After a five-week trial, a jury this week found a 49-year-old Santa Maria man guilty of the 2022 murder of a 51-year-old Santa Barbara woman, the Santa Barbara District Attorney’s Office confirmed. 

Gabriel Jose Zepeda, who was out on bail on an unrelated felony commercial burglary case when he killed Theresa Ann Carina on March 14, 2022, is looking at life in prison without the possibility of parole. 

His sentencing is scheduled for June 16. 

The jury, which deliberated for one day, also found that the murder was committed during an attempted robbery or a robbery. The judge also found that Zepeda had a prior strike offense. 

Carina was unhoused and lived in lower State Street near Sterns Wharf, according to the District Attorney’s Office. She was described by nearby business owners and pedestrians as “quiet, polite and someone who kept to herself.”

She was found deceased in a parking lot behind a business between Cabrillo Boulevard and Mason Street with her hands and feet bound.

Zepeda had a GPS ankle monitor on at the time of the murder as a condition of his parole in the burglary case. 

He also told nearby fishermen at Stern’s Wharf that he had robbed a woman, the District Attorney’s Office said. 

He had other, unrelated criminal convictions and pending cases in the Santa Barbara Superior Court at the time of his arrest on the 2900 block of State Street, including stalking, false imprisonment, burglary and contempt of court for violating a protective order, Noozhawk previously reported.

District Attorney John T. Savrnoch thanked Senior Deputy District Attorney Elizabeth Branch, as well as Santa Barbara Police Department Sgt. Adam Mik and District Attorney’s Office investigator Eric Davis, for their work on this case. 

“This crime was senseless and tragic. A vulnerable woman lost her life to a calculated act of violence,” he said in a news release on Friday. 

Santa Barbara Police Department spokesperson Sgt. Bryan Kerr said the department “commends the jury for its careful review of the evidence.” 

“The Santa Barbara Police Department acknowledges the profound impact this case has had on the victim’s family, friends, and the broader community,” he said in a Friday news release. 

Zepeda will remain in custody without bail pending the sentencing hearing.