New details have emerged in the death of University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB) student Elizabeth “Liz” Hamel, the 18-year-old freshman who died on campus after a tragic accident on February 14, 2025.
On April 30, 2025, the University of California Police Department (UCPD) announced it had identified a person of interest who was last seen with Hamel moments before she died, though authorities have not publicly released his identity.
According to newly released documents from the Santa Barbara County Coroner’s Bureau, a UCPD officer told a coroner’s investigator that the man witnessed Hamel climb a railing and fall three stories, then fled as she lay critically injured, Santa Barbara News-Press reported…