Old Town Goleta Murder Suspect Named and Accused of Stabbing Victim to Death
Goleta Resident Charged in Murder of Man Found Dead Near Goleta Business Park Wednesday Morning
[Updated: Fri., Nov. 3, 2023, 1:45pm]
On Friday afternoon, the Santa Barbara Sheriff’s Office identified the alleged suspect in the Old Town Goleta homicide earlier this week as 42-year-old Marino Luis Diaz of Goleta. Sheriff’s Office spokesperson Raquel Zick said Diaz was arrested at 7:51 p.m. on Wednesday for murder.
In an announcement shortly after, the District Attorney’s Office revealed that Diaz allegedly stabbed the victim to death and that Diaz’s murder charge carries a special enhancement for personal use of a knife.
Earlier this week, the Sheriff’s Office identified the victim as 57-year-old Goleta resident Efrain Alvarado Morales, according to a statement from Zick on Thursday afternoon.
The death was reported early Wednesday morning, when authorities responded to reports of an individual “down in the roadway” shortly before 7 a.m. on Carson Street in Goleta between Pine and Magnolia avenues. When Sheriff’s deputies arrived at the scene, they found Morales dead and Zick said detectives were investigating the incident as a homicide.
Just over an hour later on Wednesday morning, just after 8 a.m., deputies found another man in the area — since identified as Diaz — with “injuries” who was detained as a “person of interest” and transported to a nearby hospital for treatment.
Diaz is currently at Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital but being held without bail, according to the DA’s Office. His case is set for further arraignment on November 6.
Anyone with information is asked to contact detectives at (805) 681-4150, or to provide an anonymous tip, call (805) 681-4171 or visit https://www.sbsheriff.org/.
