Sherry West’s baby, Antonio Santiago, was murdered by his own father, Louis Santiago, so alleges his ex-wife and ex-girlfriend.
When the two women found out that Santiago’s and West’s infant child was shot to death, they called the Brunswick Police Department from their homes in Minnesota and Florida, respectively, to share their suspicions that the violent and abusive Louis Santiago had committed the crime. Neither ever received a call back from the police.
(On a related note, when Sherry West’s daughter, Ashley Glassey, found out that the baby was murdered and listened to her mother recount how it happened, she also called the Brunswick Police Department to tell them that she didn’t believe her own mother’s story. She never received a call back from the police, either.)
As it stands, Marquise Elkins, 18, is on trial for the alleged shooting death of the 13-month-old infant and shooting injury of West. He faces life in prison if he is convicted. His alleged accomplice, Dominique Lang, 15, also faces life and will have a separate trial in Glynn County in southeast Georgia.
Defense attorneys filed a motion Wednesday for Judge Stephen Kelly to dismiss the case against their client, Elkins, because of “outrageous government conduct.”
The defense’s allegations emanate from leads provided by the calls of the ex-wife and the ex-fiancee of Santiago to police that officers neglected to follow up on.
Santiago’s ex-wife Sandra Holboy of Minnesota told Glynn County Superior Court Judge Stephen Kelley her decade-long marriage to Santiago was a living hell, calling it “terrifying, abusive.” When she was with him, she noted that Santiago had addictions alcohol, cocaine and marijuana that contributed to his explosive temper. Despite having three children together, she has not spoken to her ex-husband in six years and has not seen Santiago in 11 years.
“Sometimes I would be on the floor in the fetal position with him kicking me,” Holboy recalled of the terrifying times, adding that she was six months pregnant at the time.
Santiago also threatened to snap her daughter’s neck, burn down her house and have someone kill her along with her children.
“When I found out his child had been killed, I needed to call,” Holboy said. She said she’d be haunted if she did not speak up, calling it a “moral and ethical duty.”
Holboy notified Brunswick police of Santiago’s penchant for violence the day after the murder, but the call was not returned. Holboy did not call back again.
“I believe my ex-husband had something to do with it, quite frankly,” Holboy said.
Angela Carter, who lives in Florida and was Santiago’s girlfriend for two years, was even more blunt and disparaging of Santiago, describing him as an “evil, vindictive, liar, murderer.”
“He can make anybody believe him because he’s just the type of person who can sweet talk anybody and really make you fall for him,” Carter testified.
When she found out that Santiago’s infant was shot and killed in Brunswick, Ga., she picked up the phone to notify authorities of her experiences with Santiago and to tell them what he was capable of. Brunswick police never returned her call, either.
“He will murder and he will blame someone else. The (police officer) told me if they needed more evidence they would contact me and I said, ‘Please. You need to investigate Antonio Santiago,’” Carter recalls. “And I did say he tried to kill me when I was pregnant with my daughter. The man basically just hushed me off the phone and I never heard another word.”
Carter shared with the court that Santiago once threatened that once her body was found, they wouldn’t be able to identify her.
