246webagency
[ad_1]
EL PASO, Texas – The stabbing deaths of a couple and their toddler son inside their El Paso, Texas, home nearly 30 years ago was one of the city’s most shocking unsolved murders.
El Paso police over the weekend arrested Arturo Ortega Garcia, now 69, on a charge of capital murder of multiple persons in the brutal Santoni family slaying of 1994, officials said.
Concepcion “Connie” Villa, 28, her boyfriend, Francisco Santoni, 59, and their 3-year-old son, Dante Santoni, were found stabbed to death on Aug. 11, 1994, inside their home in El Paso.
The arrest comes 28 years after a lengthy, and at times frustrating, cold-case investigation into the deaths of a family that was stabbed over 10 times, according to news archives of the El Paso Times, part of the USA TODAY Network.
The U.S. Marshals Lone Star Fugitive Task force arrested Ortega Garcia Friday after he was extradited from Mexico City, where he had been jailed since 2020, El Paso police said in a statement.
During the initial investigation, investigators recovered evidence that did not develop workable leads until 2015 when “technological advancements” resulted in the identification of Ortega Garcia as a suspect in the killings, police stated. A warrant for Ortega Garcia’s arrest was issued in 2015 but his whereabouts were unknown until detectives learned of his arrest in Mexico City in 2020.
‘Lady of the Dunes’:Investigators seek information about Cape Cod murder victim’s ‘husband’
Forecast:Subtropical Storm Nicole could reach hurricane strength before hitting Florida
Ortega Garcia is being held under a $5 million bond at the El Paso County Jail.
Police officials have not disclosed the advancements that lead to the suspect’s identification, nor have they given a possible motive for the killings and what ties, if any, Ortega Garcia had to the Santoni family.
In Texas, capital murder is punishable by the death penalty or life in prison without parole.
El Paso family slain at home
The killings of the Santoni family were shockingly brutal, according to newspaper archives.
“There was an intensive, full-blown task force on this case for a few weeks, then all leads were exhausted,” Detective Jim Holland told the El Paso Times in 1997.
El Paso Times articles show that investigators believe that Villa, a travel agent, was killed first in the bedroom of the family home after midnight. The killer then walked into the toddler’s room and stabbed him repeatedly as he lay in his bed.
The killer then removed some clothing and other items from the master closet and took them to the family’s 1994 Dodge Colt in the garage. Clothing and jewelry were stolen from the house, police said.
Francisco Santoni, the owner of an international auto parts business, then came home and was surprised in the hallway by the intruder, who stabbed him repeatedly. His body was found in the same bedroom as Villa.
Shortly after the killings, the family’s car was found in El Paso more than a dozen miles away from the home, according to newspaper archives.
The trail grew cold even as the investigation remained open for nearly three decades.
[ad_2]
Source link
