Santa Monica police have arrested a suspect in connection with the killing of a woman found beaten to death in an apartment in the 1900 block of Pico Boulevard, department officials said over the weeked.
Police received a call at approximately 5:21 p.m. Saturday regarding a woman in need of medical assistance inside the apartment. Responding officers found an adult woman with significant injuries. Santa Monica Fire Department personnel attempted life-saving measures, but the woman was pronounced dead at the scene, police said.
SMPD detectives and forensic personnel are investigating the death as a homicide and a suspect has been arrested. The victim's identity is being withheld pending notification of next of kin. Police said no additional suspects are being sought and the investigation remains active and ongoing.
Anyone with information is asked to contact the Santa Monica Police Department at 310-458-8491.
Witnesses reported seeing the investigation inside The Manor, at 1905 Pico. The state-licensed Adult Residential Facility, across the street from Santa Monica College, has long drawn criticism as a blight on the Pico and Sunset Park neighborhoods and is a frequent source of calls to police.
Licensed under the California Department of Social Services Community Care Licensing, The Manor has provided room, board and supervision for adults with mental illness and developmental disabilities since 1965. It is not a conventional apartment building, market-rate housing or Section 8 housing, despite being mislabeled by some online listing aggregators.
The facility has figured into the city's homelessness-sheltering plans. The city previously explored partnering with The Manor as part of an effort to replace shelter capacity at SaMoShel, the city's 60-bed congregate shelter at 505 Olympic Blvd, but halted those talks in favor of a competitive Request for Expression of Interest process. The Manor is not among the agreements currently before the City Council, and no Manor-specific zoning dispute or organized opposition has surfaced in coverage of the broader plan.
The city is now moving to end SaMoShel operations entirely and replace them with a "Housing Focused System of Care," a three-tier model of stabilization, interim and permanent housing under direct city control. City Manager Oliver Chi has described the current shelter system as "challenging" and "disjointed." The plan, prepared by Housing and Human Services Director Aileen Reynolds, cites Los Angeles County's restructuring of its regional homeless response, including a $843 million county spending plan approved in July 2025 that cut nearly $200 million amid a shortfall of more than $270 million, and a June 11, 2026, decision by HUD to suspend the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority from federal grant activity pending a mismanagement investigation.
The city's plan includes preserving the Palm Motel at 2020 14th St. as city-controlled "stabilization housing," directing funding to activate unfunded beds at The Salvation Army's Bell Shelter in the city of Bell, and issuing a new Request for Expression of Interest to identify motels, hotels and residential facilities to replace SaMoShel's capacity. The combined budget request across the three agreements totals $9,535,809.
The council is scheduled to consider the plan at its July 28 meeting. Because the item includes a budget amendment, it requires five votes to pass. Opposition has centered in the Pico and Sunset Park neighborhoods, where residents have raised questions about admissions criteria, sobriety requirements, security and harm-reduction supplies at a recent town hall organized by the Pico Neighborhood Association and Friends of Sunset Park.
Some councilmembers have said they oppose closing the downtown shelter until the city releases a plan to replace all the potentially lost shelter beds.
Santa Monica's 2026 Point-in-Time count found 718 people experiencing homelessness in the city, down from 812 in 2025 — an 11.6% decline, with unsheltered homelessness down 18.7%, according to the city.