A simple wellness check turned into a homicide investigation after suspicious Santa Barbara cops searched a residence last week and found a dead body concealed in a bizarre way.
Authorities in the California beach enclave have charged two suspects, 45-year-old Jenica Monique Ochoa and 43-year-old Kenneth Eugene Tompkins, in connection with the concealment of the man’s corpse.
Officials say Santa Barbara police received a request for a welfare check on Oct. 27 around 9:37 p.m. at a residence in the 100 block of Los Aguajes Avenue.
Officers arrived at the apartment building and contacted a resident, but left after experiencing what they considered suspicious circumstances.
Police obtained a search warrant and executed the warrant the next morning, discovering 39-year-old Santa Barbara resident Lawrence Brennen’s body in a bedroll, placed in a metal container, and then wrapped in plastic, according to charging documents.
Ochoa and Tompkins, who both lived in the building according to custody records, were then arrested and booked on felony conspiracy and misdemeanor concealment of a dєatᩚh. Both suspects also have a second strike enhancement involving earlier first-degree burglary convictions, according to court records.
Prosecutors alleged the pair conspired to conceal Brennen’s dєatᩚh between Oct. 23 and Oct. 27, according to SFGATE.
Tompkins had a 2014 Tulare County conviction and Ochoa a 2008 Santa Barbara County conviction, according to KTLA.
Neither has been charged with causing his dєatᩚh, and both have pleaded not guilty to the alleged crimes and denied the enhancements, records said.
It’s unclear how Brennen died or his relationship to the suspects.
The suspects are set to return to Santa Barbara County Superior Court on Nov. 30 for a preliminary hearing to be scheduled.
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