April 1, 2022 – Santa Barbara, Ca.
It was just after 2:00 a.m. on Sunday March 20 th when Santa Barbara Police Department 911 dispatchers were alerted to the report of a violent assault on the city’s eastside North Milpas Street. According to SBPD spokesman Sgt. Ethan Ragsdale, “multiple officers responded and located a victim who had been stabbed.”
That victim, later identified as 40-year-old Port Hueneme resident Valentine Hernandez, was promptly transported to Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital but soon thereafter succumbed to multiple stab wounds.
The motive for the violent assault remains unknown, but is suspected to have been the product of “some sort of confrontation” unrelated to gang activity. In the days that followed, SBPD homicide detectives conducted a rigorous investigation which led to the identification of multiple suspects involved in the attack.
Arrested on March 23 rd in connection with the case were 53-year-old Oxnard resident Carlos Rios, who was booked into Santa Barbara County Jail on charges of homicide with his bail set at $2 million. Apparently Rios was not acting on his own, as multiple individuals suspected of being accessories to the crime were arrested on felony
conspiracy to commit murder.
Those charged and booked into SBCO Jail were 44-year- old Santa Barbara resident Alejandro Mendoza Zarco, with his bail set at $2 million, 60- year-old Oxnard resident Leticia Munoz, and 45-year-old Port Hueneme resident Jesus Manuel Zavala-Zazueta, with bail set at $1 million each.
All four suspects remain in custody with the case “still under investigation.”
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