True Crime with Kendall Rae - Erica Alonso Disappeared After a Night of Clubbing – Family Involved

Episode Date: June 22, 2023

Justice for Erica Alonso Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/WeLoveEricaA...  Instagram Account: https://www.instagram.com/withericain... GoFundMe: https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-us-be... Petition: https://www.change.org/p/justice-for-...   Tweet @OCSheriff: @OCSheriff I am asking that you please take the time to reconsider all the evidence in the murder of Erica Alonso. Her killer is still free, and it's clear that one individual is responsible. The disposal of her body was intentional, and justice must be served.  *If you're experiencing issues reaching this email address, please direct your request to the OC Sheriff's Twitter instead. I am currently checking up to see what the issue with this address is: [e-mail]  Reminder: Robert has been kind, patient, and helpful to Dinora. Please remain respectful in your communication. Detective Taft,  I am emailing you today on behalf of Erica Alonso’s family, and ask that you please continue to investigate her murder with urgency. Thank you for being a helpful contact to Dinora, but there’s so much more that needs to be done. Even IF the department doesn’t believe her death was the result of homicide, the dumping of her body was intentional and illegal. Please consider looking into her final 24 hours again, the people she was with, and the role these people may have played in what happened to her.  Thank you. — Donate to NCMEC through my campaign!  https://give.missingkids.org/campaign/kendall-rae/c438796 This episode is sponsored by: Earth Breeze Beam - promo code: KENDALLRAE Check out Kendall's other podcasts: The Sesh & Mile Higher Follow Kendall! YouTube Twitter Instagram Facebook Mile Higher Zoo REQUESTS: General case suggestion form: https://bit.ly/32kwPly Form for people directly related/ close to the victim: https://bit.ly/3KqMZLj Discord: https://discord.com/invite/an4stY9BCN CONTACT: For Business Inquiries - [e-mail]

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So today we are talking about a case that is very important and really needs awareness. We are talking about the very suspicious death of Erica Alonzo, which is still unsolved to this day and there is no justice. Also today we have several people joining us to tell Erica's story. We have her sister, Denora.

We have her mother, Margarita, and a friend, Tanya. And if you are someone that consumes a lot of true crime, it's possible that you have heard about Erica's case before. And that's because her sister, Denora, has done an incredible job of keeping her name out there and getting as much coverage as she can. She has truly made it her mission to get answers and justice for her sister. And all of her efforts have really given me hope that one day they will see justice. She has gotten Erica's case on several different true crime shows, some really big ones.

And recently she was just on Sarah Terny's podcast. I love Sarah. I thought she did an amazing job. And when I talked to DeNor on the phone, she just went on and on about what an honor it was to work with Sarah and how uplifting it was for her to talk to someone who could really relate to her in many ways. I personally found Erica's case when DeNor left a comment on one of my videos and we were able to connect. And I've spent some time talking with her on the phone and what this family has been through and the pain that they feel every single day is just unimaginable. For so many people that consume true crime so often these cases just feel like stories. But these families live this reality every single day from sun up to sundown.

It is so heavy on their hearts. And the absence of Erica has been so monumental in their family's lives. It's just something that no one should have to face. And so today I'm going to be asking you guys to be active true crime consumers, which means taking steps that we will lay out to help this family in any way that you can. One of the biggest things that I think they need here is fundraising. I've helped in our set up a go fund me and they are going to need fundraising for a private investigator.

I think it is super crucial because the police just aren't doing enough and that could be what ends up solving this case. And of course, I will be making a donation to them on behalf of this channel. So if you were able to donate, please do so. The link will be below, of course. And I also just wanted to take a second to thank you all for the donations on Grant Solomon's GoFundMe.

I recently covered his case, and I was blown away with the amount of donations that came in. They have raised $75,000 since my video went up. And of course, a lot of other creators have shared his story since. And so some of those donations definitely could have come from their audience. But I know a large portion of it is from my audience. And I just want to thank you guys. You're the best their family was just blown away with all the support. It was truly amazing to see. So I'd love to be able to do that for Erica's family.

But let's go ahead and get into this case. And once I get through the details here, you're gonna see why this family needs a private investigator and justice so badly. So Erica Melissa Alonzo was born on March 26th, 1987 in Los Angeles, California to her parents Margarita and Isaac. She was the third child of six siblings, and from everything I've learned about her, she completely blossomed with every year she got older.

Erica has been described by those who knew her as a total social butterfly, and when I talked to DeNora on the phone, she was just telling me all these stories about Erica and how ever-vescent her personality was, how bubbly and warm she was. She was so loving and loyal to the people in her life, especially her family. And like most kids, Erica loved animals, and that only got stronger with age. While I was going through and looking for photos and videos of her, I kept coming across ones where she was with an animal, and as someone with 10 pets myself, I think the two of us would have gotten along super well.

And like I mentioned, Erica's relationship with her family was really strong. They were very tight-knit, really leaned on each other at all times, especially through difficult moments. And when I talked to DeNor, I could tell just how close the two of them were. And what a loss. This has been for not only her, but her children as well. Erica was so very close and motherly to DeNor's children. Like she just really stepped into that onto roll and took that very seriously, having that bond with them.

Even when denours kids were getting too big to be carried, Herika would still carry them around. She watched over them, she wanted to protect them, she cared so much about her kids, and that is just something that they feel is missing from their lives in such a huge way. And she had dreams of becoming a mother one day as well. She loved to go to Disneyland,

and I'm sure she would have taken her own kids one day if she ever had the chance. Hello, my name is DeNora. I am Erica's older sister. Erica came from a family of five girls, herping the middle daughter. She has a brother from her dad's side, and I am from the mom's side.

That's why I have a different last name. But we all grew up together, so we consider each other siblings all of us. Erica as a child was very loving, very naive. Love to give hugs, love to show how much she loves people. Growing up, I noticed she started coming out of her shell because she was very shy at first. She started coming out of her shell, you know, around 12, 13 years old when you normally do. You kind of started to see her, I think her personality more.

You could tell she was going to be a very outgoing kid, very determined, very, I want to be heard, but still being respectful. I have many memories with her, but me being the oldest, I have memories of her just being annoying and stuff like that. What I think is funny is one time as adults, she told me, I want to confess something to you but don't laugh at me. And I was like, why? And she goes, when I was young, like 12, I thought you were like the coolest sister and I admired you so much. And I thought you were like, and we both just started laughing, like bursting out laughing because it was so silly. What I loved about her is that she loved, loved to show how much she loved someone.

She loved to show how much she cared about you with her respect, giving you a tight hug or just saying I love you or just a random message. I don't know where with her emojis, you know, her kissing emojis, her emojis. I miss those so much. I miss having her because now that she's gone, I realize how much she means to me, how much she has left the big hole in my heart because I love her that much. I wanna continue and fight for her to get justice because I think it's not fair for someone to do that to you, someone that you love and care to just leave you somewhere. Don't you not take you to a hospital? Erica didn't deserve that. Erica was not someone who would ever hold a grudge and she was fiercely protective of those around her. DeNora told me that some of her favorite memories with Erica were

going to the dog beach with her daughters and her other sisters as well and they would all just have so much fun together. Erica would help her forget about all of her problems in life and she was just that uplifting person that she always needed. And this breaks my heart, but she also told me that the two of them loved to watch black and white movies together. This was just a fun hobby they shared. And now she has to watch them alone.

And her favorite one to watch with Erica was always gone with the wind. And now she still watches it without her at least once a year. Erica lived with me for one year. I think the reason why I got along with her the most is because she was very open. If I would tell her, look, I'm going to tell you this, but I don't want you to say anything or judge me or anything. She would listen. She would literally listen to me, you know, until I was done. And she wouldn't judge me. If she didn't have anything to say, she would just hug me. And just like she was super sweet,

just like she could be like that, she could also be very loud and outgoing. I feel Erica is the person or was the person that, if something was boring, she could make it fun or interesting and that was life too. She didn't like just to sit around and waste life. She loved to do things like she couldn't just sit and waste life. She had to do something. Every time I would see her show to me these long hugs that I miss very much, she would always say,

I love you. And I five girls, that's's one thing that my mom always taught us that your sisters came first. So I don't feel like she didn't know she was loved. She knew she was loved. She knew she was loved very much. So I don't regret, like some people regret not telling their loved ones, or I wish I could have told them, I love them, or I wish I could have said this. I feel with them, my sisters, with Erica. It was that kind of relationship with, and we didn't need a reason.

She would just random say, I love you, or I'm coming to see you, or send me emojis. And that made me feel loved, very special. And that's one big thing I miss about her. Another is that she was an amazing aunt. My youngest as a six-year-old, you know, the young child. She had a lot of energy, you know, and she connected with Erica a lot because Erica was really good with kids. She connected with her, she understood her. She had patience with her. And when I look through pictures, all the pictures I see are Erica holding her. You know, even when she towards the end, when she was six and she was already getting

big and I would tell her, Erica stopped carrying her, she was getting heavy. Erica was still carrying her. That was her baby she said. And she would make them feel special. So in 2014 and even in years before this, Erica had expressed interest in returning to school. She wanted to earn her degree and really started thinking more seriously about her future. But one thing that was making it difficult for her to truly have the life that she wanted was her on and off again boyfriend Larry. Now keep in mind Larry was 40 years old at the time that she went missing and Erica was only 27. Have you ever wondered why

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earthbreze.com slash KR. ... Erica was in an abusive relationship. And for as close as she was to her family, her relationship was one thing she really kept private. And this is pretty common for people in abusive relationships to keep things under wraps. There can be so much secrecy and shame surrounding abuse.

And unfortunately, it's the reality for millions of people out there. Denora shared a picture with me that was taken from Erica's Bible, and it's a note that she wrote, talking about wanting to help other women who are experiencing abuse, and I want to read it to you. It says, I share my story to help women who hold onto their nightmares of abuse and shame. I encourage them to face the pain so they can let go. I judged myself based on my intentions,

but the world judged me based on my actions. Denora says that Erica really wanted to help other women in crisis and she hopes that by sharing Erica's story, they are in some way doing that. But at the same time that she was open with other women experiencing abuse, she spent a lot of time trying to work through things with Larry without getting her family to involved. And that's not to say that her family didn't try to help her because they definitely, definitely did. In fact, her mother and father tried to step in at one point. They actually got lunch with Erica and Larry at Erica's request. The hope was that they could talk to Larry about their

relationship and see if there was any way that things could improve. After they have a big fight, Larry was trying to get back with Erica. Erica told me that Larry wanted to talk to me. So we made up at the Starbucks and Alicia partway. When we got there, I noticed the scratches and Larry's face. And I asked Larry, what happened in it to you face? Larry said, oh, Erica did this to me. So Erica was next to me. So I asked her, Erica, what you you do that? Erica started crying and said, Mom, because he was talking to me. He put his hands in my mouth. So I asked Larry, do you want you to do that to my daughter? And he replied, she was yelling at me and one heart to stop.

So at that point, I told Erica, you need to announce the relationship. But unfortunately, things really came to a head between Erica and Larry in November of 2014. And it resulted in Erica being labeled or mislabeled, as I should say, as the abuser. On November 2, 2014, Erica and Larry were outside of his house in Irvine, California,

and they were overheard by neighbors having a big argument. And one of the neighbors was so worried about this argument that they ended up calling the police who responded to the scene where domestic violence was reported. But here's the thing. When officers arrive, Erica was the one who ended up in handcuffs because the police saw a scratch on Larry's face. Now, I want to be very clear with what I say next. Erica was not the perpetrator of abuse. She was the victim. Even though police saw the scratch on Larry's face, they didn't see what caused the scratch. Erica had to defend herself so many times, and this time was no different. And the only time that she ever caused harm to Larry was when she was trying to defend

herself. But rather than tell police what really happened, she stayed silent, which again is so common in abusive situations. And it was because she never wanted to take legal action against Larry, despite how terribly she was treated by him. But the same couldn't be said for him, because on November 4th, just two days after being arrested, Erica was charged with misdemeanor domestic violence

with corporal injury. And Larry actually had the audacity to tell Erica's sister Patricia that he didn't want to press charges, but he tried to go the police to make things right. And it was too late. Not only did he press charges, but he also filed a restraining order against her. And then just over a month later in December of that year, Erica requested that the domestic violence case be postponed, which ended up being approved under the condition that she began alcohol abuse counseling sessions. But get this.

On February 6, 2015, just eight days before Erica goes missing, Larry drops the charges against her and the restraining order. Now, it's believed that this happened because the two of them wanted to try and work things out without getting lawyers involved. it's believed that this happened because the two of them wanted to try and work things out without getting lawyers involved. I mean, ultimately, Erica was such a loyal, trusting, loving, and forgiving person, and she really wanted to make things work, even if that meant her and Larry would just be friends. Erica and Larry, as maybe the oldest you know, is always knew I would tell her what's right, tell her what's wrong. You know, I'd like a mother to her. So I didn't

know too much what was going on. I just noticed that she wanted to bring him around more. But at the same time, I started hearing some things from my other sisters that say that he wasn't a good person. That it was a toxic relationship. So I didn't know if I wanted to meet him. Finally she did bring him around for five minutes I think. I literally, I was just like, oh my god, this guy's like so full of himself. So in-term self, so like he thinks he's like smarter than everybody. And so that's, you know, in five minutes, that's what I got. It left right away when normally when Erica would come to visit me.

She would spend hours here. The time my kids were really hurt because she literally came in and left. They were hugging her like they didn't want her to leave, but you know, she left. And I think she did a lot of things to please him, you know, I guess show that she loved him by her just, you know, saying yes to whatever. Which I think is weird because Erica was the kind of person that I feel she didn't get pushed around.

She wasn't like, you wouldn't bully her. So for her, for a man to come and act like that and for her to take it to me it was kind of surprising. Larry was a type of person that I feel had a lot of influence on my sister. You know one example was to use cash, not use your cards, not use your you know credit card or debit card, whatever. not use your card, not use your, you know, credit card or debit card, whatever. And I would tell her, yeah, but that's for people that, you know, have something to hide or, you know, exactly so have something to hide, not for regular people. Other times, one time, you know, one of their last birthday parties that she came for my daughter,

she was only eating half a burger. And I go, why are you only eating half a burger? Oh, because Larry said it's, you know, better if I just eat half. Stuff like that that just made me think like how much influence does this guy have on her? And I just didn't understand because she wasn't this type of girl. She wasn't the type of girl that took crap, you know. She wasn't that type of person, so I was very confused. And I feel like this

can happen to anyone. A lot of times people criticize and say, Oh, well, why don't you just leave him or why don't you just this? And you know, she wanted to, they both at that time wanted to make things work out. They both wanted to be with each other, but you know, they were not good together. But I mean, Erica was 27, she was still in her 20s trying to find herself, trying to, you know, have fun. She had no kids, and here is an older man, you know, in his late 30s that is attending things that people in their 20s are. So it, to me, is just weird. And a lot of her friends would notice things like, I guess one time they were at a hotel

and they were in one room, Eric and they were in another room. And they heard them arguing to the point where one of the friends went to the door and knocked and was like, hey, is everything okay? You got to cool. And literally from screaming and yelling and, you know, cursing and all that crap, it turns around like, hey, what's up? Like, you know, like nothing.

Like, he can turn like that. Just that type of a person. He's putting kind of like a show and make people believe that he's this good person. We all know how crucial sleep is to our overall health and wellbeing. For me personally, I feel like if I don't get at least 7-8 hours of sleep a night, I am just not the same person the following day. And did you know that sleeping less than 6-7 hours per night is linked to reduced white

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Erica lets her family know that she and Larry are going to be getting lunch together that day. And she also had plans to babysit her brother's kids that evening, however, he ended up canceling and didn't need her. So she and Larry made plans to meet up again later that evening. However, she was supposed to go home that night. She and her sister Patricia had plans to watch cheesy romance movies, which is something they'd love to do together. And so her plan was to be home that night. Erica and Patricia had even saw each other that day,

and she told her she would see her later that night. But when a couple hours went by and nobody had heard from her, they started to wonder if Erica's plans had changed. And they had. Erica was someone who was always updating her social media. And she was especially active on Snapchat, which in 2015 was only three years old. It was kind of Instagram stories before that existed. It's an app where people are constantly updating their friends with everything they did and Erica was no

exception. And she ended up posting that night on Snapchat. And that is the reason her family was aware that her plans had in fact changed. According to her Snapchat story, she and Larry had gone out to a club. Patricia and her mom both saw what she posted, and they sort of just assumed that the plan to watch movies that night was no longer happening. And of course, I imagine they felt some type of way about seeing her spending time with Larry, but they had no reason at that point to worry that her life might be in danger. So that night, Erica and Larry went to a club called the Sutra Lounge in Costa Mesa. And when I say this was a club, I mean, it was a club. It had the lights, the dancing, the drinks,

the bouncers, the whole shebang, and for someone as social and outgoing as Erica, this was a place that she would thrive. And for a while, it seemed like she did. But here's what we know about what happened at the sutra lounge. Erica and Larry stayed at the club until about 1.30 AM, right around the time that it was closing.

And while they were there, they ended up befriending another couple who they can be seen parting with on security footage. And once it was time to leave, there was an exchange with this couple where Larry invited them over to his place to keep parting and the couple offered to drive the four of them there. So just after 1.30 a.m., they all left in a red Toyota Sion FRS and headed back towards his place in Irvine.

But after only a few hours of parting at Larry's house, things took a turn. According to his own statement, Larry says the four of them were at his house partying until about 3.45 am. And around that time, this other couple decided to leave. And what prompted them to leave is Erica and Larry got in a big fight. And then he claims that Erica left on her own about 10 to 15 minutes after this couple did. So around 4 a.m. And when I say they got into a fight, I don't mean a small disagreement or an argument. They got into a big fight. I mean, this fight was big

enough and loud enough that this other couple wanted to leave. And I can imagine being around another couple that you just met if their fighting is pretty uncomfortable. And it makes sense that they wouldn't want to be there anymore. And apparently this fight was enough that Erica wanted to leave according to Larry. And she did. Larry says that Erica then drove off in her white Honda Civic

right around 4am, and this was the last time he claims to have seen her. So the next morning when Erica's family didn't hear from her, they were worried, but the alarm bells weren't fully going off yet. She did live with her parents, but they thought it was possible that Erica was just sleeping off a hangover or sleeping in at a friend's house.

But once the next day rolled around with no word, they knew that something was wrong. Erica had just started a new job working at Victoria's Secret and was a no-call no-show for the morning of February 16th. And this was incredibly unlike her. Not only did she miss work, but she also wasn't responding to any calls or texts, which was highly unusual. Erica always responded to texts. Not only that, but she hadn't updated her social media at all, which was equally concerning because she was very active on social media.

So Patricia starts calling around to other friends to see if anyone had seen her, but no one had. It wasn't until she called Larry that she went from concerned to absolutely terrified. When he was asked about the night of the 14th, he told her the same story that I just told you. That he and Erica befriended a couple. They went to his house after to party a little longer. The couple left around 3.45 am, followed by Erica, 10 to 15 minutes later. And he even told her about the fight that he and Erica had gotten into, but conveniently he didn't remember what the fight was about. And this struck her super odd, because normally when Larry and Erica would get in a fight, he would actually call Patricia and let her know.

It was normally to give them a heads up that they had gone in a fight in Erica. It was on her way home, but this time he didn't do that. He didn't tell her until after she called him, all of this was enough to make her extremely worried. And she, at this point, decided it was time to report her sister as a missing person. And about a day after this report was made, DeNora got a call with all this information and right away she knew something horrible had happened. She said that just hearing that Larry was the last person to see her sister gave her a terrible feeling. So when my sister, Patty, I remember she called me and she told me that he was the last person that was with her. He was the last person that saw her.

I don't know, something has I told me right away that something had happened. Something bad, not just something, you know, wrong, like something inside told me, like, this is huge, like something happened to her. Before I continue, I want you all to hear from Tanya, Eric is friend who is actually with her that night at the club. And to be clear, she is not part of that couple that Erica and Larry befriended that night, but she is one of the last people to have seen Erica alive. And so I'm super grateful that she is willing to speak. In fact, this is actually the first time that she's spoken on a podcast or any platform like this. And I'm really thankful that she decided to do so

on my platform. Hello, my name is Tanya. On Valentine's Day, 2015, I attended Sutra with some of my friends. We all went to the dance floor where I saw Erica. We hugged and she said, hi, friend, I asked her where, where's Larry? She pointed to the back of the club. We continued dancing for a bit and I asked her if she wanted to have a drink.

She said, yes, let's go. We both got a drink and went back to the dance floor where Larry was. We said, hi and continued dancing. Larry and I didn't really have a conversation besides saying hi. He was drinking and kept to himself most of the night. As the night went on, I was hanging out with other friends.

When the nightclub was closing and everyone was leaving, I saw Eric and Larry going inside the elevator. I was a couple feet behind, so she screamed, I love you. The night Eric seemed like her normal self. She was happy and excited to see me. We danced the night away like we used to." So once Erica was reported missing, the police actually jumped right into action, which is refreshing since so often that is not the case.

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But sadly, this great police work didn't last long. So like I was saying, the report was made on February 16th and the police knew that Larry was the last person to see Erica, so they went to him first. And he told them the same story as before that they took an Uber to the club, they partied. They met this other couple. They went back to his house to continue partying, the couple left, and then Erica left. And that was it. When he was asked specifically what the fight was about, he still could not remember.

And they must not have pressed him very hard about it because we still don't know anything more than that. After they spoke with Larry, obviously their next logical step is to find this couple that they befriended that night at the club. And that's important because they were some of the last people to see Erica. So the police went to the sutra lounge to retrieve the surveillance footage to see if they could learn more, and they saw exactly what Larry told them. He and Erica befriended this couple, and the four of them left together. And once they confirmed this story to be true, Orange County Sheriff's deputies had to track

them down. And this ended up being way easier than they thought it would be. On February 19th, the police made their first public statement about Erica's disappearance and released the photo of this couple from the club asking that they come forward. The announcement said, authorities investigating the disappearance of a woman last seen early Sunday are looking for a couple. She and her date befriended at a coastamasa bar the evening before. And only one day after this was released, the couple just came forward. According to police, they didn't hesitate to answer any questions,

and they basically gave the same story that Larry had given them. And for as cooperative as they were being, police didn't have any reason to suspect that they were involved in Eric's disappearance. And when I talked to Denora, I asked her if anyone in their family had tried reaching out to this couple, and it turns out that they did. They simply wanted to get an idea of how Erica seemed that night, see if there was any little details they could pick up, get a better idea of what went on. And when they did, the woman from this couple seemed to not really want to talk to them. She basically, you know, said that the police have everything that they need and just was very

short about things. They felt like she seemed bothered and almost annoyed that they wanted to know about what happened that night. And this is pretty baffling to me. I mean, why wouldn't you want to help this family? Why wouldn't you want to give them any information that they're looking for? What's the harm in just talking to them? I want to be super, super clear heard that I am not accusing them of being involved in any way, and the police did clear them. I just wish they would have been kinder to them when they reached out. And they actually weren't the only ones to be publicly cleared. Larry was too. In a press conference on February 20th, a lieutenant with the Orange County Sheriff's Department announced that they can't label him, Larry, as a suspect or person of interest at this point. And this isn't something that I have a lot of information on, but a detective has told Denora that there is one person of interest, but that they can't tell her who that person is.

However, Eric's family isn't as convinced that Larry is innocent. I mean, not only was he the last person to see her, but there is a long history of abuse here, and it's confirmed that they were fighting up until the moment she disappeared. And this is unconfirmed, of course, but Denorm mentioned to me that neighbors actually saw Larry taking several large trash bags out of his house in the days after Erica had gone missing. And another neighbor said that they might have heard screaming that night coming from the direction of his place and then it suddenly stopped. Again, this is unconfirmed and I'm not sure if it was even reported to the police. And if it was, I don't know if they'd followed up on it, but where things are now in the case, I'm guessing it wasn't.

Basically at this point, they said until she appeared or some evidence or trace of her appeared, they just had to wait. So for the next month, Erica's family and friends hung posters, rallied their community, and even started a Facebook page to raise awareness

about her disappearance. And I will have that page linked below so you guys can go show your support. The first visual was held on February 28th and the second was held on March 20th. In total, hundreds of community members, family, friends all got together to celebrate Erica and they even raised a $5,000 reward for information 2000 of which came directly from a deputy with the Orange County Sheriff's Department, which I thought was pretty cool. Erica received so much support from her loved ones and I know if she could have seen how hard her family and friends bought for her, she would have been beyond grateful. And it really just goes to show how love she was.

Nobody was going to stop until answers were found. And that is still true to this day. And then finally, on March 25th, one question was answered. Someone living in the Glenwood Park neighborhood of Aliso, Viejo, called police to report an abandoned vehicle. The car had collected a thin layer of dust and also two parking violations. There was also a purse sitting in the car in plain sight and it didn't take long to confirm that this car belonged to Erica. And here's what's really suspicious. Her purse was found, but her phone was not inside it. And to this day, her phone has never been found. There were no signs of foul play at the car itself,

but without Erica or her phone, there's no telling what could have happened. Also, it's very strange that her car was found parked less than two miles away from where she was living with her mom and three of her sisters. If Erica really did leave Larry's house and drive her car, why wouldn't she have driven all the way home? Based on what we know, it doesn't seem like her car was broken down in any way, so why would she just leave it there? Also it's weird that her purse was just sitting on the seat.

I mean, most people don't leave their purse out in plain sight in a vehicle, especially on the seat. And this is really confusing to me. Why does her car have two parking violations yet no one connected it back to a missing woman whose car is being searched for? I know that traffic cops are different from the police, of course, but wouldn't her license plate be in some system that shows it has outstanding tickets? I mean, maybe I'm wrong on this, but I thought this was kind of weird. Like, you would think that it would ping some sort of alert that this vehicle belongs to a missing person.

If that system doesn't exist, it definitely should. So, the day after Erica's car was found. Her loved ones and supporters all got together for what would have been her 28th birthday. And they released a dozen red balloons in her honor because red was Erica's favorite color. And for the next month, her family continued to make public pleas for information. Erica was a good person, and she was not someone who would have wanted to run away from her life.

And there wasn't any activity in her bank account, so it's extremely unlikely that she was missing by choice. And remember how I said that her family was not as convinced that Larry was as innocent as the police seem to think? We'll get this. At no point did Larry reach out to Erica's family or help in any of the searches for her at all? Sure, he cooperated with police,

but if he is innocent and loved Erica as much as he says he did, you'd think he'd want to help find her, especially if that meant clearing up any doubt that he was involved. Denora strongly believes that Larry and the couple they were seen with that night were cleared by the police way too quickly, especially Larry. I mean, his history of abuse seemed to be completely ignored. Now, one strange thing that she mentioned to me about him is, Larry seemed to be someone who was very paranoid about the government. And this goes way before Erica went missing. He would always tell Erica to pay for things in cash and make sure that there was never a paper trail for him that nothing could ever be traced. And I'm not saying he has anything to hide, but I thought this was worth noting.

Erica's disappearance absolutely devastated their family and not knowing where she was had to have been so painful. But finally, on April 27th, 73 days after Erica went missing, her body was found. On the late evening of that day, a group of biologists with the California Department of Transportation were surveying an area off the Ortega Highway in the Cleveland National Forest when they came across the body of the female in a dry creek bed.

They immediately alerted authorities, but because it was dark and the train was rocky, forest. When they came across the body of a female in a dry creek bed, they immediately alerted authorities, but because it was dark and the train was rocky, they weren't able to completely set up the crime scene area into the following morning. But by the morning of April 28th, this was being treated as a full-blown crime scene. From joyful occasions to the unexpected, first Franklin financial makes loans for living, offering fixed rates and flexible terms on loans up to $15,000. The next time you're looking for some extra cash to help make ends meet, come see the friendly Franklin folks, or visit us at 1ffc.com to learn more.

All loan terms and APRs depend on meeting are underwriting an income criteria and may require collateral. First Franklin financial corporation is licensed by the Virginia State Corporation Commission CFI-215, Georgia Residential Mortgage Licency 5656, MMLS-N-1414165-4, not available in North Carolina. You know that fresh produce is the best produce. That's why at Crogr, we invest in local farmers to bring you seasonal picks that taste fresh from the farm good, like sweet corn, refreshing watermelon, and juicy peaches. So whether you're a delivery lover, a picker-upper, or you shop in store, your local produce always tastes 100% fresh. Or you get a 100% refund guaranteed.

Kruger, fresh for everyone. Guaranteed. Kruger, fresh for everyone. And just a mile or two from here to the east is where they found the body. Last night, let's see some video from Sky Fives HD. If you look at that video, what we know is that according to the Orange County Sheriff's Department, some biologists working for cal trends were in the area last night when they spotted the body. They informed the Orange County Sheriff's Department. The sheriff's's been missing since Valentine's Day weekend when she disappeared. Her family has been out here. She actually has some family that lives out here in the area.

They heard from some friends that there were some police activities. So they came over. They have been over here. They're hoping it's not her, but they are waiting to see what the news is. We're going to talk right now to Isaac, Alonzo. Erica's father. You've been out here, Isaac, I'm gonna give the phone to you. We're on the phone to you.

We're on the phone here. Something to give the phone to you to talk into the phone. But you have been out here since this morning. Oh, actually, I'm told we have the microphone working now. So I'm gonna use the microphone up. But you've been out here for a couple of hours now. How did you hear about this? I think we heard it was through some friends and what have you learned since you've been here? Yeah, well I've been here since Tentari, Tentari, Ileven, so not to add that.

And yeah, because we heard that the news that something was happening over here, we just wanted to see and find out what was going on. And you were saying that your family's been searching for her since Valentine's Day weekend. You've actually searched this area on a hunch. Tell me about that. Yes, we did that. Several times we came over here, my son, my daughters, they did too. And me, myself, I was very close to that area.

I was about 300, 400 feet away from that specific area. I went down the canyon down there and looking for her because I saw a car down there and But it was hard for me to get where they found this body because I was a little bit far away in this hard to get there because there is a lot of a lot of bushes and all that you know, but I was very close to that. I wish I could, you know, work a little bit more down there and probably I could have found there. It pains me to say that Erica's body was badly decomposed,

due to exposure. And when she was found, it became clear to investigators that her body was put there intentionally. By 11 a.m., her remains were sent to the coroner's office where the autopsy could be performed. And there are details to her being found that are important to the investigation, but I spoke with Denora about it

and we decided that I'm not going to be sharing them. These details are both devastating and graphic and there are certain members of Erica's family who for their own mental while being in protection, they have decided not to read the full autopsy report and I don't want my show to be where they hear those details for the first time in the event that they tune in. It was an emotional day for friends and family members of Erica Alonzo. She disappeared in February. Her body was found last month near or take a highway and K K. I don't know which

county reported Michelle Gilly was at today's service. I'm not going to stop. I'm not going to stop until we find the person who did this. A promise from Erica Alonzo's father to his daughter on the day the Laguna Hills woman was laid to rest.

The 28-year-old's body was found in a dry creek bed off of Ortega Highway 11 days ago. Alonzo had been missing since Valentine's Day. Authorities report that she was last seen had her on again off again, boyfriends Irvine residents. The pair had allegedly gotten into an argument. The victim's father says he is not spoken to that man. We were expecting him to come forward and say, I will you. I want to help searching for a liqueur

and do something. I don't know what happened. He never did that. I don't know. Before I go any deeper into this, I want to Nora to tell you guys how her family found out about Erica's body being found because no family should ever find out information this way. The day that Erica's body was found,

my aunt called me. She commutes, so she has to go through Vertega onto Orange County and she called me after she had gone through because you don't get reception there and she was like oh my gosh there's a little bit of place they found a body something's going on so right away I called my mom and she called Erica's dad. He went up there, but of course they weren't letting him go near or anything. They did call my mom and later on,

and tell her that they did find a body. We kind of knew, suspected that it was probably her because that's an area that authorities searched right away. It was an area where Erica's ex would ride his motorcycle a lot and he would, you know, you know, the place, you know. So that's an area they searched after they searched. We searched, we literally drove or take a, and wherever we were able, you know, we could park,

we would park and look and just try to see, you know, looking but trying to find something, but not wanting to find something. We went the whole thing. We didn't find anything. We saw a lot of cars that were out there, but no Erica. So that day, that, we saw that on the news, we kind of suspect that it was most likely her. And I didn't think they were gonna be able to like ID her right away. At least that's what you see in shows, you know, that they don't, they have to do,

done a work or stuff like that. So I decided to stay home and I'm like, I'll head out tomorrow, you know, down to Orange County, because I live in LA. But that afternoon, I had the TV on, and I don't know what I was doing. I just heard the news, you know, breaking news. The body of Erica Lonzo was found off of her taiga.

And I was so mad. I was so mad in her because I was like, how could my sisters or my mom not call me? So I started calling them, calling them, nobody's answering. Point is that they had literally just left and the my sisters, like they are literally just leaving the place, like literally just walking out.

So someone must have told the news, people, you know, what was going on and that's how I found out that my sister was found. It was really upsetting to me to hear that this family had to find out such horrific news on the local news. The family should always be the first to know if something was found, even if it is a false alarm. And what was also really disheartening was the early results of the autopsy because of the level of decomposition The corner was unable to determine a cause of death Without cause of death they can't determine the manner of death the Orange County Sheriff's Department released a statement saying there were no

obvious signs of trauma to her body, but when her family got a hold of the autopsy later on they were really confused because it contradicted this statement. There were very obvious signs of trauma to her body. According to the autopsy record, and this is something that I am allowed to share, Erica had several bruises, including one that was five by four inches on the right side of her skull. And if that doesn't frustrate you and confuse you, the result of the toxicology definitely will. On July 22nd, the toxicology report came back and it showed that

Eric's blood alcohol content was 0.22, which is almost three times the legal limit in the state of California. But that's not even necessarily what really shocked everyone. The real shock here was that Erica had a lethal dose of GHB in her system. And with that information, the corner ruled her cause of death as an overdose. First of all, if you're not familiar with GHB,

it's also known as the date rape drug. You've probably heard of that. And second of all, this is're not familiar with GHB, it's also known as the date rape drug. You've probably heard of that. And second of all, this is not a drug that Erica would have taken recreationally. So for it to be ruled that she died of an accidental overdose means that she would have taken it herself willingly. And I cannot stress enough, especially after talking to her family, that Erica would not have taken this drug willingly. In fact, this is a drug that Larry would take recreationally.

Allegedly, GHB was his go-to drug, according to some of his acquaintances. And what's most messed up about all of this to me is that by police saying that she died of an accidental overdose, they're saying that she died as a result of her own actions. And they said they couldn't rule out the manner of death as homicide. Here's a statement based on the totality of the investigation, including interviews, evidence collection, autopsy, and toxicology results. Investigators do not believe that Miss Alonzo was the victim of a homicide. They continue to pursue information as the circumstances that led to Miss Alonzo was the victim of a homicide. They continue to pursue information as the circumstances that led to Miss Alonzo's death

and her body being located off the Ortega highway. So essentially, they're saying that she chose to take the date rape drug at a dose high enough to kill her, chose to abandon her car, and then chose to magically reappear 30 miles away in a dry creek bed, she never would have taken something as strong as GHB. She also was smart enough to know that you never, ever mix GHB with alcohol. It can be extremely dangerous. I mean, there's literally a reason why predators mix the two.

They know it will completely incapacitate someone, so why would anyone want to do that to themselves? But let's just say for the sake of playing Devil's advocate here, which I shouldn't have to do, but I'm going to, that Erica intentionally consumed GHB and alcohol and overdosed. If that were the case, tell me how she then got into this national forest more than 30 miles away. We know that she didn't take her car there, so there had to be someone who put her there. A lieutenant with the Sheriff's Department even stated that there was evidence that her body had been dumped there. Now had Erica have been put in that creek bed from the beginning, her body would have been much further decomposed.

You see what I'm getting at here? This suggests that she was kept somewhere else before she was moved to that creek bed. So why have police come to the conclusion that this was an accidental overdose when there is evidence to suggest that it definitely wasn't? Why are they not looking for the person who was responsible? How did her car end up in that neighborhood?

Someone had to have driven it there, and the results of that toxicology report proved that she would not have been able to drive. Maybe if the car had been banged up, and there was something to suggest that it had been driven there by a drunk driver, we could go down that road, but that's not the case. The car was in perfect condition. And I hope that we can all agree here that even if her death wasn't accident, the disposal of her body was certainly not, and whoever is responsible for that needs to be brought to justice. I could probably sit here for hours and theorize all the ways that this is clearly a homicide or at the very least an instance of tampering with evidence.

But the reality is we need the police to be doing this work and it keeps getting passed from detective to detective and nothing is getting done. I mean has Larry's truck even been tested for Erica's DNA in a place that maybe it shouldn't have been like the trunk? A search warrant was conducted at Larry's house, but cadaver dogs were never brought in. I just want to note that everyone mentioned today is innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.

Erica's life was celebrated at her memorial on May 8th, and even though her family didn't have the entire picture of what happened to her yet, they knew one thing. Erica was a kind, loving, outgoing young woman who deserved so much more than what she got in the end of her life. She was a daughter, a sister, an aunt, and she had dreams of becoming a mother herself.

Erica loved children, especially spending time with her nieces and nephews. She even spent a lot of her time looking after Larry's daughter, even though it wasn't her responsibility. She was just that kind of person. DeNora told me that when her body was found they were given a choice if they wanted to see her or not. They were told and recommended that they don't because it could really scar them. She really struggled with this decision. She felt like seeing her body would make it more real

that she could get that closure in some way to just know that she was actually gone, but they ended up deciding not to see her. They knew that Erica would have wanted to be remembered the way she was before she was killed. Her father was actually the only one to see her, and I cannot imagine what that was like for him. As time began to pass without more answers as to what happened to Erica, their family

has not stopped fighting. Erica's law, which went into effect on January 1st, 2018, stated that police would now have more time to prosecute anyone who dumps a body in an effort to conceal a crime. The law originally stated that perpetrators of this type of crime could be punished only up to one year after the crime took place. However, the new law extends the statute of limitations to four years. This is such an incredible step that the family took to try and get justice for Erica and anyone else whose fate is similar to hers.

Please help me get justice for my daughter. I don't want to die and not get answers. I just wanted to mention that Erica had many goals, many dreams. She was a type of person that would look out into the future and be like, what am I going to do with my life? I'm going to do this, I'm going to do this, and I'm going to do this. When we were going through her things, we found a journal and in it she had a bucket list. And this we already knew she wanted to go back to school, get a degree

and just you know continue her education. Of course you wanted to have kids and she was a big dreamer so for her to have all these dreams and somebody just literally take them away and act like nothing, act like you know I do anything. Walkway is very, very hard. I can't imagine how difficult it's been for them to not have answers to not have justice, but with all of the energy and determination they have, I can only hope that that will result in that justice one day. And of course, as I mentioned earlier, you guys can help their family in their road to justice. So we have come up with an action plan and that will all be detailed in the description. For starters, we think it's important to get the attention of the Orange County Sheriff's Department and ask

that they continue to pursue this case. While they have expressed that they are waiting for more evidence to turn up, I don't see why they can't go through old evidence, re-interview people, and overall just try harder. There are a few points of contact for the Sheriff's Department. I think we can reach out to because unfortunately, and I've seen this happen before, they sometimes will block our calls and even our emails. But I don't want that to deter you.

It doesn't hurt to try. So their Twitter account is OC Sheriff. And in the description, there will be some text that you can copy, paste, making it super easy for you to help. Another person you can contact with the Sheriff's Department is Robert Taft. I do want to be clear here that he has been helpful to denora. So please approach with kindness. We just wanted you guys to have a specific person

to contact instead of contacting, you know, the front desk or a general person that answers the phone. So his email is rwtafttft at ocsharefs.gov. And just like on Twitter, I will have something written up in the description of this video that you can copy paste to make it really easy for you. And if you're unable to do any of these action items, but still want to help, there are other ways that you can. We have just got a petition started.

I feel that petitions are helpful. They don't always work, but having numbers all organized in one place, I do feel like can be helpful. So why not? This can help the Orange County Sheriff's Department see how many people want justice for Erica. It is so easy to sign a petition. It only takes like a minute and it can make a big difference. And lastly, like I mentioned at the beginning, there is now a GoFundMe setup for their family.

This will be used for funds for a private investigator, which is going to be vital for their case. And again, I have made a donation on behalf of this channel, but if you are able to make a donation, even a small amount, anything helps, and it is so greatly appreciated. Of course, I wish I had more to share with you guys. I hope that this can get things going in the right direction. And all of you out there who participate in these cases and help these families, you are doing so much.

I cannot even tell you there are several cases that I've covered that I can't even talk about yet. Some of them there's stuff going on behind the scenes, huge things that you guys have definitely had a part in and it's amazing to see it playing out. You might feel like you're just one person but all of you together can move mountains. I've seen it before and I think we can really help this family. Thank you all so much for tuning in and a huge thank you to Denora, Margarita, and Tanya. That is going to be it for me today guys. Thank you for joining me for another episode and make sure you follow the show on Spotify and Apple podcasts. It

really does help me out. If you want to watch the video version of this show, you can find it on my YouTube channel, which will be linked, or you can just search Kendal Ray. I will be back with another episode soon, but until then, stay safe out there. From joyful occasions to the unexpected, first Franklin financial makes loans for living, offering fixed rates and flexible terms on loans up to $15,000. The next time you're looking for some extra cash to help make ends meet, come see the friendly Franklin folks, or visit us at 1ffc.com to learn more. All loan terms and APRs depend on meeting are underwriting an income criteria and may require

collateral. First Franklin financial corporation is licensed by the Virginia State Corporation Commission CFI-215, Georgia Residential Mortgage Licency 5656, MMLS, and the 14165 for not available in North Carolina. From joyful occasions to the unexpected, first-ranked financial mix loans for living, offering fixed rates and flexible terms on loans up to $15,000. The next time you're looking for some extra cash to help make ends meet, come see the friendly Franklin folks, or visit us at 1ffc.com to learn more. All in terms of APRs depend on meeting our underwriting and income criteria and may require

collateral. First Franklin Financial Corporation is licensed by the Virginia State Corporation Commission CFI-215, Georgia Residential Mortgage Licency 5656, MMLS, and the 1416-540, not available in North Carolina. Number 1416-64, not available in North Carolina.