Closure of Santa Barbara’s Four Seasons Resort The Biltmore, a double shooting of two college students, and the Loma Fire round out the list s top three
Gang members murder college students attempting to sell pot in Goleta
February 10, 2021
By JOSH FRIEDMAN
Two Santa Barbara gang members are accused of shooting and killing a pair of 19-year-old college students who were attempting to sell marijuana in Goleta.
Prosecutors have charged the gang members with two counts of murder each over a drug deal that turned into a deadly “robbery rip-off.”
On Jan. 7, a gunman or gunmen shot Enzo Marino Rastelli and Jasper Pieter van der Meulen on Burtis Street in Goleta. Responders found Rastelli and van der Meulen wounded inside a vehicle.
Rastelli died at the scene, and Van Der Meulen succumbed to his injuries three weeks later.
Arraignment Continued for Homicide Suspect in Shooting Deaths of 2 College Students Near Goleta
Bryan Munoz of Santa Barbara and a 15-year-old juvenile are accused in slayings of Enzo Marino Rastelli and Jasper Pieter van der Meulen
Santa Barbara County SWAT team members serve search and arrest warrants last Thursday in Santa Barbara. One of those arrested, Bryan Munoz, 21, was criminally charged with homicide and conspiracy to commit robbery, and was arraigned in court on Monday. (Angela Duffy Kelly photo) By Tom Bolton, Noozhawk Executive Editor | @tombol | UPDATED 10:35 p.m.
February 8, 2021
| 3:20 p.m.
A Santa Barbara man accused of murdering two local college students in what authorities are describing as a drug deal gone bad appeared for arraignment Monday in Superior Court in Santa Barbara.
SB Sheriff: Goleta double homicide was drug deal gone wrong
SANTA BARBARA, Calif. - After law enforcement were seen in two Santa Barbara neighborhoods Thursday morning, the Santa Barbara County Sheriff s Office announced that arrests have finally been made in the Jan. 7 double homicide near Goleta, now deemed a drug deal gone wrong.
During a press conference, Sheriff Bill Brown said that four people were arrested as a result of their investigation.
Two of those arrests were made in connection to the murders and two were made as a result of search warrants.
Sheriff Brown said that bystanders initially reported the shooting near the 600 block of Burtis Street. There, deputies found two men each suffering from a gunshot wound to the head. One man was pronounced dead at the scene while the other was taken to the hospital and sadly died weeks later on Jan. 28.
Sheriff Bill Brown described the double homicide as a “robbery ripoff,” in which the two victims planned to sell at least half a pound of marijuana to the suspects but were robbed instead.