Full Notification

Eutimio Osvaldo Aispuro, age 24, formerly of Santa Barbara, was arrested for the 2010 murder of Samuel Bautista Justo, a resident of Santa Barbara who was 36-years old at the time of his death.

On the evening of September 25, 2010 officers from the Santa Barbara Police Department responded to a call to check the welfare of a tenant at 730 Castillo Street, Samuel Bautista Justo. Neighbors had not seen Justo for several days and had become concerned, prompting them to call their landlord who subsequently called 9-1-1. Officers entered Justo’s apartment using the landlord’s key and found him inside, deceased, the result of being stabbed multiple times.

The ensuing homicide investigation quickly focused on an acquaintance of the victim, Eutimio Osvaldo Aispuro, then 18-years old, as the suspect in this case. Investigation further revealed that Aispuro had successfully fled to Mexico prior to the crime being discovered. SBPD detectives obtained a no-bail arrest warrant for Aispuro for the crime of murder.

Due to Aispuro’s Mexican citizenship, SBPD detectives spent the years since the crime working with our federal law enforcement partners and the Mexican government to arrange for Aispuro’s arrest and extradition to the United States or prosecution in Mexico for Justo’s murder. This lengthy process was underway at the time Aispuro was taken into custody.

On June 4, 2016 agents from the United States Border Patrol contacted Aispuro in the Arizona desert southeast of Tucson and arrested him for illegal entry into the United States. Aispuro provided a false name to the Border Patrol, however his true identity and wanted status were revealed upon fingerprinting. Aispuro was booked into the Pima County Jail in Tucson, Arizona, where he was contacted by SBPD detectives and interviewed on June 20, 2016. The detectives took custody of Aispuro and transported him to Santa Barbara where he was booked that night into the Santa Barbara County Jail on the aforementioned no-bail warrant for murder. Booking photo provided by the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office (Aispuro, top; Justo, bottom).