Eyewitnesses, tracking device help cops track hit and run killer

SANTA BARBARA — Elisabeth Contreras and Alan Garcia were crossing Las Positas Road just outside Earl Warren Showgrounds in the early Friday evening when they were struck and killed, according to eyewitnesses, by a silver or gray Chevrolet van that immediately fled the scene.

With witnesses quickly recording the license plate number of the van, Santa Barbara police identified the owner of the vehicle as Jon Steffen Peters, 46, of Santa Barbara.

Subsequent records investigation revealed that Peters, a registered sex offender with a prior conviction for oral copulation with a person under the age of 16, was wearing a GPS tracking device as part of his prior sentencing. Using global positioning technology, authorities soon located Peters, who had left the van at a location he had given to Santa Barbara County sheriff’s deputies just the prior evening as a secondary address.

Authorities reported that Peters’ van had significant front end damage reflecting evidence found at the scene of the accident, whereupon Peters was questioned and subsequently admitted leaving the scene of the fatal accident.

Charges of vehicular manslaughter were brought against Peters as a result of his arrest, with additional charges pending the outcome of further accident scene analysis.

Contreras was a 36-year-old Santa Barbara resident. Garcia, 38, resided in Goleta.