Inmate at Santa Barbara County Jail charged with murder after in-custody death investigation

SANTA MARIA, Calif. (KEYT) – The Santa Barbara County Sheriff's Office shared an update to an in-custody death that happened on Sept. 15th.

The Coroner's Bureau is now classifying 68-year-old James Edward Murphy's death as a homicide and charged another inmate, Peter James Anderson with murder in connection to an assault.

The assault happened at the Main Jail on Sept. 6 around 6:30 a.m. after which Anderson, 46, reported an injury to his hand and deputies questioned how the injury occurred, according to the SBCSO.

SBCSO deputies later found Murphy injured and took him to a hospital where he stayed for two days for treatment.

Murphy returned to custody on Sept. 8th and a court ordered his release to a placement, though that placement was still pending, according to the SBCSO.

Deputies transferred Murphy to the Northern Branch Jail on Sept. 10th where he stayed until he was found unresponsive in his cell on Sept. 15.

Paramedics tried life saving measures after finding Murphy unresponsive for nearly 45 minutes before declaring him dead around 1:00 p.m. on Sept. 15.

The Coroner's Bureau determined Murphy's cause of death as heart disease contributed by blunt force trauma after an autopsy on Thursday.

The Sept. 6th assault was under criminal investigation when the SBCSO issued a notice of Murphy's death on Sept. 15.

The SBCSO did not include the assault information in its initial release of Murphy's death due to the ongoing nature of the investigation.

The subsequent investigation and autopsy findings led to the classification of homicide charges against Anderson, who SBCSO deputies already booked for felony domestic violence without bail on Aug. 24.

Anderson remains in custody and received additional felony charges of murder and elder abuse in connection to Murphy's death, according to the SBCSO.

Anderson remains held without bail at the Main Jail and both the criminal investigation and Sheriff's Office's separate administrative reviews remain ongoing.