Woman Held After Fatal Shooting of Obdulia Sanchez, Infamous for Livestreaming 14-Year-Old Sister’s Death

The suspect in the alleged fatal shooting of Obdulia Sanchez, 26, a Stockton woman infamously known for livestreaming her 14-year-old sister's dead body in 2017, has been taken into custody.

The deputies of the San Joaquin County Sheriff's Office, on March 12, searched the 2000 block of East 6th Street and the 700 block of San Miguel Avenue as part of the shooting investigation.

Monica Barajas was identified as a suspect and arrested on charges of murder and attempted murder and booked into the San Joaquin County Jail, the Sheriff's Office said.

On December 2, 2025, the San Joaquin County Sheriff's Office deputies responded to a location in Stockton, California, after receiving reports of shots fired.

According to the Sheriff’s Office, Obdulia Sanchez and another unidentified male were shot in a drive-by around 7 p.m. in the 700 block of Gertrude Avenue in Stockton. Sanchez was taken to a nearby hospital, where she died. The male victim survived.

According to Law&Crime, Obdulia Sanchez was a teenager in 2017 when she went to prison for gross vehicular manslaughter, driving under the influence (DUI), and child endangerment in connection with the death of her 14-year-old sister.

The then-18-year-old was intoxicated when she crashed her car while livestreaming on Instagram and continued to record after the crash, sharing images of the younger girl's dead body.

Police said at the time that Sanchez was traveling about 120 mph when she drove into the left shoulder, then overcompensated when trying to reposition, cutting across the entire highway, through a fence, and into a field, where the car landed after overturning.

A blood test administered 90 minutes later showed that her blood-alcohol content was .106, well above the legal limit of .08. Besides alcohol, her blood tested positive for marijuana and cocaine, according to Law&Crime

Prosecutors sought the maximum sentence for Sanchez, which is 12 years in prison. Sanchez was, however, sentenced to more than six years in prison but was released after 26 months in September 2019 for good behavior.

Obdulia Sanchez explained why she kept the camera going in the gruesome aftermath of the accident. In a letter to local CBS affiliate KGPE, she explained that she hoped that by reaching her thousands of social media followers, she could garner not just sympathy, but money to go towards Jacqueline's funeral.

"I made that video because I knew I had more than 5,000 followers. It was the only way my sister would get a decent burial," Sanchez wrote. "I would never expose my sister like that. I anticipated the public donating money because my family isn't rich." The family ended up raising more than $12,000.

Sanchez said that she had livestreamed herself while driving many times before, without incident. "We do it all the time. All the time," she said. Twice during the recording, she interrupted the livestream while calling 911, Sanchez said.

"If I would've known that was going to happen that day, I would've never left the house, ever," she said.