Gregory Ghan, a longtime homeless man who lived primarily in the Isla Vista area, was attacked while sleeping in the doorway of the Isla Vista Medical Clinic on May 31, 2008. He died 10 days later after relatives removed him from life support.
Sheriff Bill Brown requested the reward in October after the case went cold, sheriff’s officials said.
“Our detectives have done an outstanding job and we’ve committed a lot of resources and time to solving this case, but unfortunately they’ve exhausted all avenues,” said Drew Sugars, a spokesman for the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Department.
He said authorities are hopeful that the cash reward will spur someone to step forward and provide information that will lead to a conviction.
“We’ve done 94 interviews so far on this case, 960 personnel hours, and put out several hundred flyers throughout South County,” Sugars said, adding, “We’re not giving up and this just hopefully helps us in that pursuit.”
The governor’s reward will not expire and will be paid if the information leads to the arrest and conviction of those charged with the crime. Anyone with information about Ghan’s death is urged to call the sheriff’s department at 681-4100.