Investigators believe driver struck, and fatally injured woman on South Coast intentionally

A woman is dead after being stuck by a vehicle in Montecito in what investigators are now calling a homicide.
Lance Orozco

No suspect in custody for Montecito death at this time

Detectives believe that the hit-and-run death of a woman on the South Coast was intentional, and are investigating it as a murder.

Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s deputies were called to the 800 block of East Mountain Drive early Thursday morning by reports of a woman screaming.

They found a seriously injured woman on the street who had been hit by a vehicle. She died several hours later at a hospital.

Deputies believe the woman was intentionally hit by the driver of the vehicle, who then fled the scene. There’s no word on a possible motive. The name of the victim hasn’t been released yet.

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Lance Orozco has been News Director of KCLU since 2001, providing award-winning coverage of some of the biggest news events in the region, including the Thomas and Woolsey brush fires, the deadly Montecito debris flow, the Borderline Bar and Grill attack, and Ronald Reagan's funeral.