Erica Alonso

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1:30Voices for Justice is a podcast that uses adult language and discusses sensitive and potentially triggering topics, including violence, abuse, and murder. This podcast may not be appropriate for younger audiences. All parties are innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. Some names have been changed or omitted per their request or for safety purposes. Listener discretion is advised. My name is Sarah Turney and this is Voices for Justice.

2:03On the night of Valentine's Day 2015, 27-year-old Erica Alonzo went to an Orange County, California nightclub with her ex-boyfriend Larry. She told her sister she'd be back that night, but never returned home. By the morning of February 15th, Erica's sister still hadn't heard from her, so she called Larry to ask if he'd seen or heard from Erica, and he said that yeah, he was with Erica. But they got into a fight, and at around 4 a.m., she stormed out of his apartment. She drove away, and he hadn't heard from her since. More than two months later, on April 27th, Erica's body was discovered in a remote area of Orange County.

2:44She was wrapped in plastic bags and duct tape. Despite this, authorities concluded that foul play was not involved. This is the case of Erica Alonzo. Erica Melissa Alonzo, the third child of Isaac Sr. and Margarita, was born on March 26, 1987, in Los Angeles County, California. She had five siblings, including a sister named Donora, who reached out to me to cover Erica's case. You'll hear from her in just a minute. Donora told me that as a child, Erica was really shy and sweet. She was also a big hugger, which was annoying to Donora who was 8 years older. The last thing she wanted was for her younger sister to be touching her all the time.

3:30Donora told me a story about one time when Erica tried to hug her, but instead of hugging back, Donora pushed Erica away. Typical sister stuff. But their mom saw what happened and she was not happy about it. Their punishment was to hug each other for an hour. It was torture for Denora, but not for Erica. She loved every second. I think a lot of little sisters out there can probably relate to this. I know I do. Denora said that as Erica got older, she came out of her shell. She grew to be this social butterfly with a ton of friends. Erica was the type of person that could strike up a conversation with anyone, anywhere.

4:08She was also a very trusting person. She would do things like leave her purse in her car thinking no one was going to steal it. Donora told me that it was good and bad that Erica was like this. She was willing to give people a chance. She was willing to open up to people. But at the same time, that could and would get her into trouble. As adults, Donora and Erica were very close. Donora told me that she was close to all of her siblings, but she had a special bond with Erica because she felt like she could really talk to her. Donora could tell Erica anything. And if they got into a fight for some reason, the next time they saw each other, it was like nothing ever happened.

4:46Erica was also really close to Donora's two daughters. They would always text about what the kids were up to. And when Erica was with the kids, she was always taking pictures of them and just having fun. Erica was basically everything to her nieces. By the time 2015 rolls around, 27-year-old Erica is living her life to the fullest. She had the mindset of, I'm not just going to sit around and waste my life. If she didn't have plans already, Erica would grab a friend and go out and do something. Her favorite thing to do was to go to Disneyland. Erica also had goals, though. She wanted to go back to school and eventually become a mom.

5:25Donora told me that Erica was always really happy. Even if she was going through something, she was the type to kind of hide that pain and smile on the outside. Now, some of the things that Erica kept inside were the issues she had with her on-again, off-again boyfriend of two years, Larry. Donora told me that Erica and Larry's relationship was pretty toxic. And it seems that at times, it was also violent. Donora told me that at one point, Larry got physical with Erica. And it wasn't just Donora that saw the problems in this relationship. A neighbor told CBS2 that she noticed Erica and Larry had a rocky relationship.

6:01She said that shortly before Erica went missing, she saw a fight between them. Things got so bad that she had to call the cops. Another neighbor also said that she witnessed a fight, saying, quote, One day when they were out in the street, it looked abusive. It looked like something bad was going on. I called the police, but when I looked out the window, he looked perfectly fine. I really can't say what happened that night, but I remember hearing a lot of screaming. End quote. Then there was an incident that took place on November 2nd, 2014, about four months before Erica went missing. That day, Erica was arrested in connection with an alleged domestic violence incident against Larry.

6:42KTLA-5 reported that Erica was charged with misdemeanor domestic violence with corporal injury. She was also court-ordered to stay away from Larry. Now, Denora asked me to make it very clear that after this incident, Erica told her that she did have the opportunity to press charges against Larry, but chose not to. All of this to say, it just obviously was not a good situation. A month later, Erica asked for her case to be postponed. Her request was granted, and she was ordered to meet certain terms, including attending alcohol dependency counseling sessions. On February 6, 2015, just about a week before Erica went missing, the domestic violence charge against Erica was dropped, and Larry's restraining order against her lifted.

7:30Donora told me that she didn't know everything Erica went through with Larry. She said that while she was very close to her sister, Erica just didn't always tell her everything. Because of their age difference, Donora was more of a mother to her. So, Erica knew that if she was going to say something, she better be prepared to hear what Denora was going to say in response. But I know at this moment, everybody was finding out like the real him. So my sisters didn't want him around. My sisters started telling me about other things. The thing is like with Erica too, she would tell me things. I was like, I was kind of like a mom figure to her.

8:08So she knew if she would tell me something, she knew what she was going to hear from me, you know? So sometimes she wouldn't share certain things with me. So my other sister started telling me, yeah, you know, this is happening. Because she was trying to bring him along, like, for us to like him. Donora told me about some of the behavior she and her family were concerned about. Like, one time, Erica and Larry went to Donora's house, but were only there for about five minutes before Larry said they needed to leave. Another time, Erica only ate half a burger at a party. Erica said it was because Larry said she shouldn't eat too much.

8:43Donora also found out about other things. Like how Larry told Erica she shouldn't use credit cards because the government could track her. Dinor also told me that Erica had a lot of trust in Larry. She thought he'd always help her if she needed it. Dinor told me that she wanted to talk to Erica about Larry. To tell her that she can do better. That she's a great person. That she has a ton of friends and she's so smart. But she never got the chance to do that. This episode of Voices for Justice is sponsored by Chewy. When I think about the holidays, I think about tiny moments with my dogs. The ones that really make the season bright.

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10:32Michelle's mother, Lisa McDaniel, has managed to keep her past buried. You said nobody wants to believe there's a monster in their family. You think she's a monster. I don't want to. But I don't know how else you describe somebody who does those things to children. Michelle has lived in the shadow of her family's dark past for decades. But now she's ready to bring it into the light. Neither one of those children were suffering because of a disease. Season six of Nobody Should Believe Me is out now. Listen wherever you get your podcasts.

11:11On Valentine's Day, 2015, eight days after the domestic violence charges against Erica were dropped, Erica told her family that she was going out to eat lunch with Larry so they could catch up. I asked Inora if Erica was going out with Larry to possibly try to rekindle their relationship, or if they were just hanging out. Inora said she isn't quite sure. From what she can tell, Erica often stayed friends with her exes. With that being said, Inora thinks it is possible that maybe Erica did want to rekindle things. She said Erica had their mom come in and try to talk to her and Larry. Because of this, Dinor thinks maybe Erica did want some type of resolution.

11:50Maybe she felt like their relationship could be different. Erica's sister Patty told the media that she did think Erica and Larry were working on their relationship. Patty said, quote, I know she really loved him and cared for him a lot. That's why she wanted to really try and make things work. End quote. She added, they were very much alike, which isn't always a good thing. End quote. According to Denora, the original plan for the night of Valentine's Day was for Erica to babysit her brother's kids. But he ended up canceling last minute, leaving Erica with nothing to do. And like I mentioned, Erica was not one to just sit around bored.

12:28So she decided to go to a club with Larry. She sent a Snapchat to Patty saying that she'd be back home later that night, but Erica never returned. The next morning, Patty realized Erica wasn't home. She texted and called Erica, but she didn't answer her phone. Of course, this worried her a lot. Erica was that person that always had her phone charged, and she was never the type to just not respond to messages. So Patty starts calling around to all of Erica's friends to see if they'd heard from her, but they hadn't. Then Patty calls Larry. He says he and Erica got into a big argument at his apartment, then she just drove off.

13:08He wasn't sure what happened to her after that. Larry did not speak to the family again after this call. Denora told me that she finds Larry's statement to Patty to be a little off. In the past, whenever Larry and Erica got into a fight, he would call Patty and tell her about it. He would say, guess what, we got into a fight and Erica's on her way home, but this time he didn't call Patty. He waited until Patty reached out to him. Patty continued calling people to see if they'd heard from Erica, but no one had. So they report Erica missing. Patty then calls to Nora and says no one can get a hold of Erica, and also that Larry was the last person to see her.

13:49My sister then called me on a Wednesday. I was at work, so I didn't answer. And I was like, oh my god I have a missed call because normally she messages me so when I called her I go oh my god I go you called me I go what what's going on and um her tone of voice she just goes have you seen Erica and I will know I go why um we don't know where she is we haven't seen her and um you know we're kind of worried because you know we don't know where she is I can't get a hold of anybody that knows her I mean that has seen her and I was like again I was like okay you know I don't think it's a big deal you know I'm thinking because you know Erica would sleep over with friends or whatever she's you know she would do that but then she told me yeah you know the last person that she was with and saw her was uh with Larry and after she said that I don't I don't remember anything.

14:48I just remember kind of like, just, it's like if she would have told me, you know, she died. Like, that's how bad it was to me when she told me that. I was like, oh my God. Like, I just, I just, I was quiet and I was like, I couldn't believe it. So I drove home because I was on my way home from work. I drove home. I literally ran inside the house and inside the room and I started screaming and crying because I was like oh my gosh she's gone I'm like she's gone she's gone and I was trying to wrap my head around it I'm like oh my god like no like you know again you hear all these stories and I was like no no no it can't I you know.

15:35Denora then called her sisters and asked what they were going to do. then I started um you know I because again I live in um LA I just live in Orange County I was um calling them like what are we doing like what are we gonna do what you know so what we started to do you know because there's no book or there's nowhere where somebody can tell you look when this happens this is what you're gonna do so we're just like like oh my god what are we gonna do so um a friend actually um uh did the facebook page you know to find her and i'm so thankful for her you know and we started getting with that then we started doing posters we started doing flyers um we literally went from like let's say san clemeni san juan all the way over here to um van nuys uh california all of that you know putting posters i put posters on my car i you know we did everything that we were trying to do like trying to um get the attention like people like you know this is what again because you don't know what to do you're just you know and um

16:47it's very uh you know it's very hard not knowing um it was very very very hard because um I would have a hard time thinking what if okay I'm like I'm trying to think what if you know maybe somebody took her and they're sex trafficking her or something and I'm just like okay but that means what if she's in pain or what if somebody's hurting her you know what if she's hungry and then I remember I was eating and I was like what if she's hungry you know why should I be eating. She's hungry. But here I am eating. And I felt bad for eating. I would feel bad for being able to go to sleep at night. I felt bad just for everything, you know, because I was like, what if she's in pain?

17:39You know, it's not fair that she's in pain and I'm here, like not doing anything about it. After Erica was reported missing, detectives looked to see if her phone, credit card, or social media accounts had been used since the early hours of February 15th, but none of them had been accessed. Eventually, detectives do go speak with Larry. He said he and Erica had gone out to the Soltra Lounge nightclub on the evening of February 14th. They took an Uber so they could drink without driving. While they were at the club, they made friends with a couple. At around 1.30am, that couple gave Larry and Erica a ride back to Larry's apartment.

18:17This couple hung out at Larry's until about 3.45am. This is when Larry and Erica got into an argument. About 10-15 minutes later, Erica stormed out. She drove off, and he hadn't seen her since. Denora told me that when detectives asked for further information, like what the argument was about, Larry said he couldn't remember. Now, detectives did look for surveillance footage at Larry's apartment to see if Erica was filmed leaving the complex, but there wasn't any footage that could be used. Detectives also reviewed surveillance from the Soltra Lounge. They saw that around 1.30am, Erica and Larry did leave with a couple from the bar.

18:55On February 19th, police made their first public statement about Erica's disappearance. They shared Larry's story about what happened, then asked the public for information about Erica and her car. They also requested that the couple from the club come forward to speak with police. At this time, they didn't know who they were, so they released a photo of the couple taken from the surveillance footage. Erica's family addressed the public as well. They said it was extremely unlike Erica to not be in touch with her family. Erica's brother Isaac Jr. said, She's just not the kind of person to just take off and leave, and not come back.

19:33We're all very worried. We just want her to come home safe. end quote. The next day, on February 20th, the couple from the club went to the police after seeing their photo on the news. They said that at around 1.30am on February 15th, they went back to Larry's apartment with Larry and Erica. At some point, Erica and Larry started arguing in a room. They naturally felt uncomfortable, so they left around 3.45am. Officials told NBCLA that the couple was questioned at length, and their stories all added up. They were not suspects in Erica's disappearance. The same day the couple came forward, Erica's family held a news conference, where they pleaded for information about Erica's whereabouts.

20:17Erica's father, Isaac Sr., said, quote, we have hope everything will be fine. She's a good girl, end quote. Patty added that they missed Erica greatly. Now, at this point in the investigation, Erica was classified as a missing person. Police told the media there was no sign of foul play, and they weren't looking into her disappearance as a crime. They also said that it didn't seem like Erica was suffering from depression or anything else, and they believed she was with her car. They also said Larry has been cooperative. Everything he told them checked out. Police said that they couldn't label him as a suspect or a person of interest, and there weren't really many other updates on Erica's case until mid-March.

20:59Denora told me that she felt like law enforcement was helpful when they first found out Erica was missing, but after they found out that Erica liked to go out with friends and have a good time, they started to form assumptions about her. She told me that they kind of had the attitude of, well, what do you expect us to do? She was out partying. Of course, we've seen this so many times before, as if enjoying yourself becomes some major sin the moment you are reported missing. And of course, this really upset Denora. On March 20th, Erica's family held a candlelight vigil. They said they're not going to give up on Erica.

21:35Then, five days later, there's a major break in the case. On March 25th, Erica's white 2014 Honda Civic was found. It was found near Cedarbrook and Redwood, in what they describe as a very populated Glenwood Park neighborhood. This area is about 10 miles away from Larry's apartment and about one mile from Erica's home. There was no apparent damage to the car or signs of foul play. One officer told People that Erica's car had been sitting there for weeks. Erica's father told KTLA that there were two parking tickets on her car. In the trunk, officers found almost all of Erica's stuff. Her money, her purse.

22:15The only thing that was missing was her phone, which has never been recovered. Denora told me that police believe Erica drove her car there after leaving Larry's. Two days later, on March 27th, Erica's family marked Erica's 28th birthday by holding an awareness rally. The search for now 28-year-old Erica continued. On April 22nd, Erica's family announced a$5 ,000 reward. They had raised$3 ,000 and an additional$2 ,000 was offered by an Orange County Sheriff's deputy. Less than a week later, Erica was found. And unfortunately, it was not the outcome anyone was hoping for. Donora found out through the local news.

22:56My aunt, she commutes from Ortega to Orange County. So she would drive along that every day. And she called me, I remember, 8 in the morning. And she goes, oh my god, there's cops, there's white vans everywhere here. I think they found someone and Ortega was somewhere where early on the detectives had gone on and you know looked at it and checked it out we had gone from the beginning to the end looking we would you know the oversight we would look and you know we found a lot of cars I don't know how so many cars are out there you know so many things it's like wow and we literally drove that you know just to check just to see if we found anything so when my aunt told me that she goes yeah I think they found a body because of white man's corners and stuff like that um so then I called my mom and my mom called her husband Erica's dad and that's when he went down and um you know trying to see if maybe they would tell him something uh that day we were kind of like from what I have again you know heard and seen it takes a few days maybe for somebody to be identified right so um and the detectives had reached out to my mom and you know they told her what they had found but they couldn't say so i was like okay you know that morning i was like okay i'm gonna stay here because it's not they're not gonna say if it's her or not so we're waiting and i remember it was like around five in the afternoon i had the tv on and the news you know comes up breaking news the body that was found it's confirmed to be of erica alonso and i was just like so i found out through the news that that had happened i was like i was so mad because i was like oh my god how could my mom not call me or tell me or my sisters but i was calling calling calling nobody was answering and literally you know it's finally i don't know my sister answered and i go why did you guys like not tell me like why did you you know i was like mad mad crying and she goes the detectives are literally leaving right now from the apartment they're literally leaving right now like we you know so we don't know how they whoever you know how they find out stuff so i was so mad because i'm like how can they do that like you know and um after that at least we're like well at least it's not we know she's gone we know you know we know she's not suffering somewhere we know she's not in pain um but it's very hard because you don't get to see the body you don't get to see her you don't get to touch her and like have that kind of shock oh my god she's gone oh my god you know i had a cousin passed away in 2006 and i was like that in denial But once I saw the body, you're like, okay, you know, you accept it.

25:54He's gone. You know, but since we never saw the body, we actually, they said, we don't recommend that you guys see her. If you do decide to see her, you need to sign a waiver. So the only one that did was her dad. And then he told my mom that, he goes, it is her. You can still see that it is her. It's, you can recognize her. You can see her and it is her. we had to see her through a white body bag. We got to touch her like that. And I just felt her arm. But at the same time, it's like, even to this day, it's very hard because I'm like, I didn't get to see her. And so a lot of, for very long, I was like, you know what?

26:40Maybe I should have seen her. Maybe that would have helped me to, I don't know, understand that she's gone. but now I know she would have wanted me to remember her with her beautiful smile and you know that's what I know she would have wanted me to remember her so because every time I think of her I know I would have been thinking of that instead of her how she was um but that is very hard for me I think I think it's very selfish um you know what we didn't get to see her we didn't get to say goodbye we didn't get to touch her that's not fair and then for them to go dump her put her in a bag and then the police said that they placed her there so she wasn't thrown she was not thrown from the cliff they were she was placed there and they put her in a bag and they left her there she had not been there the whole time she um had been kept she was in a fetal position and they had kept her and actually before they even told us that i looked at the news and when they were taking her body which it's it's so oh my god you have to go through it to understand like it's so public it's so out there it's so like having them the news people trying to see where her body was you're trying to get a glimpse of that and then when they were carrying her body um up the cliff i was like why is it like a big bump it's not like a body you know like straight right so i was like why is she like why is it like that me in my head i'm thinking why is it like that and it's because she was in a fetal position she wasn't stretched out so she was kept somewhere when they found her they said that um she had been kept somewhere she wasn't as decomposed as she should have been So she was kept somewhere and then she was placed there.

29:03they found a decomposing body wrapped in plastic bags and duct tape. According to police, after hearing about a body being found, they established a crime scene that night. However, due to how rugged and steep the terrain was, they waited until the morning of the 28th to recover Erica and search for evidence. Police told Erica's family that there were no obvious signs of trauma found on her body, and like Dinora mentioned, she was found in the fetal position and also wrapped in plastic bags and duct tape. Within a few days of Erica's body being found, her autopsy was complete. There was no evidence that she had been sexually assaulted or obvious trauma to her body.

29:45Toxicology testing was ordered, but the results would take months. In the meantime, her family was just left wondering what happened to her. Now, police were tight-lipped about their investigation, even with the family. Denora told me that she isn't even sure if they did any testing on the duct tape that was found around Erica's body. She also isn't sure if they ever got any data from Erica's missing phone. Denora was able to figure out that police did search Larry's apartment with a warrant, but they did not use cadaver dogs. Initially, the police were so tight-lipped they didn't even let Erica's family access her autopsy report, but eventually the family was able to see it.

30:25While reading over everything, they found out that Erica had a big bruise on her head. Now, of course, this was shocking and disturbing to them, because they were told that Erica had no trauma to her body. So, Donora called one of the detectives to ask why the autopsy report was different from their statements, and he said that they couldn't see anything when they recovered her body. But Donora didn't accept that answer. The autopsy had been complete for quite some time, and the police could have reached out to them to let them know about the trauma to Erica's body. When Donora asked for more information, the detective said he didn't know.