Erica Alonso
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Voices 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.

On 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 4am, 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. She was wrapped in plastic bags and duct tape. Despite this, authorities concluded that foul play was not involved. This is the case of Erica Alonso.

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 Denora, who reached out to me to cover Erica's case. You'll hear from her in just a minute. Denora told me that as a child, Erica was really shy and sweet. She was also a big hugger.

which was annoying to Denora, who was 8 years older. The last thing she wanted was for her younger sister to be touching her all the time. Denora told me a story about one time when Erica tried to hug her, but instead of hugging back, Denora 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. Donora 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. She 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, Denora and Erica were very close. Denora 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. Denora 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.

Erica was also really close to Dinora'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. Donora 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. Dinorah told me that at one point, Larry got physical with Erica. And it wasn't just Dinorah that saw the problems in this relationship. A neighbor told CBS2 that she noticed Erica and Larry had a rocky relationship. She 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, 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. KTLA 5 reported that Erica was charged with misdemeanor domestic violence with corporal injury. She was also court-ordered to stay away from Larry. Now, Dinora 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.

Denora 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, Denora 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, that Denora was

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. So 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.

Dinorah told me about some of the behavior she and her family were concerned about. Like, one time, Erica and Larry went to Dinorah'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. Donora also found out about other things, like how Larry told Erica she shouldn't use credit cards because the government could track her. Donora also told me that Erica had a lot of trust in Larry. She thought he'd always help her if she needed it. Donora 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.

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Just go to the App Store or Google Play Store and download the free Ibotta app to start earning cash back and use code CRIME. That's I-B-O-T-T-A in the Google Play Store or App Store, and use code CRIME. On 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 Dinora if Erica was going out with Larry to possibly try to rekindle their relationship, or if they were just hanging out. Dinora said she isn't quite sure. From what she can tell, Erica often stayed friends with her exes. With that being said, Dinora 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, Donora thinks maybe Erica did want some type of resolution. Maybe 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, "'I know she really loved him and cared for him a lot. That's why she wanted to really try and make things work.'" She added, "'They were very much alike, which isn't always a good thing.'"

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. So 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 texts 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. He wasn't sure what happened to her after that.

Larry did not speak to the family again after this call. Dinora 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 when they report Erica missing...

Patty then calls Denora and says no one can get a hold of Erica, and also that Larry was the last person to see her. My 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, you called me. I go, what? What's going on? And her tone of voice, she just goes, have you seen Erica? Yeah.

And I go, no. I go, why? We don't know where she is. We haven't seen her. And, 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 with Larry. And after she said that, I don't remember anything. I 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, 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 can't.

you know. Thenora then called her sisters and asked what they were going to do. Then I started, you know, I, because again, I live in LA, I live in Orange County. I was calling them like, what are we doing? Like, what are we going to 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 going to do. So we're just like,

Like, oh my God, what are we going to do? So a friend actually 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. We literally went from like, let's say San Clemente, San Juan, all the way over here to 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 it's very uh you know it's very hard not knowing 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? You 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 Sultra 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. This 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.

Dinora 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.

On 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. We're all very worried. We just want her to come home safe."

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 1.30 a.m. 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 3.45 a.m.,

Officials told NBC LA 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. Erica's father, Isaac Sr., said, "...we have hope everything will be fine. She's a good girl." 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. Denora 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 a major sin the moment you are reported missing. And of course, this really upset Dinora. On March 20th, Erica's family held a candlelight vigil. They said they're not going to give up on Erica. Then, 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 1 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. The 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.

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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. My 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 oversex, 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 vans corners and stuff like that.

So then I called my mom and my mom called her husband, Erica's dad. And that's when he went down and, you know, trying to see if maybe they would tell him something. 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, and the detectives had reached out to my mom and, you know, they told her what they had found, but they couldn't say anything.

So I was like, okay, you know, that morning I was like, okay, I'm going to stay here because it's not, they're not going to 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 Erica Alonzo. 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 sister? 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 pass 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. He'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 her.

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? Maybe I should have seen her. Maybe that would have helped me to, I don't know, understand that she's gone. But now I'm,

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. But that is very hard for me. I think, I think it's very selfish. 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 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 I,

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 and trying to get a glimpse of that. And then when they were carrying her body up the cliff, I was like, why is it like this?

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 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.

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On April 27th, 71 days after Erica went missing, a group of California Department of Transportation biologists were working in San Juan Capistrano near the crossroads of Ortega Highway and Hot Springs Canyon Road in the Cleveland National Forest. This area is about 31 miles from Larry's apartment and 20 miles from where Erica's car was found. While biologists were working on an embankment, they

They 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. Toxicology 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. Dinora 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 wasn't sure if they ever got any data from Erica's missing phone.

Dinora 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. While 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 Dinora asked for more information, the detective said he didn't know. It was at this point that Dinora felt like the detectives just weren't actively investigating the case, but instead waiting for something to fall into their laps, which I can tell you is a very, very frustrating position to be in. So the family asked for a second autopsy to be done, but the police basically asked the family what else is there to find.

So, the family trusts law enforcement and ends up not getting a second autopsy. The police did recommend the family not cremate Erica. That way, if her body does need to be exhumed in the future, that was still an option. The family followed this recommendation. And on May 8th, the Alonzo family held a funeral for Erica.

After the funeral, Erica's father, Isaac Sr., spoke with ABC7. He said he was pretty sure that Erica was murdered by someone, but he didn't know who. Isaac said he would not give up until they found the person who killed Erica. He also noted that he was upset that Larry, the last person to see Erica alive, never approached the family, and he didn't attend the funeral. Isaac said that he was upset that Larry, quote,

could know what happened to her, that he's not speaking up, that he's not saying whatever he's hiding, end quote. ABC7 reached out to detectives to see if they were looking into Larry. They said his story checked out and he was not a suspect.

On June 26th, Erica's family held a march to keep attention on Erica's case. Her mother, Margarita, told CBS News that it was terrible not knowing what happened to Erica. She didn't even know her cause of death. Every day, things got harder because she feared the police would say Erica's case had gone cold. Tenora told me about how rough this time was for her. I was so depressed. I was, um, I thought I was going crazy, honestly. I was so depressed. I was, um, I thought I was going crazy, honestly.

Because I was like, there must be a way, you know, that she had that. I don't know. Like, I don't know. I was just going crazy. Like, there must be a way that she can come back. There must be, you know, just going crazy, literally. And when that happened, I remember I had a dream and she was in it. And I was so happy because I saw her in the dream. And in the dream, she looked at me and she looks like she was starting to cry. And I looked at her and I hugged her.

But when I hugged her, it felt super, super real. So I was like, I don't want to let you go. I was like, I don't want to let you go because I know when I let you go and open my eyes, you're going to be gone. But after that, it brought me so much peace. It brought me like such peace after that. Like, I felt like she came to tell me, you know what, it's okay. So after that, I kind of started to like, okay, you know, she's gone now.

I have to deal with this. And it calmed me down a little bit. You know, it calmed me down to the point where I wasn't going crazy thinking I can bring her back. But every time I'm like, I wish whenever I miss her, I could have dreams like that, you know? But I know she came at the best time because she knew I needed that. She knew that I needed that hug, that last hug that he gave me to help me deal with this.

On July 22nd, Erica's toxicology test came back. Results showed that Erica's blood alcohol content was 0.22, nearly three times the legal limit. Also in her system was GHB, or gamma-hydroxybutyrate. You may know this as the date rape drug, but just to dig a little bit deeper, according to Drugs.com, GHB is a central nervous system depressant that is commonly referred to as a club drug or date rape drug.

Some positive effects include euphoria, increased sex drive, and tranquility, while negative effects include sweating, loss of consciousness, nausea, hallucinations, amnesia, and coma. Erica's toxicology results show that she did have a fatal amount of alcohol and GHB in her system. The coroner ruled her cause of death as an overdose. The manner of death was undetermined.

Following these results, officials said in a press release that, quote, based on the totality of the investigation, including interviews, evidence collection, autopsy, and toxicology results, investigators do not believe Ms. Alonzo was the victim of a homicide, end quote. Erica's father, Isaac, told the Orange County Register that this was a big surprise. He said he didn't think she overdosed on purpose. He said, quote, if

If she had a dose of GHB, someone put it in her without her knowing. Even if she was drunk, she never tried that drug. End quote. Not only that, if Erica was out of her mind on these substances, how did she drive away from Larry's apartment that night? Or is it possible she took them after? If so, why?

Was she alone? I have a lot of questions, and I'm sure you do too. Basically, although the theory was that Erica overdosed on GHB, there was still the question of how she ended up in the ravine off Ortega Highway. Obviously, someone had to have taken her there after wrapping her in plastic bags and duct tape. There was also the question of how long had Erica's body really been there. And if she wasn't there the whole time, where was her body stored and by whom?

It's not as if this is just an open and shut overdose case. But by the end of 2015, police said they didn't have any answers to these questions. They said, quote, what happened after she died is still essentially a mystery, end quote.

Despite not knowing the answers to multiple important questions, police said that they still did not think Erica's death was a homicide. People magazine reported that at some point, Erica's family realized that even if police figured out who concealed Erica's body after her, quote, accidental death, they would only face misdemeanor charges. The maximum penalty was one year in jail and a fine of up to $10,000.

When Erica's family found this out, they were shocked. And Erica's mom, Margarita, wanted to do something about it. So she started reaching out to senators. Together, she and a California senator came up with legislation now known as Erica's Law, which would seek tougher penalties to anyone who concealed a body due to an accidental death. The law would make the crime a felony instead of a misdemeanor, and it would increase the statute of limitations from one to three years.

By the time the legislation worked its way through the legal system, it was whittled down to only extending the statute of limitations. But even though this wasn't everything Margarita had originally set out to change, it was still a huge win for the family. Erica's law was signed into law in July 2017, and it later took effect on January 1st, 2018.

But unfortunately, this is basically where Erica's case is today. Police have not identified the person responsible for wrapping Erica's body in plastic bags and duct tape and leaving her in the ravine. They don't know who had her body before that or where they kept her. They still say her death is not a homicide, but her manner of death remains undetermined. Dinora told me that the last time she spoke to police, they said they only have one person of interest, but wouldn't name any names.

Of course, this has stuck with Denora. There's really no other way to describe the weight an unsolved case has on you than unbearable. And I have to function. You have to tell yourself somehow, not block it, but it's always there with you. It's like I tell people, okay, imagine you have a heavy backpack and you have to do everything in life with it. Okay, I have to go to work. I have to go do this. I have to get that backpack is always there. No matter what you're doing, that heavy, that weight is always there.

No matter what you're doing, it's always there. I wake up, think about that. I go to sleep. I think it's always on my mind. And that's me. I can't, you know, speak for my sisters or anyone else, but that's the way it is for me. There's like no day that I do not think about it. There's no day that I, I, I, for the most part, for most I'm okay. But then there's those days where I let myself think and I look at a picture and

And it hits me again. She's gone. And that's when I like... And I break down again. And it's like all over. You feel that kind of... That you have to realize. And I try not to because I have my kids. But, you know, it's hard. It's very, very, very hard to... It's not like she died from something. You know, natural cause where, you know...

She was taken. She was because of somebody's stupidity, somebody's mistake. Somebody, you know, it wasn't because she did something, you know, she was drinking, but she knew she was being responsible. She was taking Uber. She was, you know, she was doing, cause she knew she was going to drink. She was going to have fun that day, you know, that night. And for somebody to make a mistake and her have to pay and not them. And then they live life. Like it's nothing like, well, it's a mistake. So it's okay. No, it's not okay. Yeah.

It's not okay. You know, you took her away. You didn't, you, you, you changed our lives forever. My life until my last day of breath. Like I, it's not, it's going to be in pain. My heart's going to ache. This is like nothing. This is going to be me for the rest of my life. I know my mom's the same, you know, like, and sometimes people ask you like, cause it was public, you know, at work they'll ask me, oh, so how's your sister's case?

And sometimes it'll throw me off and I try to answer real quick and I leave. And there's other times when I can talk about it. If I'm talking about it, it's because I, you know, I feel like I can't, but sometimes they'll ask and I'm like, it kind of hits me like out of nowhere. And it, you know, it's very raw eight years, eight years, but it's still very, very raw. You know, like people on the news or public people think, oh, you know, they're getting better. No, no.

Eight years, but it feels like it was just yesterday. Like, just yesterday. Dinora told me that she and her siblings all had very different personalities. But when they came together, they were like a full puzzle. Now that Eric is gone, they're missing one of the puzzle pieces.

Dinora doesn't want people to remember Erica as just another person that passed away. She wants Erica to be remembered as the amazing daughter, sister, and aunt that she was. That she was so good with kids and would have been a great mother. Dinora also wants people to know that Erica deserves closure and peace.

Erica's family would like for her autopsy to be looked over by a new pathologist, as well as for her case to be reviewed, preferably by the FBI. They'd also like to see movement in Erica's case. Right now, they feel that the police are just waiting for something to fall in their lap.

Which brings me right to our call to action. The week this episode airs marks eight years since Erika Alonso's family laid her to rest way too young. They constantly advocate for her by doing things like this podcast. Let's show them what this community can do.

We know the power of media pressure. Please share Erica's case. Please go follow the Justice for Erica Alonzo accounts on Facebook and Instagram. As always, all of that will be linked for you.

If you're local, you can respectfully let representatives or the Orange County Sheriff's Office know that you're concerned. To remind them that whoever was involved with Erica's death is still out there, free to live their life and possibly do this again. I've seen so many cases get reinvigorated this way. Dinorah also asked me to read the following letter to whomever may be responsible for Erica's death and or the mistreatment of her remains.

Letter to the person that took our lives. When Erica's life ended, she didn't go alone. She took part of our lives with her. The lives we can never have again because that normal is gone.

That normal where we knew love and peace. We only know a new normal. Where we carry a heavy heartache no matter how life is. We carry a burden when we laugh. We carry a burden when we smile. We will carry this until our last breath. You had the chance to make this right. You had the chance to give us closure. You had the chance to let us have our last goodbyes. You didn't. But you selfishly only thought of yourself and how this could affect your life.

"'You made a big mistake. And who paid for that mistake? You? Your family? No, Erica did. I ask, what did she do to you so you could do this to her? She cared so much, yet you gave her this? You betrayed her. You could have taken her to a hospital. You could have done so much. You chose not to. You chose to dump her like trash.'

You don't deserve love. You don't deserve freedom. You don't deserve anything but misery. You are a monster that needs to look in the mirror and realize who you really are. You carry darkness.

As a reminder, 27-year-old Erica Alonzo went missing in the early hours of February 15th, 2015. She was last seen at Larry's apartment, located near Culver Drive and Deerfield Avenue in Irvine, California. Her 2014 white Honda Civic was located on March 25th, near Cedarbrook in Redwood. Erica's body was found on April 27th near the crossroads of Ortega Highway and Hot Springs Canyon Road in remote Orange County.

Anyone with information is asked to call the Orange County Sheriff's Department at 714-647-7055. But as always, thank you, I love you, and I'll talk to you next time. Voices for Justice is hosted and produced by me, Sarah Turney, and is a Voices for Justice media original.

This episode contains writing and research assistance by Haley Gray. If you love what we do here, please don't forget to follow, rate, and review the show in your podcast player. It's an easy and completely free way to help us, and help more people find these cases in need of justice. And for even more content, check out my other podcast, Disappearances, only on Spotify.