The Santa Barbara County District Attorney's and Sheriff's Departments are mourning the loss of Investigator Laura Cleaves who died in a three car accident involving a drunk driver May 1 on Highway 154.
   Among the DA’s office, Cleaves was regarded a dogged investigator, a good friend, and a genuinely nice person. “She didn’t have an ounce of slacker in her,” commented her boss Dave Saunders. “She pursued everything full tilt....”
   It was Laura Cleaves who pursued the WIN Horses Case in 2003, and pursued the prosecution of Slick Gardner for abuse of these horses. Laura was the legal voice for these animals.
   The WIN family is mourning her loss.