{"id":229,"date":"2026-05-19T21:03:55","date_gmt":"2026-05-19T21:03:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sanfranciscomovingguide.com\/?p=229"},"modified":"2026-05-19T21:03:55","modified_gmt":"2026-05-19T21:03:55","slug":"ucsb-rapist-at-large-as-victims-family-demands-outside-investigation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sanfranciscomovingguide.com\/?p=229","title":{"rendered":"UCSB rapist at large as victim’s family demands outside investigation"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Authorities are searching for a man who strangled and raped an 18-year-old freshman at a UC Santa Barbara residential building last week. The attack comes a year after another freshman student at the school, Liz Hamel, died after being found unconscious under a third-floor walkway in a different residential hall on campus. The cases are not connected, but\u00a0UCSB police are once again being accused of not doing enough.<\/p>

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The attack occurred around 11 p.m. on Saturday, May 9, in Tropicana Gardens, a UCSB-owned, privately managed housing complex in Isla Vista, according to a campus alert and the victim\u2019s family attorney. The student, identified only as Jane Doe, attended a party at the Sigma Pi fraternity earlier that evening, between approximately 9 and 10 p.m., before arriving at Tropicana Gardens around 10:30 p.m. The dorms are an approximate 2-minute walk from the fraternity house. Police received a 911 call roughly an hour after the attack. In its campus alert, UCSB police said the attacker and victim \u201cmet earlier in the evening at a party in Isla Vista and were otherwise, unknown to one another.\u201d The attacker remains unidentified and at large.<\/p><\/div>

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Tropicana Gardens is a residential building on Cervantes Road, with residents requiring a pass for entry. According to the timeline established by investigators, both the victim and the attacker entered through the building\u2019s back door that night, though it remains unclear whether one or both had authorized access.<\/p><\/div>

The victim\u2019s family, through their attorney Tyrone Maho, is calling on UCSB Chancellor Dennis Assanis to bring in the Santa Barbara County Sheriff\u2019s Office to assist in the investigation.\u00a0<\/p><\/div>

\u201cWe\u2019re pleading with the chancellor, please request the Santa Barbara Sheriff\u2019s Department to help with this investigation to help apprehend this person immediately,\u201d Maho said at a news conference outside the dorm on Thursday. \u201cThe community is not safe.\u201d\u00a0<\/p><\/div>

Maho\u00a0said the family believes the UC Police Department lacks the resources to handle the case alone, though he stopped short of questioning its intentions. \u201cI do believe they truly want to find this person, and they are doing everything they can,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019re just asking that they get assistance from a department that\u2019s bigger, more capable, has the resources to do so, and has the experience to do so.\u201d Assanis has not responded to the family\u2019s requests, according to Maho.<\/p><\/div>

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The victim’s identity is being protected. But Michael Claytor, a former Santa Barbara Police Department detective who is working as a private investigator for the family, said she is recovering as best she can, supported by family and close friends who have rallied around her.\u00a0<\/p><\/div>

\u201cThis rape of any kind is horrible. This one was even more brutal,\u201d he told SFGATE on Monday. \u201cShe\u2019s a very brave young lady. She is all about holding this guy responsible, bringing him to justice, and helping keep the community safe.\u201d He added, \u201cThis is going to be a very long-term recovery.\u201d<\/p><\/div>

The case has drawn comparisons to another case at\u00a0UCSB that left a freshman student dead last year. In February 2025, 18-year-old freshman Liz Hamel was found unconscious on a sidewalk beneath a third-floor walkway at a campus residence hall, having last been seen leaving a nearby Isla Vista restaurant with an unidentified young man. She died in the hospital six days later. UCSB police ultimately ruled her death an accidental fall, a conclusion her family called \u201cbiased\u201d and riddled with \u201cunanswered questions.\u201d The Santa Barbara County District Attorney\u2019s Office told SFGATE in December the case was still under review.\u00a0<\/p>

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The rape case is not connected, but the two families retained the same attorney and private investigator. In each case, the family has publicly accused UCSB\u2019s campus police of lacking the resources and independence needed to properly investigate and called for the Santa Barbara County Sheriff\u2019s Office to step in.<\/p><\/div>

In a statement to SFGATE, Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office spokesperson Raquel Zick said the office is not leading the investigation. \u201cUCSB PD is the primary investigating agency for this case,\u201d Zick said. \u201cAll requests for statements about this case should be handled by them.\u201d<\/p><\/div>

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