Owner of local auto detailer shop worked on vehicle possibly involved in Montecito collision, alerted CHP

Posted: Jun 12, 2012 7:06 PM by Nikki Ibarra
Updated: Jun 13, 2012 8:11 AM

The Santa Barbara County District Attorney filed charges Tuesday against 28 year-old L. Tyrone Richardson, in connection with the death of 26 year-old Allison Meadows, of Santa Barbara.

Meadows was killed last Wednesday morning in Montecito; 25 year-old Lindsay Keebler was seriously hurt.

On Friday, the California Highway Patrol arrested Richardson of Santa Barbara. He's one of two men who brought the women to the hospital claiming to be 'good samaritans' passing through the area.

Lynwood Robinson owns Woody's Detail in Santa Barbara, and he said last Wednesday started off as a normal business day, until he got a call from a woman saying she needed to get her SUV detailed.

"Oh my, what happened, what happened? There was so much blood and I was shocked," said Lynwood Robinson.

But why was there so much blood? The woman said her SUV was used to pick up two women, who were found seriously hurt, and take them to the hospital.

"I just kind of looked at them and say, okay, well let me see what I can do and you know. I don't want to be kind of like, you know, suspicious that I know," added Robinson.

Robinson said what he saw was straight out of a movie, and something inside him told him to call the hospital to verify the woman's story.

The hospital told Robinson to call the CHP, whom he said told him basically the same story he heard from the customer. But they told him to hold off on detailing until they had a chance to look at the SUV.

"They took pictures of the car, and I said, are you sure? And, they gave me the green light to detail it, and then they said, well hold on. Then they called their boss and they said, no, you can detail it," said Robinson.

But the CHP investigators came back to his shop again to take just an even closer look at the entire vehicle.

KSBY asked Robinson to show us on our cal what the CHP pointed out.

"On the Toyota 4Runner, we seen a couple of heel marks on the left and right side of the car. And, we seen damage in the front. I don't know what caused it but it did have a dent on the hood," added Robinson.

While Robinson doesn't know what happened in the SUV, he just hopes the victim's family gets some answers. "That's the whole key is having closure for the family right now. And, right now, I just feel for the family," said Robinson.

Robinson detailed and turned over the SUV to the woman, after the CHP said it was okay to do so.