The Case of Erica Alonso

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I have all the stuff, like all the research done, but I forgot that like every March March, what we usually do for International Women's Day and then like Women's Month is cover cases involving women in either Latin America or the US, like petin a women in the United States that like don't get enough attention or are still like unsolved, or there's still something like off about the case and they haven't gotten or like more attention never hurts. And that's what I'm doing and we're talking about Erica Alonso. Have you heard of her? I don't think so. Yeah. I posted I toiktok about her last year, but I realized I never did a episode on it, so I was like, oh, I might as well do a full episode. But yeah, we'll just there's no listener story. We'll just start with the case because it's depressing and sad, and I'm depressed in sad so fitting, yeah, fitting. Erica Melissa Alonso went out for Valentine's Day in twenty fourteen. She was with her on and off again boyfriend Larry, and he was likely the last person to see her alive. He refused to cooperate with her family and with police, and her family is still wondering what happened to her to this day. So. Erica Alonso was born in March twenty sixth, nineteen eighty seven, in Orange County, California. Her mother, Margarita, was from Mensalvador and her dad, Isaac was from Mexico or is from Mexico. Wow, it's like the opposite of us. Yeah, Mexic Salvis. The pair met in California and they went on to have a huge family. Erica was the third of six children, and her family describes her as fun, bubbily, always the one to bring the party, like the life of the party. She made friends with everyone, and a couple of her siblings' younger brother Isaac Junior and then one of her sisters Denorra I believe is her name. They would go on to say that maybe her being so friendly and trusting would be her downfall. She had dreams and aspirations. She graduated from Laguna Hills High School in two thousand and five, but she was, like geun sure of what to do after she graduated. She had different jobs after high school, including working at Disneyland, and she apparently loved Disneyland. I think she was a disney adult before the term was coined officially. And they were so close by that she was there almost every not almost every weekend, but a lot. Oh yeah. It was only thirty minutes from her house. So oh that's cool. I mean if I was that close, i'd be there too. Yeah. Actually, no, it's expensive if it was that close and cheaper exactly. And she was twenty seven years old when she disappeared. She had been planning on going back to school, and she also had just started a new job at Victoria's Secret. She told her dad Isaac, that she would give him grandchildren in five years. She was her niece's favorite person. She was the cool Tia and she loved them. Her nieces called Erica their best friend, and she wanted nothing more than to be a mother herself, but not yet, like she told her dad, in five years. She had like a plan and everything. She was not someone to have an uneventful night. If she had no plans, she made some. She was either always with her sisters and nieces, or out with friends, or her on and off again boyfriend Larry Rivera. So that's what she was always doing, either with one of those three things. And Larry was eighteen years older than Erica when they first got together. When she went missing, they had been together for two years. Oh, I was about to ask. Okay, so two years so she was twenty five, I mean she was an adult. It's still weird and he was like forty something. It's yeah, it's a big age gap, eighteen years, like you know, I mean like I'm not a fan of it for sure. Yeah. Their relationship was not always great. When they were happy, they were happy, always out together, partying out with friends, hiking, or hanging out with Larry's five year old daughter, who Erica loves like her own child. They knew how to have fun, but there was also a dark side to the relationship. Larry's neighbors in Irvine, California, they would often hear the couple fighting. Neighbors were forced to call the police on them, and they remember just a lot of screaming and like physical fighting. On November tewod twenty fourteen, police were called to Larry's home and Erica was charged with misdemeanor domestic violence with corporal injury. The following month, she was ordered to undergo alcohol abuse counseling. And it seemed like their loudest and more violent fights always happened when they were drinking. Makes sense. Larry also filed a restraining order on Erica, but that was dropped in less than two months by February of the following year. February twenty fifteen dropped the restraining order. And this is what the public record of what happened between them tells. Right, she was a be or it was a like toxic relationship. It was tumultuous. They argued, and she was the one who got physical. If you look at the record alone, that's what it says, but her family tells a different story. There was a comment left on a video about Erica going missing, and in one of the comments, someone said Larry was the victim of domestic violence at Erica's hands. Then Nora, her sister, who's been very vocal at her whole family has since her disappearance. She commented back, not to the person who commented that, not to tell lies when her sister cannot defend herself, she said, get your story straight. Police were called multiple times by Erica and by neighbors. The one time police arrived and Larry had one scratch on him, he pressed charges. Erica never wanted to press charges on him, and on paper it looks like Larry is the victim, but that's not the case. Did you know he almost broke her jaw once? It's very common. Yes, I was going to say that that you were gonna say, or yeah. When I was writing my notes, I was like, Kurma's gonna say, yeah, something about this, you know it? I mean, yeah, there's so many cases, and of course it's not to say that men can't be victims. Of domestic violence. But it's very, very extremely common for the actual victims to be arrested during incidents of domestic violence because oftentimes their perpetrators are able to maintain they're cool when the law enforcement arrives, and so the victim is the one that appears to be like hysterical, emotional, out of control, and so, yeah, they're the ones that are often arrested. Yeah, and that's what happened here according to her family, which I'm inclined to believe because I am biased and it's true, I'm not going to deny it. So her family maintains that Larry was the abusive one, and they tried time and time again to encourage Erica to leave Larry. Denra, her older sister, frequently tried talking to Erica about Larry. She would tell him that she was better than him, she deserves better, but Erica rarely wanted to hear it. DeNora recalls times when she noticed things that were off for that she just plainly didn't like. There was one time Erica and Larry arrived at a family party and they had just gotten there and in less than five minutes, he seemed upset, and they suddenly had to leave, no explanation, even though Erica wanted to stay. That's already like not a good sign to me. Yeah, it seems like controlling. Yeah. On another occasion, DeNora noticed that Erica ate less than half a burger, and when she was pressed like why are you not eating more? Erica said Larry told her she shouldn't eat as much because she'd gain weight and become unattractive. Well, Larry, and this was of course not counting the times she saw bruises or like saw Erica crying because something had happened, or a fight. Not to mention, when there were fights between them, Larry would call Denorra herself and or her older or her other sister Patricia, and say, we fought again. Erica's on her way over to stay with you guys, because that would happen frequently. They would get in fights and he would call and say, Erica's on her on her way to stay because they can't be together. And that happened like a little too much for like a normal, functional, happy relationship, So just it didn't look good and nobody liked Larry, even though Erica continues continuously brought him to have the family try and accept him like nobody liked him. I mean, you know, sometimes not always, but most of the time. And when your family feels a certain way about it certain someone, usually they're right, I mean haters, but a lot of times they're just looking out for you. Yeah, no, I agree, But sometimes a person just isn't ready to hear it, and that obviously was the case here. So that Valentine's weekend, Valentine's twenty fifteen, Erica and her sisters had plans to spend the day together Valentine's Day. They were going to stay in and watch cheesy, romantic movies. I love doing that. Yeah right, it sounds so fun. But Erica told them she had one thing to do first. She wanted to meet with Larry to talk about what had happened between them. Reminder again that that winter that just passed, so November December. November was when she got arrested because he had a scratch on his face. She had that restraining order placed on him, and he had just dropped it in the beginning of February, so that's what all, you know, what was going on, and she wanted to talk with him because they were gonna work things out. I think is what was her intention and what her family thought too, even though they didn't want her to. They were like, they couldn't make her stay right. Yeah, So she told them that she was going to go meet with Larry and she would see them tonight. That was the plan, and so they went out to lunch. Her family figured that which went well because they didn't hear from her again. Later that evening, like at nighttime, Erica sent them a snapchat story that they were at Club Sutra, but she still said but I'll see you guys later tonight. That was her last message to them. She said she see them later, and they saw that she was at Club Sutra and Costa Mesa. I cannot say it in English. I'm sorry. People get so upset when I do that, and I'm like, I'm sorry, I can't say mesa. Yeah, no, say Coasta Mesa like, oh, you know, who's I'm sure people say like that, but I can't do it. I can't. Yeah. So they were in Club Sutra and according to comments I found on Reddit, this Sutra club is a place where people couples go seek other couples for you know, oh what was it called again? Club Sutra oh okay, interesting. Yeah, and they also said that or the comments said it's one of the only true night clubs in the area and it was known for its drug use and also people being drug there. Oh well yeah. So while they were there, Erica and Larry met another couple at Sutra and they hit it off. They stayed there until the club almost until the cu closed, so around two am. Then Larry invited the couple to go back with them to his house and they all got into the couple's red Toyota Scion and they all hung out together until three forty five am. That was the last time Erica was seen alive. So later that morning, Sunday the fifteenth, twenty fifteen, Erica's family was growing concerned. They had not heard from Erica since the fourteenth, and like, yeah, this doesn't seem like a long time, but for them it was a long time. It wasn't normal like Erica. They were always all messaging each other, so like to anyone else, it's like, Okay, that's not that much time. It's the next day they were like, this is weird. She's never replying. It's like remember that time, did you notice? Yes, yeah, I remember the time that I you forgot your phone somewhere. Yeah, I don't remember what I did. It was so UNI like you, you don't have your phone, so we text, Well, let me just explain, sorry, go ahead. We would text all day long, me and Christina. I don't know if we had a group chat with my mom, but I would also text her throughout the day and or call her throughout the day too, And I think what happened was I left my phone in my car or at home, and then I drove to school and merced and yeah, that's like almost an hour. And then it takes almost thirty minutes because you know, I wasn't gonna pay for parking, so I would park outside and then walk all the way inside. And I don't know if anyone's been to using merse any park in outside of the campus. That's like a I don't know, thirty minute freaking walk or something. And then I had class for like three hours, I think, And then I still came back anyway, Christina and my mom thought I died. They were calling my eggs. I convinced them, yeah it was me. I was like I already heard from her. Yeah. And then when I finally got back to my phone. I was like, oops, yeah, oops, so yeah, same basically same situation. Yeah. They were like, why isn't she replying? This is not like her, So I want to say. Patricia, one of her older sisters, called Larry and he said, we got in a fighting. She got in a car and left. And this was the last time he answered any phone calls from them. And he didn't say what time she left. He might have told her on the phone that it was like three forty five, like the couple had said too, that that was the last time she was seen. But yeah, that was the last time he talked to them. He refused to answer any call or like work with them after that phone call, which was also weird because, like I said earlier, he always called and said we got in a fight, and he didn't this time. No, he didn't. He waited until Patricia called and that's when he said, she stormed off in her car and I haven't seen her since. So that was already like red flag one, like really you always call? So that was suspicious suspicious thing number one. They hadn't heard from her her family, but they couldn't report her missing yet. It had only been like a day so they waited. Then on Monday the sixteenth, they got a call from Erica's workplace that she had just started. She didn't go to work. She didn't, Yeah, she didn't show up. And this is when her parents grew worried because it was absolutely not like her to show up for work, to not show up for work, Yeah, to not show up. They knew that. They know their children, They raised them to be responsible to show up for work, and they were all like that, they all never missed work and so this was already like very off. This is when they really grew worried. It wasn't like her not to show for work, not to contact them, So I think this is when they went to the police. Then the following Wednesday, so yeah, Wednesday the that week. Wednesday of that week, they started a fundraiser to try and have a reward for any information on anything anyone knew about her. And this was an Erica's friend that started this fundraiser and it was for it was a I don't remember the name of the website, but it was like what was before go fund me, Okay, like a precursor to go fund me. Yeah, like go fund me bought that company oh yeah, right, I saw the name, and I don't remember I didn't write it down. So finally police started taking the investigation a little more seriously. They went to Sutra to try and get more information and to try and find the other couple that Larry said was with them. The couple didn't come forward, right, and they didn't come forward until police went to Sutra, got access to the security footage and then put out pictures. Oh wow, yeah, looking for them. This is when they finally went. They went to the police, though they still to this day remain anonymous, like nobody knows who they are. But at least they went to the police, which is like what they're supposed to do. Their account of the couple is as follows. They all left the club together around one thirty five am, then got to Larry's home in Irvine. They were there for almost two hours, but then Larry and Erica started arguing and it was too intense, too much. The couple said we're out, and they left around three forty five am. And this is when Larry claims Erica then maybe they argued for another five minutes fifteen five ten minutes at most, and she stormed. Erica then stormed out of his house and got into her car and drove away, and that he had not seen her since. And this is four am. Now the police talked to all three, the couple and Larry, and the police. Their stories seemed legit. So now we're five days after Erica's disappearance. Police put out a statement that they have identified the couple, They have talked to them. Their stories have been what's the word like sorted not sorted out, but like have been they've checked out their stories. Oh you mean like the word for checking the story against the other, like to make sure that crobberate there we go. Yeah, I had to like word it out, explain it like to myself to remember the word right. So yeah, they did that and then police, you know, stated Erica's still missing. And this is like a press conference that they gave and at this time, at this press conference, Lieutenant Hallick of the police claims that they said the following about Larry. This is not someone she just met. This is someone she had a real relationship with. He's not being investigated. This is not being investigated as a crime. Her family insisted that this was unlike Erica. She would not just disappear. She had just started this job, she had plans to go back to school. She always talks to her family, and so they put out their own press conference addressing the public in tears, like come forward if you know anything, if you were involved in her disappearance, like just we need to know what happened to her. But still the police were investigating this with no foul play in mind. They put out posters with Ereka's information, her vehicle information, pictures. The family kept looking. Her mom started a Facebook page to find her. At the time at twenty fifteen, it was called searching for Erica. I want to say or help us find Erica. Now the name is Justice for Erica. So they all believed that Larry knew more than what he was saying. They knew he had physically heard her before that, and they believed that he was withholding information They remembered back from like you know, when they met him, and how like off put they were by him. But something he would frequently tell Erica is like, don't use your debit cards or your phone because you could be tracked. Like these are things he just said. Oh so he was like paranoid, yes, and so's our that's like suspicious thing. Number I don't know ten thousand at this point. Yeah, And so they via Facebook post because they were he was not answering their phone calls anymore, text, nothing. So they put out a video of themselves like telling Larry, have a heart, tell the truth, what if this was your daughter, Erica loved your daughter more than your own family to try and get him to say something, because they truly believe he knew something more than what he was saying. And this please did not do anything. Larry just didn't come forward, didn't say anything. He didn't cooperate with family, which is like not a good look. Ever, when the significant other of the person that's missing as not trying to help find her, Like, yeah, doesn't look good at all. The family raised five thousand dollars for reward money. And now at this point in time, it was a month out of her disappearance and there was still nothing. Her twenty eighth birthday was approaching. They they still did not have a word. And then the day before her twenty eighth birthday, so March twenty fifth, twenty fifteen, her twenty fourteen Honda Civic ex was found. Wow, and it was found less than a mile from her house. That's weird. Yeah, if they had been searching for her, why was this why was it Bradley found? Yeah, and so close to the house, very close. And it was found in the glen Wood Park neighborhood of Liso Veeko And this is like a rich white area And it was found on and that's where she lived, Cedar Brick and Redwood. On the corner of those there was a parking lot that was part of a parming complex and residents had been reporting her car because they hadn't moved in a month like it had, so it'd been there the whole time. Yeah, the whole time. Wow. And if she was like, if she had driven off from Larry's house and she was so close to her house, why would not she have Why would she not have parked at her own house? Yeah? Why why would she leave her car at this random apartment complex. Yeah, that's weird. It just doesn't make sense. It was dusty and full of parking violation stickers. Oh wow, police should have known it was there. Someone had to go put the stickers on there. Yeah. I was gonna say, don't do's parking violation tickets come from the police. Not a good look for them either. Yeah, And residents looked inside and they saw her purse was in there, in her phone and a stuffed animal. Oh wow. Yeah, but she was nowhere to be found either, just her belongings. It didn't It was like I think more probably more scary for the family to know, like, Okay, her car was found, her stuff, her phone. Yeah, it's definitely more makes it more nefarious. Yeah, I mean, I mean, this is twenty and fifteen at this point in time, this is when like nobody went out without their phones. Yeah, unless something happened, like you blocking your phone in your car, accident something. Yeah. So even though her car was found without her, her family decided to still celebrate her birthday. They released a bunch of red balloons out into the sky and it was a hopeful day for them. They still hoped to find her. I don't know, I'm sorry, Like, I don't know how they can have so much hope, I know, but like I mean, if it was you, I would be hopeful that we were still find you, you know, Like yeah, yeah, that's true. Yeah, But I mean, at the same time, I get it. It's just hard for me to have hope. Think about it. I'm a very mystic person. I mean, yeah, yeah, no, I get both sides of it, because I would have been like, she's not answering, obviously, she's gone, Like she would not ignore our text messages or what do you mean her phone and her purse and this stuffed animal in her car here and she's not here right, Like, yeah, it would have been. It's hard. It's hard to know what you would have thought, I guess in this situation. Yeah, and you don't know really until and hopefully it never happens to you. But yeah, exactly. So sadly, their hopeful, hopefulness, I guess it wouldn't last, their whope. Thank you Jesus, excuse me, I'm sorry. As everyone knows, like I as everyone knows she's an ata. Yeah, it's our mother. Yeah, she says that to us. Anyway, moving on, their hope would not last. On April twenty seventh, twenty fifteen, biologists were coming in area for a research project. They were biologists for the Transportation Departments of California. They were searching for endangered frog species and they were just a little over a mile into the forest off the or take a Highway in like the do you know where the or take a Highway is at? No? Okay, well this is I want to say it's like that. I No, I don't think it's the Inland Empire. I mean, like I'm probably driven by it, but I have horrible memory and navigation, so yeah, I only know about it because I've talked about it. Oh on TikTok. I've covered so many places from this area because people kept asking for them. Do you know where Lake Elsinore is at? So trying to figure out where else is there? Just because if you don't know a lot of people, probably other other people don't know, right, So okay, Laguna Beach La Okay, Okay, west to Lake Elsinor. I'll send you this little screenshow so you can see so oh okay, and then like the San Bernardino National Forest Area riverside. I know what you're talking about now, okay, So, and then if you look at I'm gonna send you a Google Maps picture, but I'll probably just post this so people know on Instagram as well, so people know like kind of where she was from and where she was found. Okay, I don't think I've actually driven near here. Like not that far out. Yeah, I think the furthest I've been is Anaheim. I've been to Riverside, Anaheim, Luna Beach, but that's just like not that way. Yeah. Yeah, so that fifteen and again I'll post these pictures. But that is or Tega Highway and that is where she was found. That's so sad. So this is where the biologists team was doing their search for endangered frog species when they encountered a decomposed body and they could only tell it was a woman. They there was no way to confirm it was Erica because of the time that had passed, the exposure to the elements, there was no way to id the person that they had just found. Erica's dad, Isaac, he drove when he heard a body was found. He drove from where they lived all the way out to the Ortega Highway, hoping to see like that it wasn't her, but there was no way to tell. I don't I again. I'm depressed today, so like if I start crying, it's to be surprised. The following day is when finally the medical examiner confirmed that it was Erica alonso A via fingerprints because they could not tell who it was, and initially there was no known cause of death, and then the report came out and her death had been ruled in overdose, and her family was just left confused, like what do you mean in overdose? So investigators received the official report of her autopsy on Tuesday, July twenty first, twenty fifteen. She had been found with a or It had been found in the report that she had a blood alcohol level of point twenty two, which is more than double the legal driving limit in California. It's point eight. That's a lot. Yeah, so it is a lot. Damn. Yeah. Another weird thing that was found was GHB and I'm not gonna say the fancy name. That's the date rape drug, isn't it. Yeah. Yeah, And her family was like, all right, well, why was this in her system? She wouldn't have taken that drug on purpose? No, No, And that's not an unreasonable assumption to me, not at all. I mean, it's not a recreational drug, you know what I mean? Like if there was, like, I don't know, something else, then you could be like, Okay, she was, you know, using it, just partying, but exactly yeah, And her family said, like, we know, she's been known to like try a couple of drugs here or there while partying. But this is not a party drug, is what they said. This is She would not say this, ye, but then police destigators claimed just because it was found in her system does not mean she was drugged, and that this drug creates an excellency like feeling and has been used recreationally. I've never never, ever, ever, ever, ever heard of anybody using that recreationally. Ever, I me neither. Granted, I don't know. I don't think that I've never heard of that. Yeah, right, I don't break take, but I know that people that partake in like recreational drugs besides the you know, like weed, And I never in my life heard anyone say g HB. Like I just I don't know how true that is. I mean, listeners, if you have heard of this, let us know, because I have never heard of this either. I was when I read that, I was like, are they serious? Are they being We're serious? Yeah? Seriously, Like, as far as we both know, it's not a thing. I don't know, So to me, it was not unreasonable about her family thought. So I just looked it up and says it's sometimes used as a party drug damn on the spot, Wow, okay on the spot fact checking. I guess it is used as a party drug. It can't be that common, though, I don't know. Yeah, it seems to me like no, but I guess it is a thing. Yeah. Here's an article from twenty seventeen. Each be a party drug that's easy to overdose on once used in childbers. Interesting. Oh okay, why are you glad to take it at dance parties and to enhance sex? Oh okay, well, now this puts a new spin on things that I that I guess could be true. Huh okay, Well I'm glad you checked. Yeah, I'm glad you googled on the spot. It's infrequent though still this article says, yeah, it's twenty seventeen. But yeah, it says people most likely to use GHB usually use other drugs as well. GHB us has recently increased among regular ecstasy and methaphetamine users, which is what one thinks like as a party drug excess, That's what I think. But a lot of times like it'll be combined with math. But yeah, but says it's still infrequent. So okay, so still infrequent, Okay, Yeah, all right, Well, there's still a little bit of doubt here then, Okay, So investigators claimed that this was an overdose, but her family they still had questions that had no answers. If this wasn't intentional, if it wasn't overdose, why was she found thirty miles from where she was last seen. I was just gonna say, even if it was an overdose, somebody put her body out there. So yeah, exactly, her car was not at her house, but it was less than one mile from her house, like like someone got rid of evidence and rid of her. It seems like it just Yeah, things still didn't add up. How does she drive if this was an overdose, if she was that drugged, like and that she had done it herself, how does she leave Larry's house in her own car? It just that it still didn't make sense. And then on top of that, how did she get to the Ortega Highway? Like? Yeah, and yeah, two whole months after she went missing, Like, things just didn't add up. Her family maintains that if Larry didn't kill her, if he wasn't involved directly in her death in that manner, then he was involved in moving her. If she had died on her accident, he still didn't report it to the authorities, and he still hit her body, but they maintained he was involved in her death and that her death was not properly investigated, and that I mean, it's not far fetched, not at all. Why was her car not found right away? Yeah, Like why was she found that much after? Like just yeah, things didn't add up, her dad said the following at the time. If she was dying, then how come they didn't call Nangung when like what really happened that? Yeah? Does the couple know more than they're saying, right, someone knows more. Yeah. So Erica was laid to rest May eight, twenty fifteen, after a beautiful ceremony. She was buried at the Ascension Cemetery in Orange County, and her father said about fucking stupid Larry. We were expecting him to come forward and say I want to help with the search for Erica. He never did. They even would have welcome, welcome to him at the funeral if he supposedly had meant so much, you know, to her. Yeah, So again it just didn't look good to them, like, yeah, it's definitely suspicious. Yeah, And it cemented their belief that he is hiding something. And her family still runs the Facebook page that I mentioned earlier. I will link it in the show notes. They post pictures of Erica once in a while, not once awhile frequently they post pictures of her. They're still seeking such justice. They share podcasts that talk about Erica and videos talking about Erica. This is why I was inspired to do a full episode because they tagged me and they found the TikTok. I made a spooky tails and posted it on their page and said thank you for sharing this, and I was like, oh my god, Well I haven't done a full episode mm hmmm. But yeah, that's why I was like, I need to talk about it on the podcast, because you know, TikTok is one place, but we haven't done a full episode on it. But yeah, they reshare everything they see about her, all episodes that talk about her. Denra herself was just recently a few months ago on an episode of Voices for Justice. Have you heard of it? I think I have a really good podcast. And oh god, god, I can't remember her name. Her sister went missing though, and it was a whole inspiration of what she does. Why can't I remember her name? This is terrible. Well, let me see, but I mean you can look it up. Voices for Justice, I think, Karmie you're looking at right now, right, it's typing voices instead of voices on accident. Voices for Justice, Sarah Turney. Yes, yes, yes, god, it's terrible. It's just a bunch of women. Yeah. Yeah, and of course it was finally fond of guy. Oh how many scrolls? Well, it's starting from the oldest to new oldest Okay, no, sorry sorry, no, newest to oldest and so and it's weekly, I imagine. Yeah, yeah, I want to say this episode on her came out. It's late twenty twenty three, or it might have been something like that. But you know me, I don't know dates. Yeah, I haven't come across it yet. I'll tell you when. I'll tell you when the episode came out, because I'm probably way oft on when it came out. I think you are, because I was in July. Oh, here it is. It's from May. Yeah, I was gonna say May eleventh, twenty twenty three. Let me add it to my cue right now. You should. And yeah, her podcast is. I'm obviously it's so sad because they're all people Seeking Justice. But it's such a good podcast. I highly recommend it, but also very sad. But yeah, I didn't she she is on that episode. Wait, you didn't mention that she was found wrapped in plastic bags and dug tape. Oh my god, I meant to write it in the beginning. Yes, I forgot to mention that, which is even more that makes it so much more evident that she didn't drive out there herself and then somehow get lost. Yeah that is she was literally wrapped up. Wow. Yeah, yeah, so even more suspicious. That brings the question even more about how they could say this wasn't foul play, Like somebody doesn't wrap themselves up in plastic and rap plastic baduct tape, Like that's literally impossible. Yeah. Wow, clearly someone did it and took her out there. So yeah, I'll put that link in the show notes because then you can find all the things they repost as well. And I want to repeat that. To this day, the Alonso family still maintains that Larry is somehow involved, that if her death was accidental, then he was involved in the state that she was found, wrapping her up in plastic and putting her out in the art of the Highway. On February fifteenth, twenty twenty three, Margarita posted on the Facebook page that they run twy nine hundred and twenty days without you. Please share her posts or call the Santa Anna Sheriff's Department. Ask whoever is in charge. Ask them about the Erica Alonzo cases twenty fifteen. Ask them when they're going to solve the case so our community can be safe of one less criminal. Do that and help so we don't have to go another year without answers. Please get whoever was involved off the streets and put them where they deserve to be, behind bars. Even if you don't care about the case, the killers out there blending in with everyone else. Would you want someone that dumped another human like trash as your neighbor? Then help by sharing and calling. Today on her eighth anniversary, and that was last year. This year February fifteen, twenty twenty four, her mom posted today is nine years as we lost Erica. Please share anything on social media with all of you. We can bring awareness to her case. Let it reach those that know or saw something around that time. Please help us get justice by taking a few seconds today and sharing and the police. They maintain that the investigation is stagnant, so it's come to a halt and they can't confirm or deny that it was a homicide. So again, basically the same thing, they're like, this was God, what is the opposite of a homicide? Like, oh, an overdose? Oh? An overdose? Yes, that's what they said, and that's what they're maintaining. But okay, even let's say it was an overdose, what of wrapping her body? Like, isn't it still a crime? I was gonna say, yeah, I was gonna say it as a question, but I know it's still a crime. So yeah, that's still a crime. Is it not a crime? Yet? It is? Exactly. And so Erica's family actually began working with lawmakers to punish those with tamper with evidence or dead bodies, and it did pass. It's known as Erica's Law, and it went into effect in twenty eighteen. And this law makes it so that the statute of limitations for the dumping of a body is extended to four years after the body is discovered. So it doesn't add time which is a year and a thousand dollars fine. It doesn't like extend the punishment of doing this, but it allows them to present okay and investigate for more than they could have before. It provides investigators with additional ability to pursue and charge individuals who commit the crime of concealing a body due to an accidental death. And it also they hope that it discourages individuals from failing to be forthcoming with law enforcement. So they're hoping that this can be something used against like if you hide or if you know something, if you did something, so we can use this against you. So yeah, something they could not do before. Right. Yeah, And like I said, just before we had that brief pause that we were looking for the podcast name and the day that it came out, DeNora was recent not recently, I guess in twenty twenty three. She was on her Latge Justice last year. Yeah, and and she said the following. Her family, they try to keep going, but it's like there's a piece of them that is missing and they're never going to get that back. She said, her and her siblings, they were like a puzzle that worked perfectly fine together. They loved each other, and now the piece that kept them together is not there anymore. And that was Erica and it's so sad. They still live with the pain of not knowing. It's been nine years and it still feels like it was yesterday. And Denorra wants Erica to be remembered as the amazing daughter, the amazing sister, the amazing dia that she was. She was not just another person found on the Ortica Highway. Their normal life is gone forever. Life will never be the same. Yeah. They want closure, they want another autopsy, and they want a full investigation that's done well, because I think it's safe to say that the investigation that happened was bad. Inhabitant shadd yass work. Yeah. Yeah. The family urges anyone who is willing to do so to call Orange County Sheriff's Department at seven one four six for seven seven thousand, and that's gonna be in the show notes, but seven one four six for seven seven thousand, and ask them to investigate the case of Erica Alonso as a homicide and to share anything about the case, share her story, share her pictures on social media. Erica was twenty when she went missing in twenty fifteen. She was last seeing leaving Larry's apartment quote unquote leaving Yeah, we don't know, or I want to say she was probably last seing entering her his apartment. Yeah, her body was found in April twenty fifteen on the Ortica Highway. And again, like you said, Carmen, that I completely didn't write down, but wrapped in plastic with duct tape. Yes, And she was from the Alisso Vehicle area of Orange County, which is a very white, very relatively safe neighborhood. And like if she had been someone else, maybe maybe better investigated. When I shared because I was tagged on the TikTok that I made about her, and I shared it to the Speaktall story and a couple listeners message and they were like, oh, thanks so much for talking about her, and I was like, you know what, I haven't like properly talked about her again, which is why I'm doing the full episode. But those people message me and they they're from the same area, and they said, like the area that she was from was yeah, rich white, and if she had been a white woman, like she probably would have been investigated a little better. But because she had this history of partying, because she was Latina, Young had criminal history. Yeah, with the domestic violence report that had been filed on her. I mean that's probably why they felt so easy to just like, oh, this is obviously an overdose and nothing bad could have happened to her. Yeah, her family they have questions, and it's their questions are like legitimate, like they're they're valid. Yeah, thank you, that's the way they're going to think of. But yeah, that is the case of Erica Alonso. Oh sad, very sad. Yeah, that's why I was like, I'm not going to do a listener story because I think in the past, in March, we've talked about other cases like Maricela Escoberto. Yeah, that one's terrible. They're all terrible. They're all terrible, they're all Adrian Studyiness is another one that that happened in Arizona, and we've done like a spooky story with it. But today I'm just sad. Yeah, I'm just sad. There's nothing good. I just just got to hold some space for the sadness that's okay exactly, and and just focused a whole episode. I feel like I should have done that in the past, like not combine a spooky story with these stories. Well, people come for the spooky stories too, so that's anything wrong. With it. No, I know, I know, I think you're being too hard on yourself. I think you're right. I think you're right. Yeah, but yeah, I just wanted to short her story. And well, thanks and thank you Carmen for being here. I had to. That's true. Contractually direction, there's no contract. Oh my god. Sorry, I'm just bessing. Yeah. Yeah, I'm also finally not sick anymore. So well, I'm actually I'm a little sick, but I'm a little better today. I'm hoping to get back to recording Patron episodes soon. Those were fun. Yeah, and I got a check with MJ when she's able to record again, all right, And yeah, those are just a little bit of updates, I guess. I mean, do you have any spooky recommendations? I know I've been watching Avatar. Okay, have you seen it? No? I like it. I know, like people are very picky. Obviously doesn't follow the cartoon entirely. Like they changed some stuff up, you know, because you can't fit a whole everything, so they put some stuff out of order and when it happens. But I really like it so far. Okay, maybe I'll watch it. I've been watching the only thing I didn't like. I didn't like the actresses they used for Asula and uh Mine, I forgot the other girl's name. Yeah, yeah, that's I didn't like them. They well, Azula, I feel like it's in the hell of Mexican AZULAA doesn't doesn't look evil enough, like she has the baby face, and I'm like, I don't. I think she needed to be a little bit more, you know, sharp, and then my the voice, she has it down, but also another baby face. I feel like my wait, no, no, tie has a baby should have a baby face. So she she does, but it's too much of a baby face. Oh, I feel like I, at least from what I and I'm I'm probably being a little too critical, But from the trailers, the actor of just got out my nerves. I'm like, he's not as annoying like on the show. Okay, okay, maybe I'll watch it. I've been watching Lucifer still. Oh, I think you'd like it, honestly, I okay. It makes me just want to rewatch the cartoon, which you're probably going to rewatch after I'm done with the show. I do love the cartoon. Yeah maybe cry okay, cry, Okay, don't watch it. You know why because they show it's not really spoilers because I think anyone who's watching it already knows what happens. Okay, so they show, you know, in the cartoon, they don't show the attack on the airbenders at least I don't remember that. They don't know. They just they show applied and a little things. But in the in the show, they show them fighting back and they it's like a big scene and it made me cry because I was like, I didn't see it in the show, and Kiatsu is protecting the children in one part, and I was like, because you know what's going to happen, you know, you know, he just fought to his last second. Oh my god, I have gels. I have gels. You're gonna like it, I know you are. Let me think of all the all the genocides have that are real. Yes, yeah, man, Yeah, that reminds me Free Palestine. And also go listen to his story as a known where we talk about genocides in Latin America. Yeah, yeah, because genocides are not fictional, you know. Yeah, I'm just sad today. So yeah, I guess that would be my only recommendation. It's not really a spooky recommendation. Yeah, okay, a recommendation nonetheless. Yeah, and mine was Lucifer. Oh when I finished reading the book, Oh my god, you did. And we haven't recorded our episode. On the episode, I'm still working on notes. I'm almost m I'm like in chapter five. Okay, it's hard to know what to add. I know, I I'm working on it. Okay. I did it all last week because I have also been depressed for like the past two weeks. Yeah, and the only thing I could do is lay down and read. That's why I finished the book. That you know what. I forgive you for reading, for finishing the book. And then I was traveling also yesterday for work, and then I read it on the finished it on the plane. I was like, yeah, I get it now, I get it. Yeah, Like I've been doing like and I know people like joke and say like I'm depressed, but no, I've like legit. Yeah, I've been doing nothing. I put off these notes too much. I've been putting off my work. I'm like, all right, I need to go back to therapy and I need to get back to like actual work now. I can't just being depressed, which is a luxury. I know, But where was I going with this? I don't know. I don't know. If you can't get therapy, I don't know, if you're that's your recommendation. No, oh yeah, I mean yeah, but no, that's not what I was gonna say. Whatever. I forgot what I was going to say, and why even mentioned that or moving on? I forgot to or you may have heard at the top of the episode Brick Carmen and I you better not ditch me. But we will be at the True Crime Paranormal Podcast Festival in July Coden. Yeah, yeah, I gotta look for tickets. Yeah for us, Yeah, yeah, we'll be there. It's in Denver, July twelfth to July fourteenth. We'll have a little table. I'm excited to meet other creators there, like Sustal. If you're listening to Aiden, I'm excited. Who else did I say was gonna be there? Lady obviously Lany Yeah so but yeah, So if you're in Denver, in the Denver area, go to the True Crime Paranormal Podcast Festival dot com and get your tickets. I don't have like a fancy code, but Susto does. If you go to his episode, it's sustal something anyway. Anyway, Yeah, I hope we meet people there. I'm excited. I'm gonna bring some stickers to hand out and I don't have any other merch to hand out all the stickers and we'll be there, so yeah, I'm excited for that. Yeah. Other than that, I don't know. I guess stay a spooky call the number I mentioned, share things about Erica Alonso and yeah, we'll catch everyone next episode. Bye bye. Spooky Tales is hosted by Christina and MJ, produced and edited by Christina. Everything is written and researched by Christina MJ and with the help of Don Shout out Don. Thank you so much for your help. If you love what you hear, consider living us a five star review. If you don't, then do not leave us anything please. If you want short spooky stories, follow us on TikTok at spooky Tels. You can also find some of the same videos posted on Instagram and that is at spooky Teals. Everything is linked in the show notes. If you want bonus episodes, stickers, exclusives, stickers might I add then consider joining our Patreon Go over to patreon dot com slash Spooky Tales there are over We're at least fifteen bonus episodes right now, and we do at least one a month, sometimes two, depending on how we are feeling. If you want to support the podcast and don't or can't or don't want to, that's fine, join the Patreon then consider getting some merch. We have an adorable beanie that I love. I absolutely adore it. It's so comfy, it's warm, it has a spooky in Old English letters. There's also a baseball hat in the same way as spooky and Old English letters, and that's what I wear in the summers. They're both awesome hats. And there's other things in there, like the no Mama's shirts, which is a very popular shirt. If you like history, check out my other podcast, Istodia is Unknown, hosted with the unofficial official guest co host of A Spooky Tels, Carmen, And if you like novelas, checkout Novelaskokfusito, which Carmen and I also host together. And yeah, we love every single listen every single a spooky Thank you so much, Stay as Spooky