Full Notification

Rudolph Menfre Collaso, age 54, of Santa Barbara was arrested for the following crimes:

• Attempt murder

• Assault with a deadly weapon

• Terrorist threats

• Burglary

• Vandalism

• Possession of a shuriken

• Possession of metal knuckles

• Possession of a dirk or dagger

On June 4, 2015 at 8:27 p.m., officers from the Santa Barbara Police Department responded code 3, lights and siren, to a residence on the 1300 block of Santa Teresita Drive on a call of a disturbance in progress involving a subject named “Rudy” that was armed with an axe and breaking things inside the house. Upon arrival officers ordered Collaso out of the victim residence and took him into custody. When contacted Collaso was found to be in possession of concealed throwing knives and a concealed dagger with metal knuckles affixed.

Investigation revealed the following. Collaso and a companion live on the 1400 block of Santa Teresita Drive, next door to the victims in this incident. This incident appears to be the culmination of a years-long civil dispute between the neighbors. On June 4, 2015, just prior to the incident, Collaso and the victim, a 38-year old man and one of the next door neighbors for whom Collaso harbors animosity, became involved in an exchange of words, shouting at each other across their fence line. Collaso then retrieved a brush axe and pursued the victim with it, who ran back into his residence in fear for his life. Collaso followed the victim there and searched for him. The victim fled from the residence, unnoticed, and hid in nearby horse stables until police arrived. Collaso went room to room throughout the victim residence, searching for his neighbor and doing extensive property damage. Collaso’s behavior generated multiple 9-1-1 calls.

Detectives determined that over a period of time Collaso made terrorist threats to kill his neighbors which caused them to experience sustained fear. On this occasion he assaulted his aforementioned neighbor with a brush axe, entered the victim’s residence with the intent to commit felonies, attempted to kill his neighbor for a period of approximately ten minutes of focused effort, possessed illegal weapons, and committed over $100,000.00 of vandalism damage to the victim’s home. Collaso was booked into Santa Barbara County Jail on the aforementioned charges with a bail amount of $1,000,000.00.