Welfare check leads to Santa Barbara man’s body stored in plastic wrap, police say
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- Two people have pleaded not guilty to charges of concealing the death of a man in his Santa Barbara apartment.
- Brennen’s body was wrapped in a bedroll and hidden in a metal container, according to a criminal complaint.
Two people have been charged with concealing a man’s death inside his Santa Barbara apartment after the body was found wrapped in a bedroll, stuffed into a metal container and covered with plastic wrap.
Jenica Monique Ochoa, 45, and Kenneth Eugene Tompkins, 43, were arrested Oct. 28 and later charged with conspiracy to commit a crime and concealing a death, according to a criminal complaint. They have pleaded not guilty.
Police received a call to perform a welfare check at the apartment in the 100 block of Los Aguajes Avenue shortly after 9:30 p.m. Oct. 27, the Santa Barbara Police Department said in a news release. Responding officers made contact with a resident and identified suspicious circumstances that prompted further investigation, the release states.
Investigators returned around 6:45 a.m. the next morning with a search warrant and found a dead man inside the apartment, according to the release. He was identified as resident Lawrence Brennen, 39, said Benjamin Ahrens, commander of the department’s Criminal Investigations Unit.
Ochoa and Tompkins are suspected of concealing Brennen’s body sometime between Oct. 23 and Oct. 27, according to the complaint.
The manner of his death remains under investigation but the circumstances are considered suspicious, Ahrens said. The Criminal Investigations Unit is leading an inquiry into the incident. Toxicology results are pending and will probably take several weeks to be returned, Ahrens said.
Ochoa and Tompkins were arraigned Friday and are next due in court Nov. 30 for a preliminary hearing date to be set. Prosecutors have alleged that both are eligible for sentencing enhancements for prior strike felony offenses — Ochoa for a 2008 burglary conviction in Santa Barbara County, and Tompkins for a 2014 burglary conviction in Tulare County.
Ochoa and Tompkins have denied the allegations.
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