Overview
- The sentence includes five years of post-release supervision, and the survivor spoke in court at the hearing, according to the district attorney.
- Santiago was found guilty on September 30, 2025, in a bench trial of first-degree rape and first-degree burglary.
- Prosecutors proved he hid in the victim’s closet, threatened her with a knife and gun, bound her with a wire hanger, and raped her.
- Investigators identified him in 2023 through investigative genetic genealogy supported by a federal grant, with an NYPD-developed family tree; he was extradited from Florida.
- The Manhattan DNA profile was indicted as a “John Doe” in 2005, and a 2001 Bronx case with a matching donor profile remains open.