Sanchez Gave Chilling Hint, Witness Says

Two weeks before the slaying of college student Megan Barroso, murder suspect Vincent Sanchez told a friend that the Simi Valley hills would be a good place to hide a body, according to court testimony.

Barroso’s body was found Aug. 4 in a steep ravine southeast of the city. She died of a gunshot wound to the abdomen, and Ventura County prosecutors contend Sanchez pulled the trigger.

Sanchez, 31, is charged with murder, kidnapping and the attempted rape of Barroso, 20, of Moorpark.

For two weeks, prosecutors have questioned witnesses at a preliminary hearing in Ventura County Superior Court to show a judge they have enough evidence to proceed to trial.

On Monday, prosecutors Lela Henke-Dobroth and Dee Corona concluded their presentation after calling a sheriff’s detective who had interviewed Sanchez’s friend and neighbor, George Fernandez.

Det. Scott Peterson testified that Fernandez told him that during a drive with Sanchez in the Simi Valley hills in late June, a week or two before Barroso’s slaying, the defendant remarked that the area “would be a good place to hide a body.”

Defense attorneys Neil Quinn and Jan Helfrich tried to challenge Fernandez’s credibility. On cross-examination, they revealed Fernandez didn’t report Sanchez’s alleged statement until being reminded of it “in a dream.”

Stephen Frueh, a former roommate of their client who has known Fernandez for several years, later offered this opinion of the witness: “I don’t believe anything that comes out of his mouth.”

Peterson testified at length about Fernandez’s interview.

On the same night they went driving, Fernandez and Sanchez shared nearly a case of beer while sitting on lawn chairs in front of the defendant’s Simi Valley house, Peterson said.

Fernandez told the detective that Sanchez was weepy, depressed, drunk and talked about killing himself with a gun.

When Fernandez questioned him, Sanchez--who has since admitted to raping seven women--said he was having problems with his girlfriend and that “he had done some other things that were causing him stress.”

As Fernandez questioned Sanchez further about his access to a gun, the defendant went inside his Woodrow Street residence and came out with an AK-47 assault rifle, Peterson testified. Barroso was killed with the same type of weapon, according to previous court testimony.

On cross-examination, Peterson acknowledged that Fernandez admitted to being “very intoxicated” during his conversations with Sanchez. Fernandez also mixed up dates during his police interview and couldn’t recall how much the two drank before driving into the hills that night.

In other testimony Monday, Frueh told Judge Ken Riley that sometime between 1 and 3 a.m. on July 5, he awoke and noticed that Sanchez’s truck was gone. He awoke again before daybreak, he said, to find Sanchez washing the green Ford Ranger in the garage.

Barroso was driving home from a Fourth of July barbecue when she allegedly was stopped by Sanchez before being shot about 3 a.m. Her blood was found in the truck by crime lab technicians.

Testimony will resume April 30.