True Crime with Kimbyr - College Student Murdered After 4th Of July Party: Part 2

Episode Date: July 13, 2025

In Part 2 of this chilling case on True Crime with Kimbyr, Kimbyrleigha dives deeper into the investigation surrounding Megan Barroso’s murder. As detectives piece together surveillance footage, disturbing patterns begin to emerge—pointing to a predator with a shocking past. Who was stalking Megan that night? How did a seemingly small clue crack the case wide open? With emotional testimonies and forensic breakthroughs, this episode reveals the disturbing truth behind Megan’s final moments. Don’t miss this intense continuation of a story that shook a community. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

After they were finished reconstructing the scene, they towed the Pontiac to the crime lab for additional testing, and I'm sure you could imagine the news of a college student run off the road, shot at with an AK-47 and kidnapped, would make headlines. And the news was traveling fast. Everyone wanted to know if authorities had any leads to catch this person because they were still out there, and of course to find Megget. I'm sure you know that the first 24 to 72 hours are the most crucial time,

and it was ticking by. Officers set up roadblocks and they were questioning drivers hoping someone that had seen or heard something that could lead to an answer. This was vital to create a timeline. At least eight people who were stopped at that checkpoint said they saw something in the early morning hours of July 5th while driving in that same area. There were different accounts from each one of these people, but no one decided to stop. One person saw the car on the median at around 355 a.m., which would have been just minutes before the security guard came over and called 911. That witness said he just drove by. He saw the car. He saw the door open. He figured it's a drunk driver. They ran off after hitting the median. And the earliest sighting was at 255 a.m.

And that was crucial. That witness did more than anyone else besides a security guard. The guy saw the Pontiac pulled over on the side of the road. He got out of his car to check and see if someone was hurt. He didn't see anyone, but he noticed the sandal on the road and the broken glass. And like most witnesses, he concluded it was a drunk driver that fled the scene, so he left. So no one reported the car that night. Would you? I wondered. Because considering, I'm pretty sure we all watch a lot of true crime, I guess I would at least report that a vehicle had been crashed on the side of the road.

But no one seemed to notice the bullet holes. And I think that would have been a huge red flag. But most witnesses said they were just driving by quickly and they caught a glimpse of the car. detectives publicly made a plea for tips. They promised the family that they were going to find Megan, and they were hoping someone somewhere had something to say. Megan's face was appearing everywhere on the evening news, on flyers, and there was even a dedicated tip line that was constantly ringing.

But no tips really emerged from that. And this was frustrating. As the hours went on and then the days went on, the absence of any concrete answers was torture for Megan's loved ones. Every phone call that they received was full of anxiety. Every update without a resolution was just agony for them. It wasn't just the silence. Art was working closely with the police.

He was doing everything that he could to help find his daughter and the person who attacked her. But he worried constantly, not just for Megan, but for other people because if someone was capable of this, he thought it was likely they'd done it before and they would do it again. Art was also forced to do this balancing act because he was trying to help with a search for Megan,

but still care for his other four children, two of whom were young enough to grasp the fear, but not fully aware of the reality of the situation, that their sister might not be coming home. Every night, they would ask questions that Art didn't really have the answers to, questions about where their big sister was when she was coming back. They looked at their father for strength and he was trying to deliver it, but he was feeling broken himself.

To him, the only thing that mattered was to tell him, to keep hoping. No matter how bad things got, he made it clear that Megan would remain alive in his heart and his mind until someone proved otherwise. They were not going to give up on her. But if Art stopped for a minute and started to think, the fear would just wash over him. Because learning that his daughter had come under fire from an AK-47 brought him back, he had memories that he thought to forget, because he was a young sergeant in Vietnam. And he had heard the terrifying sound of that style rifle many times before, and he knew the feeling of being scared that he might not survive.

Just 20 years old back then, the same age Megan was on the night she was last seen, Art vividly remembered lying in the dirt with bullets overhead and praying that he'd somehow make it out alive. And now, decades later, that same horrifying sound was echoing through his mind again, but this time it was his daughter, facing it alone. And no matter how hard he tried to push away those images, they just kept coming back. Of Megan trapped in her car, with bullets shattering glass around her, and you knew all too well the helplessness, the desperation,

especially when you're faced with something you cannot control. What hurt him the most was wondering about whether she called out for him, whether she thought about her father in those moments. That made him wish more than ever that he could have been there to protect him. his daughter. And when I read that, I could not help but get teary-eyed because it's painful to think that we can't always protect the people we love because life is so unpredictable and it's so fragile. And that reality is hard to accept sometimes. Plus, the weight of constant attention from the media that added another layer to all of this. Calls from reporters were coming into the house, and they would

catch him off guard. And during one live TV interview, when he didn't have a chance to really know what was going to be said, a reporter mentioned the bullet holes in Megan's car. And even though he already knew about this, it had been privately shared with him, he now heard it, repeated casually, broadcast it for everyone else to hear. And that made it real. And I think sometimes, you know, these families, they're now a public spectacle. They're now being talked about. People are shocked and there's these stories. And here we talk about these stories on this channel. And I don't think everyone thinks about that. I realize we're human. We're curious. We want to learn about these stories. But when you are, and even late breaking, especially when they haven't even been solved,

just remember that there are people hurting, people who have lived through that pain. So I do try my best not to forget that. And behind the scenes, detectives were still working nonstop, because this was a mystery. It was even a mystery why someone would target Megan. Every aspect of her life was being scrutinized, her friendships, her relationships, her college activities, her social habits, but nothing unusual surfaced. Megan wasn't involved in risky behaviors. She didn't have a jealous former boyfriend or even current one. No disputes. She was a college student focused on her future, studying hard, holding down a part-time job, and just enjoying the summer with her friends. Detectives found themselves confronted by just

the randomness of this crime. An ordinary girl who was attacked and vanished without warning on a short drive home from a friend's house. If the first witness said that they saw her at 255, that means it was only 10 minutes after she left Lindsay's house. And the public interest just kept getting more and more intense because of the media updates. Tips were pouring in by the hundreds at this point and they were overwhelming the detectives. One tip in particular piqued their interest. An anonymous caller claimed that they witnessed something. something suspicious on the night Megan vanished. A man was forcing a body resembling Megan's

into a trunk of a burgundy sedan in the remote Santa Susanna Mountains. Now, those mountains had a sinister reputation. They were a known dumping ground for victims of violence. And the possibility that this might have been Megan really intensified this investigation. Immediately, there was a new bulletin released. It was pleading for anyone who might have seen a burgundy car,

that evening to come forward. And detectives searched that location, and they combed through brush and ravines. But after days, that tip went nowhere. It had been an unrelated event, and still, the investigators knew that it couldn't have been ignored. It did feel very disappointing because they felt like they were set back now, because Megan was still missing.

And every second mattered because she could still be alive. And as the days passed with no fresh leads, this case was beginning to get stale. They had to go in a different direction. And sure, it could have been a random road rage attack. But what if it wasn't? Megan had just started a new job on May 21st. She was a production purchasing assistant at that retail job.

And since that was something different that she added to her ordinary routine, the detectives decided to expand the search to her workplace. They sifted through emails that she printed out, 10 pages of seemingly ordinary exchanges, but they were combing through them. And then a reminder note that was left taped to her computer screen. She was probably just reminding herself to do a task, but that would never be completed. Personal items were taken from her desk, handwritten documents, signatures, scribbled notes,

every scrap of paper was scrutinized to see if there was like a hidden meaning or some kind of overlooked threat. Detectives were studying her handwriting carefully. They were seeing like, does it reveal stress or her state of mind? I mean, they were trying to find anything that could show that someone, wanted to hurt her. But despite hours that they spent analyzing those everyday items, nothing came out. Megan's workplace offered no clues, only reminders about how fast her life changed. Meanwhile, as search teams expanded their efforts even more into the rugged remote terrain all around Ventura County, an unexpected discovery was uncovered. In a steep

Revene of Grimes Canyon, a researcher spotted something really unsettling. It ended up being a human skull. It was weathered and it was partially obscured under a whole bunch of brush, but still, it wondered, could it be Megan? Now, they carefully examined the skull. And the medical examiner quickly confirmed that the remains were a male, so this wasn't Megan. But what they did find out was really frightening. Now, this was from an unrelated situation, an unrelated case. It was a fatal accident a year earlier involving another missing person. But what it made them realize was that these remote canyons had hidden secrets. And Megan's was still waiting to be uncovered. Her secret was still out there. And I wonder how many places like this are hiding things that are never found. It's actually chilling to think about that. Moore Park, where Megan lived, had bragged for a long time about, about a lot of its reputation of being the safest city in Ventura County. And her dad thought that might be the reason why Ventura County Sheriff's Department seemed like they didn't want to draw any more attention

to Megan's case. Now, you think that that's what they would want. National attention. Because Art planned a TV interview on the early show, hoping that would bring in even more leads. However, on July 16th, the producer called him and told him the segment was canceled. Why? Because apparently a detective from the sheriff's office, contacted the producer, and refused to take part in anything related to Megan's case. They said that there were no benefits that would come from going national. They wanted to keep the tips coming in locally and not be flooded with false leads. Fair enough, I guess, but as a parent, not acceptable. In their point of view, the sheriff's office thought it was too much too soon. They wanted to fully exhaust all of their resources before expanding to more outreach, and I'd

don't know if that really makes sense to me, but to them, I feel like maybe they just didn't want information to get out because the investigation was still fresh. What if they released too much information and they didn't have anything that they could kind of get the suspects or the killer to admit, right? Because sometimes they'd like to keep that under reps. But on Tuesday, July 17th, the sheriff's office announced they were going to offer a $25,000 reward for information leading to Megan's whereabouts and a website, Megan Browell. Roso.org was launched at the end of the month. Now the community could get updates, they could donate,

and they could support the search efforts. I found an archived version of that website, and it included a few pictures of Megan, the details around her disappearance, the reward, and the contact information for tips. They also released an official description of Megan, and what she was wearing the night she vanished or was taken. She was five feet four inches tall and weighed 110 pounds.

She has shoulder-length brown hair, Brown eyes and was last seen wearing a green short-sleeved t-shirt, white capri pants with a green bomber jacket, with orange lining, and brown sandals. But we know her sandals were found at the scene. The Ventura County Sheriff's Office formed a task force, and they were dedicated to Megan's case. It was made of 20 officers who were closely monitoring leads, and they were actively involved in finding her, and each one of them had their own specialty. Whether that was a canine officer, a homicide detective, or deputies for her. from the major crime squad. And in addition, Sergeant Lorenzen

wanted a fresh perspective on the case. And there had been a forensic psychological profiler that was gaining a lot of recognition at the time. Her name was Sharon Hagen, and she was the only recognized criminal investigative profiler in the state of California in 2001. She had a reputation for working on complex and high-profile crimes, ones that baffled

even the most experienced detectives, and just to put things in perspective. She worked for the Department of Justice, and ended up consulting on the Lacey Peterson case. And now she appears on a number of true crime shows like The Zodiac, American Murder, and very scary people that dives into the minds of really twisted criminals, like serial killers John Wayne Gacy and Charles Manson. But back in 2001, Sharon had already been profiling criminals for over a decade. She was actually self-taught, which is pretty impressive.

She taught herself criminal investigation and crime scene analysis. And then she went on to study with that. the FBI's National Center for the analysis of violent crimes. Later, she did obtain a doctorate in clinical psychology, and she assisted on numerous cases for prosecutors and law enforcement agencies. She often helped pinpoint what kind of perpetrator they were looking for, and that would lead to their capture.

But she didn't just work on California cases. She was highly sought after all over the country. So Sergeant Lorenzen was grateful to have her on board, to help them put together a profile of the person who might have attacked and taken Megan, and by this time, They knew that the likelihood of her still being alive was slim. The focus was now on finding her and getting justice.

Criminal investigative analysts like Sharon typically come in on cases like Megan's when detectives don't have any suspects at all. And Sharon will analyze the crime scene and the evidence or the lack thereof in any witness testimony and they'll create a list of characteristics, including psychological factors, behavioral patterns, and motives of a person likely to commit the type of crime they're investigating. For example, to make it simple, let's say there's a bunch of burglaries happening

in a particular part of town, and they all have similar characteristics. Like maybe they're always on the second story of an apartment building during work hours from 9 to 5, and no one ever sees it happening. And the person gains access through a sliding glass door on the balcony, and they leave a signature object behind every time.

Well, a profiler may conclude that the offender is not employed, at a regular job since they have time to break in from 9 to 5 when people are at work. And they're experienced because they get in and out without being seen. They're young and fit because they climb up a building to get inside, and they're skilled and experienced. And they probably want to make a name for themselves by leaving something behind. So you can probably see how this could help narrow down who police would look for or look at first.

If they have a list of potential suspects and 10 of them work at 9 to 5, They could skip over them for the time being and invest more time and focus on the ones that wouldn't be at work during the burglaries. This is a profile, I mean in the simplest terms. This helps utilize limited time wisely and focus on more likely suspects. I'm sure you can see the value in that. So Sharon wanted to understand what kind of person would commit a crime like this. And you are all really smart when it comes to clues. I bet you already caught on that this offender is bold.

They're driven by something that feels much greater than the risk to their freedom and possibly had a sexual motive. Why? Well, Megan's young. She's a beautiful female all alone and vulnerable in the middle of the night. This area was public and frequently traveled. He got out of his vehicle and shot a high-powered rifle from the middle of the street. All of that right there shows very specific characteristics. But Sharon was going to go way deeper.

She was especially well-versed in profiling sexually deviant criminals. Most recently, she had been diligently completing a profile for the elusive Seamy Valley racist, a man who was still on the loose and committed a series of rapes and kidnappings that began in 1996 in Seamy Valley, California. There were at least 10 of these crimes that had a very similar pattern to the point where they were deemed to be committed by the same person, even though they hadn't tracked him down yet, but they felt like they were getting closer and closer, and this kind of reminds me of Richard Ramirez,

you know, the night stalker. That's the kind of guy that Sharon was helping track down and see Me Valley. And now she was using her expertise to try to help find Megan's attacker. Sharon examines everything, and she begins to hone in on the motive someone would have

to harm someone like Megan. On one hand, someone could assume that Sharon was a bit biased or has tunnel vision because she works on so many cases that deal with women being violated. She begins to believe that that was what this man was after, that he saw Megan driving alone that night and wanted to have his way with her, but the detectives pushed back.

They were going more with the road rage scenario, someone drunk that took something Megan did on the road the wrong way. But Sharon saw similarities to other cases she worked on that involved fantasy, an obsession, the taking part, the fact that Megan was taken from the scene, If it was just to get back at her for running into his car, let's say, why would you take her? Sharon's perspective was to have his way with her. But the detectives weren't so sure, and one reason was because men who commit these violation type of crimes usually do everything in their power to keep it low-key.

They sneak around, they wear disguises, they enter and get out quickly after they have their way with them. And the one big thing, they don't usually kill. We're not saying in every single situation, but, Typically, if the motive is merely physical, they don't take a person's life. They don't just come to a roadway to find their victims either. They break into their homes at night. But Sharon argued this offender was leaving the scene with the victim, Megan, to seek privacy to commit the act. Now, this theory offered a potential direction to take the case because they could look into all the offenders that live in that area, for example, bring them in one by one to see if they had an alibi for that night.

But the detectives thought, the one detail made. made it hard to reconcile, and that was the weapon. It was big. It was loud, and it was destructive. The opposite of what an offender like that would want. They typically use methods that allow them to assert control without drawing attention to themselves. Megan's attack suggested rage, chaos, and someone that was so angry, they didn't care about being seen.

So it contradicted everything they knew about perpetrators of those violation-type crimes. And I can't say the word, but I think you know what I mean. But Sharon knew more. She was the expert in this category, and she was immersed in the details of the Seamy Valley cases. One happened to a young woman named Joanne just two years before Megan was attacked.

Joanne was talking to her boyfriend on the phone late one night when chaos shattered her quiet room. An unknown man burst into her door, wearing a mask and blinding her with a beam of a flashlight. He shouted that he was the police, and Joanne barely had time to process what was happening before the intruder got control. He ordered her to lie face down, demanded that she removed her clothes, and quickly

give him her car keys. He had a knife. He covered her head with a blanket, and he warned her to get in her car or she would die. She did what he said, and she was forced to drive to an isolated park where there was already a carpet on the ground. This meant that he had planned this. So let me break this down. Sharon was showing that sure, Joanne was initially attacked at her home, but she was taken to a second location, which is actually not uncommon. And if you don't know the rule, detectives will tell you not to let an attacker take you to a second location. The reason why is you're more likely to never be found if they take you away from familiar surroundings where you have connections.

So it was true that these type of offenders can remove someone and take them to a more private area. But detectives also knew that this Joanne victim was returned to her home by the perpetrator, and she wasn't killed, she wasn't even harmed. So that didn't add up to Megan's case. However, at this point, even though it had already been a couple weeks since Megan vanished, no one knew if she was dead.

They knew she was harmed, but she could very well still be alive. So that meant Sharon's theory still held some weight. Detectives had to at least look into the potential that Megan's attack was related to a man who wanted to have his way with her. So they look for any recent cases of women being attacked and violated,

and they found one that just occurred on July 10th, less than a week after Megan was attacked. So stay with me, because I know investigations are tedious, especially when you're listening to a deep dive like this. So there's a lot. But they had to look into leads that were in that time frame, and this one stood out. Interestingly, Sharon was already looking into that same crime

because she thought the M.O. had some of the characteristics that matched the profile of the Seamy Valley cases. I'm going to tell you about what happened and see if you can find something significant because it was kind of hard to tell if this crime was related to Megan's. The most recent victim was a 22-year-old named Donna. In her case, it had just gotten dark when Donna decided to walk the familiar mile and a half route to her boyfriend's house. She had walked this path plenty of times before.

She always felt safe, but that night was different. Halfway through her journey, without any warning, someone lunged from the shadows of the nearby bushes, and they pressed a cold blade against her neck and said, Don't scream. He demanded money. She said she didn't have any. She was terrified.

Then he ordered her to toss her phone into the bushes, making sure that she couldn't call for help. It was dark, but there were streetlights on. And Donna noticed that this man was dressed entirely in dark clothing and gloves, and nearby she saw his truck, a Ford Ranger with pale beige interior idling. Before she could figure out what was happening, this man quickly bound her ankles tightly with duct tape and secured her wrists in metal handcuffs. And then he forced her into his vehicle from the driver's side door.

Inside the confined space of the truck, this stranger began making demands. And when Donna hesitated, she was shaking and frightened. His calm voice turned into anger. She remembered how harsh his commands became whenever she failed to follow through on what he demanded. And she finally had to comply or get hurt. And when she stopped, he would ask her why she wasn't continuing. And I don't even need to say this, but she was extremely terrified. And after briefly driving, he pulled up to a house, guided Donna inside, and he took off the tape and pushed her toward a dark bedroom.

Donna noticed the windows were blacked out with some kind of curtains. and she was in this isolated room and commanded to undress, and then she had to endure another horrifying act. And after he was done, he changed his tone, almost like he was complimenting Donna at this point, saying that her boyfriend was a really lucky guy, calling her beautiful, and that he regretted they had to meet under these awful conditions

rather than somewhere else, when he was the one that created such a horrific circumstance. And yet another unsettling shift of his personality, he began trying to comfort Donna, even offering a Dr. Pepper and casually promising that, you know what, I'll take you back before you have to work in the morning, as though nothing was out of the ordinary. That's really disturbing. And finally, he covered her face with a sweatshirt, guided her back to his truck, and drove around for about 45 minutes, and Donna thought he was going to kill her.

But they finally returned to those bushes where she had been taken. He got out and he searched through the bushes for her phone using a flashlight. And then he began asking her questions all about Cal State, the college she went to. And that made her really worried. She wondered, had they met before? Had their paths crossed without her knowing it? When he demanded her address, she gave her boyfriend's address instead. And he got angry.

And he confronted her pointing out, that's not the address. your license. And just before he actually released her, he stopped short of reaching her boyfriend's house and he leaned in with a really disturbing request. He wanted a goodbye kiss. Donna just ran. She went right into her boyfriend's house and immediately dialed 911. She spent hours recounting every vivid detail to investigators, his face, his vehicle, the room, his garage, So tell me, did you catch any similarities in Donna and Megan's cases? Sharon thought there were. The only one that I could confidently say was that they were both taken.

Detectives decided not to link this attack to Megan. But Sharon did add this one to her list of potential Simi Valley victims because of the location had happened, the age of the victim, the way that she looked, all the Seamy Valley victims were petite, young, and had dark hair. And then there were other characteristics. that she was familiar with in the other cases that she studied. But Megan's case was still going cold. But I won't make you wait much longer, I promise,

because soon there would be a huge break in her case. And it wasn't because the detectives or even Sharon caught a lead. No. It was an arrest that occurred in another county due to a man calling the police and saying that his neighbor had just burglarized his home. This was on July 26th, and only two and a half weeks,

from when Megan was attacked. The man that was arrested was 31-year-old Vincent Sanchez. His roommate, Josh Reno, was being questioned about what he knew about the burglary and any weapons that Vincent had access to. And that's when an AK-47 was mentioned. It wasn't Vincent's, though. It belonged to his roommate, Josh.

But he told officers that Vincent could have accessed it. He kept it in a gun case underneath his bed in his room. The officers asked if Josh would let them see the rifle. He obliged. They drove over to the house that he shared with Vincent and their other roommate, Steve, and Josh opened up the gun case, showed the officers the AK-47. The bullets were housed in green-tinted shell casings, just like the ones found at the intersection where Megan's rental car was found.

But this arrest and search were happening in a totally different county. These officers weren't even aware of Megan's case. They were investigating the burglary and taking inventory of items that could have been stolen from the neighbors like a weapon. I'm just letting you in on the connections. So it already makes sense to you when you hear the bombshell. And how crazy, this all came together. The officers leave.

Vincent is sitting in a jail cell waiting to be officially charged for robbing his neighbor, but they were still missing all the items that were allegedly taken, jewelry, potential weapons, and other valuables. So that's why the officers were asking Josh about certain items in the home. But nothing was uncovered at the time. However, that night, Vincent calls Josh from jail, and he asked him, can you do me a huge favor? Get rid of a bag that I threw in the recycling bin outside the house. This was somewhere police hadn't looked.

The garbage pickup wasn't scheduled for the next few days, so Vincent was scared that it would be found. Josh, who was clearly already cooperating with the police, actually lied to Vincent. He's like, yeah, I'll handle it. But really, he planned on looking inside the bag. figuring it was connected to the burglary, and then turning it over to police. Well, he couldn't have imagined what was inside that bag, because it wasn't jewelry or weapons.

Instead, he found a number of VHS tapes, videotapes for those of you that are a little bit younger. These were the kind that you record on yourself with a video camera. And that was really odd. Josh got even more curious about what was on these tapes that Vincent would be so worried about the cops not finding. So he brought them in the house, put one of them in his VCR, he turned on the TV,

and what he saw was horrifying. Just imagine thinking that you know your roommate. He's your friend. He's someone you trust, someone you live with, and imagine seeing them on a video carrying out the most vile acts on young women. That was what was on these tapes. Even though the man in the video was wearing a ski mask,

Josh recognized his, voice. He knew it was Vincent. In some of the videos, he's yelling at these women to do certain things to him. He's recording the axe while it appears that he's in their homes at night. One was a woman in the shower, but it wasn't at Vincent's house. And as Josh watched in horror, victim after victim appeared on these tapes, being held a knife point, forced to commit axe, and then commanded to take a shower to wash away any evidence. And sometimes Vincent would join them. He would degrade these poor victims, call them names, yell at them, and even hurt them. All while recording. I can't even imagine seeing that. It's sick, and it made Josh sick to his

stomach. He never suspected Vincent would be capable of something like this, and that's what makes it even more terrifying. And the deeper he dug inside that bag, Josh found other disturbing items. A number of women's thongs, photos of women in compromising positions in different states of undress, including Vincent's current girlfriend of three years, Lou's LaFargo. Josh called his other roommate Steve into the room so that he could be another witness, and then they both looked through the videos and the other items, and they were in total disbelief. Then they called the police. None of the victims on these tapes or in the photos was Megan, just to be clear. But we'll get there soon enough. Officers came back out to Vincent's house to collect the bag of evidence,

and they now had probable cause due a more in-depth search of this house, and in Vincent's bedroom they located a chest of drawers with what appeared to be souvenirs from his crimes. There was a number of valuables, women's clothing and undergarments, including bras, and more pictures, and other incriminating items. Knives, a black duffel bag with a 20-gauge shotgun inside, handcuffs, a camera? A bunch of personal papers with Vincent's name on them.

And on the floor next to a desk in Vincent's room was a green bomber jacket with orange lining. But this wasn't significant to these local officers. It didn't match the other type of souvenirs that Vincent had kept from his victims. So it was left crumpled on the floor for the time being. Now that the videotapes were in possession of the detectives working on Vincent Sanchez's case, they were diligently going through them frame by frame. He was facing serious charges for what was on those tapes.

They wanted to make sure they documented as much evidence as possible so they could prosecute him to the fullest extent of the law. What started as a burglary charge was now escalating by the minute, tape after tape, victim after victim, each one needing justice. But who were these women?

And were they even still alive? That's when profiler Sharon Hagan is called in. And I haven't mentioned this yet, But Vincent lived in Seamy Valley, you know, the location of all the victims being terrorized by the man pegged as a Seamy Valley rapist. Yeah. Sharon knew each victim's case in depth, and it didn't take long for her to realize the women on those tapes were the same ones that she'd been trying so hard to find justice for. Up to that point, she had only read about the horrifying experiences, heard them cry to officers and interviewers. But seeing the acts happen brought each terrifying attack into focus.

She knew she had found the Seamy Valley raised. It had to be Vincent Sanchez. They just had to put all the evidence together to prove it. The first step, as hard as it would be for the victims, was to see if any of them could pick Vincent out of a lineup. The problem was, he wore a ski mask during the attacks. That was one of the similar characteristics that Sharon has used to connect with. to connect these cases, along with a black duffel bag that he brought to each scene,

his kit that he would use with a flashlight and gloves and sometimes a camera, as well as other connections that were things like that he took their thongs with him, stole other personal belongings or valuables when he was inside their homes, and Sharon hoped that some of these women would be able to identify those items that were collected from Vincent's house. Another thing that was eerily similar in all these cases was that the offender seemed to know a lot of personal information about the victims, where they went to school, their nicknames, who their boyfriends were, and other chilling details. And not only that, he would act as though he was dating them. And after the attacks, he would sometimes be nice to them and have deep conversations about

religion, even divulge information about his childhood. Sometimes he was even familiar with the layout of their homes. And that's scary. They knew they needed to start with with Donna, the woman that had just been attacked on July 10th, just days after Megan's attack. She hadn't mentioned the attacker wearing a mask, but they thought that her case was connected to Simi Valley. So could she identify Vincent in a lineup? She had already described him, and his truck, and his house in detail. She told the officers that the man had a green Ford Ranger with beige interior, a bedroom with blackout-type curtains hanging from the windows, and dark, spiky hair with brown eyes that kind of slanted down at the

the outer corners, thick black eyebrows and high cheekbones, a mustache with a sculpted beard, and he was about five foot eight with muscular arms and chest. Donna saw his face, and even though it must have been absolutely terrifying to go to the police station and see if any men in that lineup matches description, she knew she had to. And she did. She immediately picked out Vincent Sanchez as her attacker. To Sharon, this meant that if those other cases she had connected were truly committed by the same man, he was a serial offender, and she needed to go one by one, and see if they were able to recognize items that he had taken from them. They also need to gather DNA from every victim and then test every item to see if they matched, the underwear in particular. But remember,

these attacks went all the way back to 1996, so at least six or seven years, and there could be more victims that Sharon wasn't aware of. But what about Megan? Because we're here to find out what happened to Megan? Based on the time frame in which Donna was attacked and the AK-47 being accessible to Vincent Sanchez, Sharon advised the detectives on Megan's case to reach out to investigators in Seamy Valley to explore any potential connections between the two cases. It was more of a hunch than anything else, but it was worth taking the chance. Even though the circumstances of Megan's this appearance didn't quite fit Vincent's usual crimes. Detective Barrios and Detective Lorenzen were permitted

to speak with Vincent's roommate Josh. And he let them look at the AK-47. Josh met them at his house that he shared with Vincent. He took the rifle case out from under his bed. He opened the case, and he let investigators take a look. The first question they asked was, do you have a cleaning rod for this gun? I'm going to tell you right now, they were probably holding

their breath waiting for that answer. to which Josh said, yes, I did. Did. Now that stood out. He said he usually kept it inside the barrel of the rifle unless he was using the gun, but now it was missing. He said the last time he used the gun, the rod was there. This was big for these detectives.

Not only did the gun and the type of ammunition match, but this rifle was missing the cleaning rod. And a cleaning rod was found at the scene on the ground near the intersection where the Pontiac was located. So they asked permission to look around and Josh showed them into Vincent's room. They didn't have a full search warrant at the time, but they were allowed to look with their eyes. And that's all they needed to realize that the green bomber jacket was on the floor next to his desk. It must have been a chilling but also an exhilarating moment because this was a link between Vincent and Megan.

They immediately took photos of the jacket and the condition it was in and location, and then they went back to get a probable cause. as search warrant to seize that jacket for testing, hoping that Megan's DNA would be found on it. Meanwhile, the investigators on Megan's case wanted to interview Vincent's roommate Stephen and Josh and anyone that had been with him the night of July 4th into the early morning hours of July 5th to establish whether this man had an alibi. Here's what investigators learned. There was a tiny get-together the night of July 4th. It consisted of a few of Vincent and his roommate's friends and some of the surrounding neighbors that they were close with. They all drank and watched fireworks in the front yard

until about 10 p.m. Then everyone dispersed. Steve and his girlfriend, Jessica, went inside the house to wind down. Vincent's friend Anthony did as well. Now, he was spending the night and sleeping in Vincent's room, and Vincent made a bed with a sleeping bag on the floor of the living room. Vincent stayed up late and drank beers with the next-door neighbor, Waukeen, who told investigators they probably had at least eight beers each, from 10 to 1.30 in the morning when walking in went home.

He said Vince was funny. He was talkative. He was happy. He was in a good mood. And he didn't see angry at all. And though he was drinking, he didn't seem wasted either. And I was thinking that was probably like one or two beers every hour or so. Vincent's roommate Steve told investigators that he remembered getting up to use the restroom at 2 o'clock in the morning. And he didn't see Vincent in the living room as he walked by. And that's where the window was. so he quickly just took a look outside. And the truck that Vincent drove wasn't in the driveway. Remember that around 2 a.m.,

Megan was finishing up mint chocolate chip shakes with friends and getting a ride back to Lindsay's house in Newberry. Vincent's roommate Steve also said that he woke up again in the middle of the night around 4 a.m. His girlfriend, Jessica, was awake as well, and he walked out to the living room, and he still didn't see Vincent. But he heard something outside in the driveway.