DNA Leads to Arrest in 2006 Hotel Stabbing Case

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DNA Testing has proved its worth once again, this time in a year-old case of attempted murder. On December 23, 2006, a couple staying at the Santa Barbara Inn, located at 901 Cabrillo Blvd., had left their door open at night to get some fresh air, and a man entered their room. According to a police statement, the woman, 56, awoke to see the man standing next to their bed, and when he noticed that she was awake, he tried to quiet her putting his hand on her mouth. This woke up the woman's husband, 59, who then got into a physical altercation with the man. According to the victims, the assailant said, "I have a knife," but brandished a broken glass bottle and attacked the male victim with it. The male victim then reportedly went to the front desk of the hotel to contact the police, and it was then that he discovered that he had been stabbed multiple times with the broken glass bottle, suffering multiple lacerations. According to police, some of the attacker's blood was on the victim as well, so it was sent to the lab for DNA analysis.

A month later, 23 year-old Timothy Obispo Morales, of Goleta, was arrested for sexual assault, and after being convicted of the offense, was required to submit a blood sample. Although it took until this month, police eventually made the connection using the blood sample collected when the assault occurred and matching it with the blood sample required by the sex offender registry. Detectives and probation officers were able to locate Morales and arrest him without incident on February 12, and he was booked on charges of attempted murder and burglary of an inhabited residence.

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