Esme Barrera died from several stab wounds, report shows

AUSTIN (KXAN) - Esme Barrera suffered more than a dozen stab wounds in the early morning attack that took her life on New Year's day 2012.

The wounds are described in chilling detail in the medical examiner's report provided to KXAN News on Thursday. Barrera, 29, was killed inside her home just west of the University of Texas at Austin campus. The case was just closed last week when the Austin Police Department said definitively that James Loren Brown, who took his own life life after the attack, was responsible for the death.

According to the medical examiner's report, Barrera was struck at least 19 times, including 13 times in the chest and abdomen areas. She also suffered wounds to her scalp.

Before 3 a.m. on New Year's Day, emergency workers were to the 3100 block of King Street in North Central Austin for a welfare check. When medical personnel arrived, they found Barrera dead inside the home.

The killing of the woman who was well-known in Austin's music community sent shock waves through the West Campus area already reeling from similar attacks nearby.

Authorities on Jan. 12 found Brown with a plastic bag over his head, secured with packing tape. His hands were handcuffed behind his back, according to officials. A suicide note was also found at the scene.

Brown was a Navy veteran who had lived in Austin for a year and a half. He lived at the home where police found him since July 2011.

Last week, police said that a bloody shoe print from the Barrera crime scene was linked to a pair of shoes purchased by Brown two years earlier. They also linked him to other attacks in the area.