Parents Plea for Help After Daughter Reports Rape at UCSB

ISLA VISTA, Calif. ( KEYT ) - After a reported rape last weekend, the parents of the victim, an 18-year-old UC Santa Barbara freshman, are asking for help from the public to find the attacker. The victim has been identified as Jane Doe to protect her identity, and reported the assault to UC Police about an hour after the attack.

An alert went out last weekend about what was described by police as a violent sexual assault and strangulation.

Attorney Tyrone Maho, of Maho & Prentice, LLP, and the family’s investigator, Michael Claytor of Claytor Investigations are representing the student's family. They say at approximately 11:00 pm on Saturday, May 9, their daughter was violently attacked and the attacker is still at large.

They are asking anyone who may know about this or a Sigma Pi fraternity party scene prior to the attack to come forward with the information.

The family, through their attorney, Tyrone Maho of Maho Prentice, LLP, have reached out to Chancellor Dennis Assanis, requesting help.  They are asking for the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Department take over this investigation.   The family has been in contact with the UCSB Police Department so far, but due to their limited resources they are asking for the Sheriff’s Department to take over this investigation and find the attacker.

In 2025, Mayo and Claytor led a public outreach campaign to identify a person of interest in connection to the death of another student, 18-year-old Liz Hamel who died in a fall from a balcony on campus. That case has been under investigation by the UC Police at the time.

(More details, photos and video will be added here later today.)

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