Coroner Says Woman Died From Gunshot

Megan Barroso, the 20-year-old Moorpark College student whose body was found during the weekend in a canyon southeast of Simi Valley, died from a gunshot wound to the abdomen, authorities said Sunday.

An autopsy positively identified Barroso’s badly decomposed body through dental records, said Mitch Breese, an investigator with the Ventura County Medical Examiner’s Office. Barroso’s body was found by a search team early Saturday in a ravine off Black Canyon Road.

Breese said jewelry and other clothing helped identify the woman’s body, which had been buried for weeks under piles of dried leaves and branches. He would not say whether Barroso had been sexually assaulted.

Barroso was last seen on the morning of July 5 leaving a friend’s house in Thousand Oaks. Her bullet-riddled Pontiac Sunfire was found under a freeway overpass about a mile from her home.

Sheriff’s officials Sunday declined to comment on the ongoing investigation but said they would release new information today.

Suzan Barroso, the victim’s mother who was among hundreds of volunteers who participated in Saturday’s search, said she is still struggling to cope with the loss of her daughter. She said an Irish friendship ring she had given Megan when she was 17 was still on the girl’s left middle finger when her body was found.

“I am taking it one step at a time and getting her clothing and her personal possessions and making arrangements for her memorial service,” Suzan Barroso said Sunday. “It’s such a loss. So many years that we have had together . . . you can’t forget that overnight. I don’t know how long it will take to get over this.”

Vincent Henry Sanchez, 30, of Simi Valley, is considered the chief suspect in the Barroso investigation. The unemployed handyman was arrested July 29 in connection with the sexual assaults of at least 11 Simi Valley women over the last five years.

Sanchez is scheduled to appear in court Tuesday to enter a plea on 57 counts of sexual assault, kidnapping and burglary. He is being held in Ventura County Jail without bail.

Shortly after his arrest, Sanchez was identified as a suspect in Barroso’s disappearance after police seized an AK47 assault rifle from his home. The rifle was missing a part similar to one found near Barroso’s battered car.

Authorities are still trying to determine whether the gun and the recovered part match. They are conducting ballistics tests to see if the weapon is the same one used to shoot up Barroso’s car.

Lab tests also are underway on several items of women’s clothing taken from Sanchez’s Woodrow Avenue home to determine if any belong to the victim. Sanchez has not been charged in the Barroso case.

Mother Overwhelmed by Community Support

Meanwhile, some of the more than 300 law enforcement officials and volunteers who participated in the search for Barroso’s body over the last several weeks said Sunday that they remain shaken by the experience.

“It hits home when you have kids,” said Robert Rutter, a 33-year-old Simi Valley resident who helped remove Barroso’s body from the ravine. “We brought Megan back to her family. There were so many unknowns at least we have now given them their daughter back. They know she has passed away.”

Ken Jeters, 44, a Simi Valley construction superintendent who was with the three-man team that found Barroso’s body, said the moment they made the discovery will never leave him.

“I’m sure I’ll think about it the rest of my life,” he said.

Suzan Barroso expressed deep appreciation for the outpouring of community support she had received.

“I was awed by the turnout,” she said. “I’m wondering if it’s not raising the consciousness about how easy it is to have something like this happen. There are some good-hearted people and I know that. . . . It was the evil that took down Megan, but it was the good that brought her back.”