2010 Cold Case Cracked
Santa Barbara police appear to have closed the book on a six-year-old cold case murder investigation, arresting Eutimio Osvaldo Aispuro this week for the 2010 killing of Santa Barbara resident Samuel Bautista Justo. On the evening of September 25, 2010, officers conducting a welfare check at 24-year-old Justo’s apartment on Castillo Street discovered him dead inside. He had been stabbed multiple times. The investigation quickly focused on Aispuro, 18 at the time, who fled to Mexico, where he is a citizen. Detectives issued a no-bail arrest warrant and began the process with Mexican authorities to capture and extradite their suspect.
That lengthy process was still underway when on June 4, 2016, United States Border Patrol agents found Aispuro in the Arizona desert southeast of Tucson and arrested him for illegal entry into the United States. He provided a false name, but his true identity was discovered upon fingerprinting. Santa Barbara detectives interviewed Aispuro in Arizona on June 20 before arresting him and flying him back to the South Coast, where he was booked in County Jail. His arraignment date has not yet been set.
