Arrest Made in 1997 Santa Barbara Cold Case Murder Investigation

A cold case murder investigation finally resulted in the arrest of Manuel Salmeron Manzanares, 36, in connection with the killing of a Santa Barbara homeless woman on August 16, 1997.

43-year-old Linda Louise Archer was attacked and beaten to death at her campsite located near the southbound U.S. 101 off ramp at Castillo Street. The following day, Gregory Gavin, a mentally ill transient, was initially arrested for the crime.

Investigators said Gavin had been at the crime scene and was in possession of property belonging to the victim, but was released after further investigation cleared him of the crime. Another suspect, John Dalton, was taken in by police in 2000 after allegedly confessing to the murder to a fellow inmate, but DNA evidence recovered from the crime scene did not match Dalton and the case against him was dismissed.

Nearly 20 years later, DNA evidence re-submitted by the Santa Barbara Police Department’s Major Investigation Team, identified Manzanares as the prime suspect in the murder.

SBPD Detective Andy Hill interviewed Manzanares at the U.S. Penitentiary in Lompoc, where he was in custody. The Santa Barbara Police Department said that the investigation indicated that Manzanares is the person responsible for the death of Linda Archer.

Manzanares was in custody for illegally re-entering the United States after previously being deported as a convicted felon, and was scheduled to be released and deported back to Mexico on June 12, 2015. Once released from federal custody, Manzanares was arrested by Santa Barbara police on a $1 million arrest warrant. He was booked into the Santa Barbara County Jail.

The motive for the killing is unknown.