New Details Emerge in Santa Ynez Murder

At 5’11” and 190 pounds, Rylen Quinn Svane-Morris seemed a little hefty to slip through the cracks. Yet that’s exactly what the 26-year-old Lancaster man did in the early morning hours of October 8, after allegedly beating Terry Lee Wilson, the 72-year-old father of an ex-girlfriend, to death in Wilson’s Santa Ynez bathroom.

Earlier, on October 4, Svane-Morris had been arrested on two felony charges for allegedly stealing a 1960 vintage motorcycle and for taking possession of a stolen Kia Optima. On October 3, he was also arrested by Sheriff’s deputies for assaulting the ex-girlfriend, Jennie Wilson of Santa Ynez, who claimed he tried to strangle her. He was not charged with attempting to strangle Wilson, however, because according to prosecuting attorney Laura Clinton, there was not sufficient evidence to prove the abuse allegations beyond a reasonable doubt. 

However, the probation report for Svane-Morris recommended that, though he was eligible for pretrial supervised release, he was ordered to stay away from Jennie Wilson and her father. In an interview with the Santa Maria Sun, Jennie Wilson said she’d filed several restraining orders against Svane-Morris, but that he always managed to avoid service. 

Wilson had just moved back home with her father because her mother died in August. She claimed Svane-Morris entered the house without her knowledge and got into the shower. When she discovered this and alerted her father, he and Svane-Norris got into a fight. “I’ll fucking kill you, old man,” she quoted Svane-Morris as saying. Jennie Wilson said Svane-Morris fled the scene wearing his boxers. 

On October 11, Svane-Morris was arrested without incident in Santa Cruz by Santa Cruz Sheriff’s deputies. He’s being held on a no-bail homicide warrant in the North County Jail. A court hearing is scheduled for later this week. 

Correction: Rylen Quinn Svane-Morris was on pretrial supervised release not supervised pretrial diversion as originally reported.

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