SANTA BARBARA — On Dec. 23, 2006, a married couple were sleeping in their hotel room at the Santa Barbara Inn located at 901 Cabrillo Blvd.

They were in a second-floor room with a balcony. They had left their sliding glass balcony door open for the fresh ocean air. At about 4:40 a.m., the woman, 56, awoke to a male intruder standing over her. As she tried to alert her husband, the intruder put his hand over her mouth.

The woman’s husband, 59, awoke and tried to intervene. The suspect walked toward him and began to fight with him. The two exchanged blows, and the male victim was struck several times in the torso and face. At one point the suspect said, “I have a knife.” They fought for some time, and the suspect continued to strike him, according to police. The suspect fled after the woman got up and turned the lights on.

The victim realized that he had been stabbed. He staggered to the front desk, bleeding heavily from numerous wounds. After being transported to Cottage Hospital it was learned that the male victim received numerous stab wounds, including several to his abdomen, a large laceration to his left hand, one to his chin and neck area, one to his left arm, and under his right eye.

The resulting investigation indicated that the suspect had also suffered an injury during the incident and left a significant blood trail that was followed by responding officers. Blood samples were collected for analysis.

On Monday, detectives learned that a DNA match linked The suspect was identified as 23 year old Tomas Obispo Morales, 23, of Goleta to the December incident. Morales had been arrested in connection with a sexual assault that took place in January 2007, only a month after the incident on Cabrillo Boulevard. As a result of his sexual assault arrest and subsequent conviction, Morales was required to submit a sample of his blood.

Detectives and Santa Barbara County probation officers located Morales and placed him into custody without incident on Tuesday. Morales was arrested on charges of attempted murder and burglary.