Edhat Staff
By the edhat staff
The Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office has released more details in the 2022 murder of an elderly Montecito woman and announced a cash reward for information.
On May 27, 2022, 96-year-old Violet Evelyn Alberts, a longtime resident of Montecito, was found deceased in her residence on Park Lane.
Almost two months later the Sheriff’s Office confirmed Alberts was a victim of a home invasion and the autopsy confirmed her death to be a homicide. Now over a year later, the Sheriff’s Office is announcing they have identified a motive and do not believe the crime was random.
Prior to her murder, Alberts was the victim of fraud which was being investigated by the Santa Barbara County District Attorney’s Office. The suspect involved in the fraud has been in custody since August 9, 2022. However, Detectives are still attempting to identify the suspect responsible for the murder.
The Sheriff’s Office has developed information regarding a suspect vehicle seen entering and leaving the property during the time of the murder. The public is encouraged to help identify the owner or occupant in the included photos of a mid-sized SUV. Detectives are also asking Montecito residents to check any surveillance footage from May, 2022 for this vehicle.
The Santa Barbara Sheriff’s Office is also announcing a $10,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of those responsible for her murder. If you know the subject associated with this vehicle, please contact the Sheriff’s Office Criminal Investigations Bureau at (805) 681-4150. If you prefer to remain anonymous, you can contact the Sheriff’s Office anonymous tipline at (805) 681-4171 or email tips@sbsheriff.org.
Surveillance image of the Montecito homicide suspect’s vehicle (Provided by the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office)
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Detectives have determined a motive…
Duh, let me think, is it money??
I agree what a clown show!!
porsche cayenne
Can’t the run a series of license plate checks against Porsche SUV’s to match the pic with the blurred plate? Can’t make out every character but can get a decent idea.
Hard to tell but the SUV could be lowered.
Agree, does look like a Porsche SUV
Does surveillance video generally survive for more than a year? And what part of Montecito is this about? Seems like a real long shot that should have been tried much closer to the time of the incident.
For real, what a clown show. They decided it was murder a mere two months after the fact, but wait a YEAR to ask residents for help/video? What a shame.
The location was an address off of Park Lane .
I certainly hope the Sheriff’s Detectives scoured the neighborhood and asked for surveillance footage much earlier than now (over 1 year later!)
My camera footage is stored for 30 days and then deleted unless I manually save it.
Can we donate to the reward fund to increase it?
There are Digital Forensics Experts Specializing in Video Enhancement that could clear up those pictures.