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UCSB freshman Liz Hamel died after a February 2025 fall from a dormitory walkway. (Photo courtesy of Claytor Investigations)

Santa Barbara News-Press reporter Chris Woodyard has an exclusive report today about Liz Hamel, the UCSB freshman who died nearly a year ago, last Valentine’s Day, under mysterious circumstances.

The News-Press, through a California Public Records Act request, obtained documents that shed new light on what happened that night.

The unidentified man who she was last seen with watched her climb a third-story railing and then fall to the ground, according to a Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office report.

The man then “panicked” and left the scene, according to the report.

Hamel’s family hired an attorney and private investigator to look into the case.

Read the story here.

Joshua Molina smiles at the camera

Joshua Molina

News-Press Editor


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Local voices

woman in a black jacket and white top wearing a necklace
Devon Wardlow, Santa Barbara City Planning Commissioner

“Santa Barbara may not be able to stop ICE activity. But we absolutely can decide how we respond. We can prepare. We can protect. We can document. We can hold the line on public safety and civil rights. “

— Devon Wardlow

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Joshua Molina is editor of the News-Press and an award-winning journalist with more than 25 years of reporting across the South Coast. He is a professor of journalism at Santa Barbara City College and host of local news show SB Talks with Josh Molina.