Steven Douglas Howland, BHS 1968

Steven Douglas Howland, BHS 1968

Goleta Today, Goleta, California, Friday, March 25, 1977

Victim of freak accident. Goleta man’s body found.

The body of a Goleta man was found early Thursday afternoon near the intersection of Ellwood Station Road at Calle Real, just off the freeway.

The man, identified as Steven Douglas Howland, 27, 148 San Marino, was found by some young children at 12:40 p.m., according to Tom Nelson, coroner’s investigator.

Howland, his brother and a friend had apparently been running from the Calle Real side of Highway 101 to the Hollister Ave side, Nelson explained at “around 1 a.m.”  “The boys said they “lost track of where he was,” and continued on to Fubar (a bar on Hollister Ave). They said they figured he went home.” 

Nelson described the victim as “tripping in the dark.” “He probably struck his head on a concrete culvert pipe,” said Larry Gillespie, chief deputy coroner. “He was not struck by an automobile.” Both Gillespie and Nelson said Howland had apparently jumped over the fence and fell.

When the victim’s brother and friend saw CHP cars and sheriff’s cars at the scene Thursday, they “came over and gave the information,” Nelson said.

Both spokesmen for the coroner said that the area of the freeway, from Ellwood Station at Calle Real to Ellwood Station at Hollister, seemed to be a “quite common route.” The fence near the scene of the death “was bent down and all messed up.” Both men labeled the death a “freak accident,” and stressed the path is a dangerous area for pedestrians.