The Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office is releasing scant details about the body of a deceased woman deputies recovered from the Santa Maria riverbed at 9:30 p.m. on Oct. 1.
On Oct. 3, Sheriff’s Office Public Information Officer Kelly Hoover said there were no updates to the investigation.
Santa Maria Police Department Detective Nathan Totorica said the body was found by city officers “about a mile west” from the intersection of North Blosser Road and Atlantic Place in the riverbed, roughly 30 to 50 yards from the levee.
Since it was outside their jurisdiction, Santa Maria police contacted the Sheriff’s Office, which dispatched a Search and Rescue team. The Sheriff’s Office criminal investigation unit is investigating the unidentified woman’s death as suspicious, Hoover said.
According to a Sheriff’s Office press release, the coroner’s office is “in the process of making a positive identification.” Hoover said on Oct. 3 that the woman’s name would not be released until the next of kin was notified.
This article appears in Oct 5-12, 2017.