A Santa Maria man arrested days after his mother, sister and a family friend were brutally killed has been charged with a misdemeanor count of disobeying a domestic relations court order.
Brian McNabb, 40, of Santa Maria entered a plea of not guilty on Friday in Santa Barbara County Superior Court in response to the allegation. The incident reportedly occurred between Dec. 29 and Dec. 31. The Santa Barbara County District Attorney’s Office did not spell out the details of the allegation in the criminal complaint.
McNabb initially was taken into custody Sunday on suspicion of battery causing serious injury against a family member before the Dec. 28 killings.
During Friday’s hearing, McNabb was ordered back to court Tuesday after the defense attorney tried to have the man released from jail on his own recognizance. Visiting Judge John Fisher denied the defense request.
McNabb’s court appearance fell on the one-week anniversary of the date when his brother allegedly killed their mother, their sister and family friend in their home in Oakhill Country Estates in Orcutt.
The brother, David Gerald McNabb, 43, was fatally wounded by Santa Barbara County sheriff’s deputies responding to a report of a bloody scene in the house and found him armed with a rifle.
Killed were Brian and David McNabb’s mother, Melanie McNabb, 64, and sister Nicole McNabb, 34, along with Melanie’s friend, Carlos Echavarria, 63. The three victims were brutally beaten and stabbed at the property in the 5900 block of Oakhill Drive, according to sheriff’s officials.
Deputies were continuing to search for a motive for the rampage.
Authorities have not connected Brian McNabb to the triple-homicide in Orcutt.
Before his arrest, Brian McNabb was the defendant in two restraining orders recently granted to his ex-wife and their children, plus his former pastor and his family.
Santa Maria pastor Hilario Tajon said in the 2017 request for a temporary restraining order that Brian McNabb sent harassing emails threatening physical harm along with those that were strange, pornographic and of a sexual nature.
“I will bury you and never think twice ’cause it’s the Lord’s business,” Brian McNabb allegedly wrote.
He also referenced, “I will see you in the obituaries,” Tajon said in court documents.
Brian McNabb and his family were parishioners of the New Beginnings Christian Fellowship on West McCoy Lane, according to the legal documents.
On Jan. 31, 2018, the permanent restraining order was granted and remains in effect until 2021 for Tajon, his wife, son and daughter.
Brian McNabb’s former wife, Candace, also filed a restraining order as part of their 2017 divorce proceedings.
In one case, Brian McNabb “told me he has HIV (claimed his diagnosis is ‘written on the walls of the home in the form of a storyboard’),” the former wife wrote.
A trip to the hospital revealed that Brian McNabb was negative for HIV but was severely dehydrated in September 2017. He also remained in the hospital on a mental health hold. In January 2015, he suffered a nervous breakdown, court documents stated.
“In the days leading up to it, he was delusional, paranoid, sleepless, combative. He thought there was a bomb in his vehicle and refused to drive it,” according to court documents. “He thought he there was a bomb in the house and demanded the four of us to leave the residence. He woke (his daughter) out of a sound sleep and tried shoving her down the stairs to get out of the house.”
The next evening, Brian McNabb reportedly became combative and punched his aunt in the face, knocking her to the ground,” the court documents stated.
After the 2015 incident, he spent time in Vista del Mar in Ventura County.
Since that breakdown, Brian McNabb has shown continual mood swings, depression and suicidal thoughts, according to the court paperwork from late 2017.
“I am in fear of my safety, my children’s and my loved ones,” Candace McNabb wrote, adding that she was afraid to leave her husband sooner. “I finally got the courage to leave but I need protection from Brian. He’s unstable, a master manipulator and cannot be trusted. I worry about him hurting me physically. I worry about his mental state and inability to manage his illness.”
— Noozhawk North County editor Janene Scully can be reached at jscully@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.