After obtaining a search warrant, detectives entered the home early Thursday and coroner's investigators collected the remains, which were identified as those of 57-year-old Dr. Weidong "Henry" Han; his wife, 29-year-old Huijie "Jennie" Yu; and their daughter, Emily Han, a kindergartner. "Sheriff's detectives are actively investigating this case and are working around the clock to determine who is responsible for this horrific crime," Santa Barbara County sheriff's spokeswoman Kelly Hoover said in a statement. She added, “Early indications are that this was not a random attack.” The victims’ names are being withheld pending next-of-kin notification. Han owned and operated the Santa Barbara Herb Clinic since 1991, according to its website, which says he had an extensive background in Chinese herbal medicine and Western medicine and was a co-author of books on the combination of the two traditions. The crime was discovered Wednesday when sheriff's deputies responded to a call for a welfare check on the residence in a modern neighborhood on winding streets just outside Santa Barbara. Dr. Glenn Miller, a psychiatrist, who with Han was among three co-authors of a book on ancient herbs and modern medicine, told the Santa Barbara News-Press that Han was "a healer in the truest sense of the word" and a doting father.
– A family of three was murdered in their Santa Barbara County home this week, and authorities don't think the slayings are random. Authorities responded to a request for a welfare check at the upscale Goleta Valley home Wednesday and found the bodies of Dr. Weidong "Henry" Han, 57, his wife Huijie "Jennie" Yu, 29, and their daughter Emily Han, 5, in what law enforcement describes as a "horrific" scene, KEYT reports. A family friend who used to pick Emily up from kindergarten says the family had stopped responding to phone calls and texts before authorities went to check on them. Han, an author of several books, ran the Santa Barbara Herb Clinic, a Chinese medicine practice and Chinese herbal pharmacy, the Los Angeles Times reports. He was "a healer in the truest sense of the word," his co-author tells the Santa Barbara News-Press, per the AP. Details are scant, but the Santa Barbara County Sheriff's office says the investigation so far indicates "this was not a random attack." "Our neighbors and the entire Foothill community are in shock," an editor of the Santa Barbara Independent says.