LOMPOC VALLEY - A Lompoc Valley man is behind bars charged with killing an elderly woman he lived with.
Authorities were notified at about 10:00pm Wednesday night with a 911 call for help but then the caller hung up.
The Santa Barbara County Sheriff's Department says its deputies followed the call to a home along the 1700 block of Calle Lindero in the Mission Hills area of the Lompoc Valley where they discovered the body of 64 year old Asta Marie Elliott inside a bedroom.
"Based on what they found there it appeared she had suffered several or at least multiple stab wounds", says Santa Barbara County Sheriff's Department spokesperson Drew Sugars.
The Sheriff's Department says the immediate suspect in the case, 23 year old Phillip Johnson, shared the home with the victim which is owned by another person.
The County Sheriff's Department, with the help of the Lompoc Police Department, launched a manhunt for Johnson.
"Our deputies teamed up with Lompoc Police", Sugars says, "they had a good idea of who the person was, they had a very good description, they were looking for him throughout the night."
Just before 10:00am Thursday morning, the Sheriff's Department says Johnson was spotted near the corner of H Street and College Avenue where he was taken into custody without incident.
"I didn't hear anything and my ears are still quite good", says next door neighbor Fred Grimes who was among several Calle Lindero residents warned to stay inside their home through a reverse 911 call after the homicide victim was discovered, "I didn't hear anything strange or noisy, the first thing out of the ordinary was a knock on the door by the Sheriff's Deputy."
Lompoc Police were called out to the same home on Calle Lindero two years ago where they arrested Phillip Johnson on several charges including a parole violation.
Phillip Johnson has been booked into Santa Barbara County Jail on a murder charge with his bail set at $1 million.
