A 28-year-old woman was arrested Wednesday afternoon in connection with the killing of a fellow homeless woman found dead in waters off Ventura County's south coast, authorities said.
Kristina Canell, a transient from the Oxnard area, was arrested about 1 p.m. Wednesday in connection with the death of Sarah Overholser, said Ventura County sheriff's spokesman Capt. Mike Aranda.
Overholser, 32, was found Nov. 7 more than 200 yards off Sycamore Cove after a private helicopter pilot reported what appeared to be a body in the water, officials said. Her body was nude, officials said.
Tight-lipped about the case for weeks, sheriff's officials said Monday that Overholser's death had been deemed a homicide. The county medical examiner's office on Tuesday released Overholser's cause of death — asphyxia by strangulation.
Canell, also known as Kristina Herrera, was arrested on suspicion of homicide, said the captain. She was being booked into Ventura County Jail on Wednesday afternoon.
The suspect had two misdemeanor convictions in Ventura County in the past five years, court records show. The records appear under the name Kristina Herrera.
In 2007, she pleaded guilty to misdemeanor assault with a deadly weapon by means likely to produce great bodily injury and misdemeanor cruelty to a child by endangering health, court records show. She was given probation, then sentenced to 180 days in jail after her probation was revoked, court records show.
In 2010, the suspect pleaded guilty to misdemeanor vandalism and was placed on conditional revocable release, court records show.
Overholser had an elementary school-aged son who was living with relatives before her death, acquaintances said.
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