Woman arrested for alleged role in 2021 Santa Barbara killings

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. – A Carpinteria woman has been arrested for her alleged involvement in a pair of murders in Santa Barbara in 2021.

On Friday, Jan. 7, Santa Barbara police detectives arrested Jasmine Ochoa, 24, of Carpinteria at a home on the 800 block of Walnut Avenue in Carpinteria.

Police say Ochoa "aided, assisted and harbored" her boyfriend, Angel Varela, one of the suspected gunmen in the January 2021 shooting deaths of Angel Castillo and Omar Montiel-Hernandez. The two were gunned down in the area of Liberty Street and South Soledad Street on Jan. 3, 2021. Several others were injured in the shooting, which is believed to be gang-related.

Police say Ochoa harbored her boyfriend after the murders occurred.

While detectives served a search warrant at her home, they recovered possible evidence linked to the murders.

Ochoa was booked at the Santa Barbara County Jail where she faces possible charges for accessory to murder and criminal street terrorism. Both charges are felonies. She is currently being held without bail, police said.

Varela and two other men, Oscar Martin Trujillo-Gutierrez and Emilio Perez, all of Carpinteria, are currently in jail without bail. They face possible charges for the murders of Castillo and Montiel-Hernandez, as well as attempted murder for three minors who were in the vehicle when the shooting happened.

Two other men were arrested in late April as accessories to the crimes.