Suspected killer of California woman who livestreamed sister’s dead body in custody, officials say

Lights are shown atop a police car in this stock photo. (Pexels)

Obdulia Sanchez, a Stockton woman infamously known for livestreaming her sister’s dead body following a DUI crash, died in a December drive-by shooting. On Friday, officials announced they took her suspected killer into custody.

Monica Barajas is accused of a Dec. 2 shooting near the intersection of Gertrude Avenue and Fremont Street, the San Joaquin County Sheriff’s Office said. Deputies who responded found a man and woman — Sanchez — with gunshot wounds.

Sanchez, 26, died of her wounds after being taken to a nearby hospital. On Thursday, detectives searched the 2000 block of East 6th Street and the 700 block of San Miguel Avenue as part of that shooting investigation, the sheriff’s office said.

Details were not released on the man’s condition. KCRA 3 reached out to the sheriff’s office for an update.

Detectives arrested Barajas in connection with the shooting on murder and attempted murder charges, the sheriff’s office said.

Sanchez drew national attention in 2017 for being on Instagram’s live feature while driving with her 14-year-old sister as a passenger before the vehicle overturned and rolled over. They crashed in the Los Banos area of Merced County, and she continued to livestream and showed her sister’s body afterward, who appeared motionless, before first responders confirmed the sister had died.

The Merced County District Attorney’s Office had previously described Sanchez’s actions as having “some depravity and some stupidity” after learning of her 0.10 blood alcohol level.

Sanchez was sentenced to more than six years in prison but got out after 26 months in September 2019 for good behaviour. Officers took her back into custody the next month after leading law enforcement on a pursuit.

The Stockton Police Department told KCRA 3 at the time that officers tried pulling Sanchez over for expired registration, but then she drove off, prompting the chase that resulted in her capture.

Sanchez was 18 years old at the time of the deadly crash.

The shooting that killed Sanchez happened days after a mass shooting during a child’s birthday party that left four dead and 13 injured. Previously, KCRA 3 asked the sheriff’s office if that shooting was connected to the one that killed Sanchez. The sheriff’s office has since said the two are not connected.