3 Arrested in Kidnapping and Killing of 15-Year-Old

Three people were arrested Wednesday in Santa Barbara and Ventura counties in connection with the kidnapping and killing of a 15-year-old boy whose body was found last weekend in Los Padres National Forest.

William Robert Skidmore, 20, was arrested about 4:30 p.m. after heavily armed SWAT officers surrounded his parents’ home in eastern Simi Valley and a crisis negotiator, by phone, persuaded him to surrender.

The two others, a 20-year-old man and 17-year-old boy, were taken into custody early Wednesday in Santa Barbara.

In addition, authorities said late Wednesday they were searching for one, possibly two, more suspects who may have been involved in the shooting of Nicholas Samuel Markowitz of West Hills.

Markowitz’s bullet-riddled body was found buried in a shallow grave near a hiking trail off West Camino Cielo Road, which is about 12 miles north of Santa Barbara off California 154.

Markowitz, who was to attend El Camino High School this fall, was last seen at home Aug. 6. Two days later his parents, Jeff and Susan Markowitz, reported him missing.

Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Lt. Michael Burridge would not reveal the suspected motive, but said more information will be released today.

“This is going to surprise people in Santa Barbara, because this is a very brutal crime and not the typical homicide we see in this county,” Burridge said.

“We are not looking for someone who stole a newspaper,” Burridge said of the suspects still at large. “We are looking for dangerous individuals.”

Skidmore has a drug conviction, according to court records.

Authorities said they received several good leads on the department’s anonymous tip hotline, which led them people in the Los Angeles area who said Markowitz frequented Universal CityWalk.

From there, the focus of the investigation moved to Ventura and Santa Barbara counties.

By Wednesday morning, Santa Barbara deputies had made two arrests. Burridge declined to release the suspects’ names because the investigation is at “a critical point.”

Skidmore was arrested after police and sheriff’s deputies surrounded his parents’ home in Saddlewood Estates, a planned community at the base of the Santa Susana Mountains near the Los Angeles County line.

Authorities declined to say whether Markowitz may have known Skidmore, but neighbors said Skidmore was raised in West Hills and continued to hang out with friends from his old neighborhood.