rivera is involved in the disappearance and death of Erica Alonzo, even if that only extends to the improper disposal of her body. Her mom runs a very active Facebook page still campaigning for justice for her daughter. She recently posted a picture of Erica with Larry captioned, monsters come in all shapes and sizes. And also like I had said, we have a map

that we made for this case that will really help give you a visual, but go look at pictures of Erica, go look at the photo of her and Larry. I think really photos just help bring these cases to life and help everybody understand that this is a real story. And we have them all on our socials. Our Instagram is at Going West Podcast, Twitter at Going West Pod, and then we are also on Facebook. On February 15, 2023, the eighth anniversary of her daughter's death,

Margarita posted, quote, 2,920 days without you. Please share her post today, or call the Santa Anna Sheriff's Department today and ask for the homicide unit. Ask for whoever is in charge of the Erica Melissa Alonzo case of 2015. Ask them what they're doing to solve the case so our community can be safe of one less criminal. Do that and help so we don't have to go another year without answers. Please, get whoever was involved off the streets and put them where they deserve to be

behind bars. Do this for Erica today. Even if you don't care about the case, I'm sure everyone wants a safer community and one less criminal on the streets of Orange County. The killer is out there, blending in with everyone else. Would you want someone that dumped another human like trash as your neighbor? Then help by sharing or calling today on her eighth anniversary. Please, I want to also think every person that has commented, liked, shared, or done anything to help with this painful journey. Thank you.

The case has now been stagnant for eight years. Lieutenant Jeff Hallett confirmed, quote, happened and how she ended up off or take a highway. So basically they're even saying that we can't confirm or deny that this is a homicide. Right. But they are still looking into it, which could explain why so much information isn't available, but I really do hope that they are looking into this deeply because it's obvious, I think, to any of us and all of us that something isn't right here. Yeah, absolutely. So her family with the help of local legislators began pushing for harsher sentences for those who move or tamper with dead bodies.

According to California State Law, it says, every person who, having knowledge of an accidental death, actively conceals or attempts to conceal that death, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor punishable by imprisonment in a county jail for not more than one year or by a fine of not less than $1,000 or more than $10,000 or by both that fine and imprisonment. which to me is crazy because think about for the two months that it took to find her how much money it costs for police to look for her. Right. And you're saying that if her body was concealed, this person only deserves one year in prison or a thousand dollar fine.

A thousand dollar fine, no more than $10,000 like that's silly. But with the passing of Erica's Law in 2017, which went into effect in 2018, the statute of limitations for penalizing anyone who dumps a body is extended for up to four years after the body is found. The family is urging anyone who is willing to call the Orange County Sheriff's Department at 714-647-7000 and ask them to investigate the case as a homicide. If you have any more information regarding the disappearance or death of Erica Alonzo, please call Orange County Crime Stoppers at 855-847-6227, or you can submit a tip anonymously at occrimestoppers.org. Thank you so much everybody for listening to this episode of Going West.

Yes, thank you guys so much for listening to this episode and on Friday we'll have an all new case for you guys to dive into. Don't forget to share Erica's story if you are one of us who believe that there is something very wrong with this case and that Erica still does not have justice for whatever happened to her. Again, we have all our posts on social media. If you just want to share one of those, you want to share her her picture. If you want to share the link to this episode, however it is that you want to do it, I know her family would really appreciate it and so do we. Yeah, I mean, that's the best thing that you guys can do. You know, just please remember that this case is ongoing,

so anything you can do right now to help is really appreciated. Yes, thank you guys so much for tuning in, and we'll see you in a few days. All right, guys, so for everybody out there in the world, don't be a stranger. 1.5% 1.5% 1.5% 1.5% 1.5% 1.5%

1.5% 1.5% 1.5% 1.5% 1.5% 1.5% 1.5% 1.5% Thank you.