Florida: Man arrested FOUR DECADES after ‘strangled woman to death’
Fugitive is arrested FOUR DECADES after he ‘strangled woman and left her body in a watery ditch’ in Florida before going on the run
- Donald Michael Santini, 65, was arrested Wednesday over the 1984 death of Cynthia Ruth Wood, the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office said
- Wood, who was 33 at the time, of Bradenton, south of Tampa, was found on June 9 of that year in a watery ditch with strangulation injuries
- According to online prison records, Santini was arrested as a fugitive
Four decades after he allegedly strangled a woman in Florida and left her body in a watery ditch, a fugitive has been arrested.
Donald Michael Santini, 65, was arrested Wednesday for the 1984 murder of Cynthia Ruth Wood, the Hillsborough County Sheriff said.
Wood, then 33, went missing on June 6 and her body was found three days later in a watery ditch in Riverview.
The alleged victim, who is from the town of Bradenton, south of Tampa, was last seen leaving her apartment with Santini around June 4, WFTS-TV reported.
Florida authorities obtained a warrant for Santini’s arrest about a week later, and he has been on the run ever since.
Fugitive Donald Michael Santini, 65, was arrested Wednesday for the 1984 murder of Cynthia Ruth Wood
Cynthia Ruth Wood was 33 when she was found dead in a watery ditch on June 9, 1984 with strangulation injuries
Santini was arrested Wednesday after 40 years on the run after being linked to Wood’s death
The warrant said a medical examiner determined she had been strangled and Santini’s fingerprints were found on her body.
At the time of her death, Wood was in a custody battle for her children against her estranged husband, Barry Wood, whom she also accused of physically abusing her and her son from a previous marriage.
According to the Tampa Bay Times, Wood’s meeting with Texas native Santini came after calling her with a promise to provide information about her husband.
Santini also had at least 13 aliases and a history of previous convictions, the paper said, including aggravated robbery of a Texan convenience store in 1983, after which he disappeared from the state days later.
After his arrest decades later, Santini is being held in a San Diego County jail where detectives from the sheriff’s office will question him.
Manatee County suspect has been wanted for four decades
According to online prison records, Santini had been arrested as a fugitive and was due to appear in a San Diego County court on Friday.
“We are aware of this arrest and have dispatched detectives to question Santini, pending extradition,” the sheriff’s office said in a statement.
“This arrest allows us to re-examine evidence gathered in 1984 using today’s technology as the case is now considered open again.”
Santini was scheduled to appear in a San Diego County court on Friday for an extradition hearing.
He has no lawyer to speak on his behalf.