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Detectives announce arrest in  2002 murder of Brenda Sierra

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On Oct. 18, 2002, Victim Brenda Sierra was kidnapped in East Los Angeles while on her way to school and was later found murdered in Crestline California.

After years of investigation, five suspects were identified. The case was presented to the District Attorney’s Office where murder charges were formally filed in March 2015. Three of the suspects were arrested in 2015 and are awaiting trial. The fourth suspect was murdered in an unrelated homicide in East Los Angeles in May 2003.

The fifth suspect, George Barraza, fled to Mexico where he remained a fugitive from justice and was added on the list of US Marshal’s 15 most wanted.

In conjunction with the US Marshal’s Office, detectives were working on extraditing  Barraza back to the United States to stand trial.  The US Marshal’s Office was intricate in this process, monitoring the suspect’s activity in Mexico.

In September 2017, LASD detectives received information that Barraza had been killed in Sinaloa Mexico. US Marshal’s confirmed Barraza had been killed in Mexico which was verified via fingerprints by Homicide investigators.

Due to Barraza’s rumored reputation of being involved in local gangs in the East Los Angeles and drug cartels in Mexico, potential witnesses may have hesitated to come forward.  Detectives believe that additional individuals may have information related to this crime.

Anyone with information about this incident is encouraged to contact the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Homicide Bureau at (323) 890-5500. If you prefer to provide information anonymously, you may call “Crime Stoppers” by dialing (800) 222-TIPS (8477), use your smartphone by downloading the “P3 Tips” Mobile APP, or “P3 Mobile” for the hearing impaired, on Google play or the App Store, or by using the websitehttp://lacrimestoppers.org.

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