Anonymous
Update by the District Attorney of Santa Barbara County
March 16, 2022
Santa Barbara County District Attorney Joyce E. Dudley announced today that a felony complaint has been filed against Gabriel Jose Zepeda, age 46, of Santa Maria, California. The complaint charges Gabriel Jose Zepeda with willful, premeditated and deliberate First Degree Murder under Penal Code section 187(a) in connection with the death of Theresa Carina, age 50, occurring in the early morning hours of March 14, 2022. In addition, Zepeda has been charged with a special circumstance of Murder During the Commission of Robbery under Penal Code section 190.2(a)(17)(A). It is further alleged that Gabriel Jose Zepeda committed the murder while out on bail on his own recognizance, and that he has a prior strike conviction and prior serious felony conviction.
The defendant was arraigned in Department 8 of the Santa Barbara Superior Court this afternoon, and held without bail. The arraignment was continued to April 18, 2022, in Department 8 of the Santa Barbara Superior Court. If anyone has additional information they would like to provide, they can contact Detective Adam Mik of the Santa Barbara Police Department at (805) 897-2300.
Gabriel Jose Zepeda
Suspect Arrested in Suspicious Death on State Street
Update by Santa Barbara Police Department
8:30 p.m., March 14, 2022
The suspicious death that occurred in the first block of State Street this morning is being investigated as a homicide.
Santa Barbara Police Detectives learned of a potential suspect that was in the area where the female victim had been located. The suspect in this investigation was wearing a GPS tracking ankle monitor per the terms of his probation. Detectives were able to utilize tracking software as well as other physical evidence at the scene to link the suspect to this crime.
Detectives were able to use the suspect’s GPS tracker to locate him in the area of 2900 State Street. The suspect was identified as Gabriel Jose Zepeda, a 46-year-old transient that was arrested without incident.
Zepeda was transported to the Santa Barbara County Jail and booked for Homicide (felony) and Robbery (felony). His bail is set at $1,000,000. Detectives also learned Zepeda was recently released from Santa Barbara County Jail on March 10, 2022.
The victim’s name is not being released at this time pending next of kin notifications. This investigation is still active, ongoing, and the cause of death is unknown pending autopsy. There appears to be no known affiliation between Zepeda and the victim at this time.
Source: Santa Barbara Police Department
9:00 a.m., March 14, 2022
On March 14, 2022, around 7:20 am, the Santa Barbara Police Department’s Combined Communication Center received a report about an unresponsive female lying in the parking lot of a business located in the 1st block of State Street.
Officers and paramedics arrived on scene and determined the female was deceased and lifesaving measures would not be effective in attempting to resuscitate her.
During the initial investigation, it was determined this death appeared to be suspicious. Santa Barbara Police Detectives are currently on scene along with police forensics investigating this death. It appears the female victim was homeless and potentially in her late 40s or early 50s.
State Street between Cabrillo Blvd. and Mason Street will be closed to all vehicles, pedestrians, and bicyclists for multiple hours. We ask the community to please avoid the area.
This is an active investigation, and no other information is available currently.
Not likely though justified. He’ll get 25 to 40 and will serve half that time. And will get a chance to do it again.
Catch and release just one more thing to thank our leaders. No bail. We all should be concerned,
LUCKY – “And in whose best interest is it to put predators back on the streets?” No one. You falling for the Fox bait? No, liberals don’t “want criminals back on the streets.”
You should let the liberal politicians know that because your comment doesn’t match their rhetoric nor legislative activities.
https://www.economist.com/united-states/2022/01/15/as-violent-crime-leaps-liberal-cities-rethink-cutting-police-budgets
https://thehill.com/opinion/criminal-justice/560283-crime-and-the-root-cause-the-left-wont-say-out-loud
9:00am – where has any politician said they “want criminals on the street?” Show me. I will fully agree though, that too many criminals are getting back on the streets. That’s not because liberals “want them their” though, it’s because of overly liberal policies and over crowded jails. I’m very disturbed to be reading how many “recently released” violent criminals are out striking again lately. This is a dire problem that needs to be addressed.
Remember though, even Republican run Counties have bail systems.
“That’s not because liberals “want them their” though, it’s because of overly liberal policies “………….
9:24 -*There, not their, and yes, overly liberal policies. My statement stands. I’m a liberal and don’t agree with those policies. The policies have goals behind them, but the goal is not to flood the streets with violent criminals as you and so many say. It’s a sad byproduct of the policies.
A politician had to have said it or it wouldn’t have happened. Ill look for who wrote the early release laws. To me Early Release is code for put them back on the street!!
I think you accurately sum up the liberal agenda; whether it’s criminal justice reform, climate change, covid policies, immigration, etc., they will enact policies to support a goal, a goal that resonates well with their voters, while ignoring the readily apparent consequences to those policies, often consequences that conflict with the goal. Because it isn’t about the goal to the policy makers, it’s about the next election where they flaunt their ‘policies’ and any talk about the “sad byproducts” of those policies can be dismissed as right-wing, Faux News progoganda.
10:21 (VOICE?) – the same exact thing can be said for the conservative agenda. It’s politics as usual.
Please elaborate. Maybe provide an example?
Hopefully Gabriel Jose Zepeda is handed down by the judge 100 plus years in prison and no chance of parole in this liberal state.
“…recently released from Santa Barbara County Jail on March 10, 2022.” By who? And in whose best interest is it to put predators back on the streets?
More carbon-shill FUD. Do you have any idea how much a loaf of bread will cost when you can no longer grow wheat, fertilizer or no fertilizer? People do indeed need to pull their heads out of the carbon lobby’s orifice.
Reducing our dependence on fossil fuels and protecting our environment is a conservative position. The apocalyptical world is going to end in 12 years and we’ll be swallowed by the sea if we don’t take drastic action immediately is an left-wing extremist position, not factual and simply sensationalism to push an agenda. Our state is no where near ready for all electric and we’ll need fossil fuels as we make that transition, we are making that transition. Green sources of energy are being increased (not shutting down existing nuclear power plants would help a ton), technology such as EV’s are improving and over time the prices will come down to be affordable to the masses (they aren’t right now). We are on that track but to think that we can simply turn off the oil wells and switch on electric with any expediency isn’t being realistic/conservative. We have a long way to go not only in the generation of green electricity but it’s distribution as well. In the meantime, thinking $10 a gallon gas will help get us there quicker is another example of liberal agenda – here is the goal (shutting down domestic production, Yay!) be dammed with the consequences and the consequences of extreme gas/energy prices on the average American would be severe.
9:57 – Nice try, but you just can’t ignore the fact that unless we wean ourselves off of CO2-emitting fuels very soon, the resulting climate carnage is going to cost a hell of a lot more to try to survive than the cost will be to rapidly switch to carbon-neutral fuels. All the dire predictions for the effects of AGW have so far proven to be on the conservative side. The situation is bad, and very quickly getting a lot worse.
@12:09 that’s exactly the irrational, non-science based, climate apocalypse sensationalism I was talking about. “resulting climate carnage” please. you have no clue how bad the actual human cost would be if we rapidly switched to carbon-neutral fuels, not even transportation but FOOD PRODUCTION. Food production requires fertilizers based on natural gas, not to mention all the gas powered equipment required to tend to all those fields that can simply be switched over to electric, then actually getting the food to stores. Any idea what the cost of a loaf bread is going to skyrocket to if it was farm to table carbon free? Tesla’s had enough trouble ramping up passenger vehicle production, do you know how long before they’ll be able to produce semi’s in the numbers we’ll require (ignoring where we’re going to get all that green electricity in short order) Then there is CONSTRUCTION, we already have a housing shortage, do you know how few new units would be built if we took CO2 producing methods (concrete, steel, etc.) and machines out of the equitation. People need to pull their head out of the Utopian sand if we’re going to come together and make real progress on these issues.