On a summer evening in Tulsa, Oklahoma, the life of 26-year-old Elizabeth Rodriguez was tragically cut short in an act of violence. On June 22, 2017, as she sat in a car outside a home with her mother and brother, she was ambushed and fatally shot. The sudden and violent attack left her family in shock and grief. Her brother, awakened by the news, ran outside to find his sister already gone.
The primary suspect in the shooting was quickly identified by the Tulsa Police Department as
Elizabeth's estranged husband, Jose Gomez-Baca. Investigators believe he surprised her as she arrived with her family. In the time leading up to the fatal encounter, Rodriguez had been seeking to separate from her husband. In a strange turn of events, Gomez-Baca had actually reported his wife missing prior to her death. The couple's two children were inside the home at the time of the shooting but were physically unharmed.
Immediately following the murder, Jose Gomez-Baca fled to Mexico, eluding authorities for years. A first-degree murder charge was filed against him in his absence. The pursuit of justice for Elizabeth Rodriguez continued, and in June 2023, Gomez-Baca was apprehended in Tecomán, Colima, Mexico. He was subsequently extradited back to the United States to face the charges against him. He is currently being held in the Tulsa County Jail without bond.
