SoCal man gets 3 life sentences for killing family, wrapping bodies in plastic, leaving them in garage

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. (TCD) -- A 32-year-old man was ordered last week to spend the rest of his life in prison for killing a husband, his wife, and their young daughter at their home in 2016.

KSBY-TV reports a Santa Barbara County Superior Court Judge sentenced Pierre Haobsh to three life sentences without the possibility for parole, plus 75 years for using a gun to inflict death.

The Santa Barbara District Attorney’s Office announced March 29, 2016, that they were charging Haobsh with three counts of first-degree murder that was "willful, premeditated, and deliberate, or committed by means of lying in wait." He was also charged with special circumstances of killing the Han family for financial gains.

Haobsh was convicted Nov. 24, 2021, in a bench trial for the deaths of Dr. Henry Han, his wife Jennie Yu, and their 5-year-old daughter Emily Han, the Santa Barbara Independent reports. The bench trial means there was no jury present during the legal proceedings.

Prosecutor Benjamin Ladinig called Dr. Han "one of Santa Barbara’s most beloved healers, and a beacon of light."

According to the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office, on the night of March 23, 2016, deputies conducted a welfare check at the Hans' residence on Greenhill Way in Goleta because Dr. Han did not show up to a meeting that morning, which colleagues said was "highly uncharacteristic of him." Two of his co-workers reportedly went to his home to check on him earlier that day and saw the door ajar and the family’s two vehicles in the garage.

When deputies searched the home, they reportedly found the three bodies with apparent gunshot wounds. According to the Sheriff’s Office, the victims "were all wrapped in plastic, duct-taped and found in the garage."

Henry Han and his wife were reportedly shot three times in the head, while Emily was shot eight times, according to the Santa Barbara Independent.

The Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office says Dr. Han worked in Chinese herbal medicine and Western medicine and wrote several books on the subjects. He ran the Santa Barbara Herb Clinic for 25 years before his death. Sheriff Bill Brown called the killings "a diabolical, pre-mediated crime, one of the most odious that I have ever been involved with or that this agency has ever investigated."

According to KEYT-TV, Haobsh reportedly wired $100,000 from Han’s Wells Fargo account to his own bank account two days after the Hans were found dead.

Haobsh reportedly represented himself at the sentencing hearing and plans on appealing the decision, according to the Santa Barbara Independent.

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