A Santa Barbara County jury deliberated for less than a day before finding a man guilty of robbing and murdering a woman on Santa Barbara’s waterfront.
The killing happened in March of 2022. Thresa Ann Carina’s body was found with her hands and feet bound in a parking lot. She had been strangled.
Carina was a well-known homeless woman in the lower State Street area. Business owners who saw her frequently described the 51-year-old woman as friendly and polite.
Gabriel Jose Zepeda was arrested for the murder. At the time of the killing, he was out on bail after being charged with a commercial burglary, and was wearing a GPS ankle monitor because he was on parole.
Zepeda is potentially facing life in prison without the possibility of parole when he’s sentenced in June.
Santa Barbara County District Attorney John Savrnoch called the murder "senseless" and "tragic," and said that a vulnerable woman lost her life in a calculated act of violence.
