A California mother had been missing for several days when her concerned daughter traced her cell phone signal – and was led to a homeless encampment where she found her body inside a makeshift tent.
The death of 46-year-old Lucrecia Macias Barajas was characterized by the Los Angeles Police Department as a suspected drug overdose, according to The Los Angeles Times.
But Barajas’ devastated daughters believe there was something suspicious about their mother’s death and say cops were too quick to rule out foul play, The Times reported.
The missing woman’s body was found on Monday, inside the tarp-covered shelter that had reportedly been secured from the outside with a lock, her daughters said.
Alongside Barajas’ body was the body of her male friend, whose identity was not released by the L.A. County Medical Examiner’s office. Neighbors said at least one of the bodies had been partially eaten by dogs.
Video recorded by a witness at the scene showed one of her daughters sobbing after making the horrific discovery at the encampment in the Westlake district of Los Angeles.
Another daughter recalled the moment she got the devastating news.
“My sister, she called to tell us that she found our mom dead,” Amely Becerra told KLFY. “It devastated us. We didn’t understand how it happened.”
“I want people to know she wasn’t a homeless drug addict, because that’s not true,” Becerra added. “Some people are coming to that conclusion, and that’s not fair. She was just at the wrong place at the wrong time.”
Adding to the suspicious circumstances, the daughters say they believe surround their mother’s death are that someone in the area heard a woman screaming for help.
“She was screaming: ‘help, help, I need help,” Hans Salinas, 25, told The Times about what he heard early Sunday, hours before the bodies were found. “After that it went silent.”
Salinas and his girlfriend had fallen asleep in his car in a parking lot near the shelter when they were woken up around 3:30 a.m. when they heard a man and a woman arguing. Screaming followed, he said, adding that it was coming from the direction of the tent when the bodies were later found.
Another resident, who lives near the encampment, told KTLA: “When I heard her harrowing screams, it shook us all to our core. We all just started shaking because we absolutely knew someone was dead outside.”
The homeless encampment has been an ongoing issue for many nearby residents, who say it attracts criminal activity, drug use, safety hazards and unruly animals, KLFY reported.
The victim’s daughters have since raised concerns about the handling of their mom’s case with the department and the LAPD has said they plan to look into it.
Meanwhile, the office of Los Angeles Councilmember Eunisses Hernandez told The Times in a statement that it was in touch with the LAPD to “ensure the family gets the answers they deserve.”
A GoFundMe was created to help raise money to bury Barajas next to her father, as she wished.
“She loved wholeheartedly and was selfless, caring, loving,” the campaign read. “She left us all too soon and it’s a shame to lose such a wonderful human being.”
