Fugitive is arrested FOUR DECADES after ‘he strangled woman to death and left her body in a watery ditch’ in Florida before going on the run
- Donald Michael Santini, 65, was arrested Wednesday over the death of Cynthia Ruth Wood in 1984, Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office said
- Wood, who was then 33, from Bradenton, south of Tampa, was found in a watery ditch with strangulation injuries on June 9 of that year
- Online jail records said Santini was arrested as a fugitive
A fugitive has been arrested four decades after he allegedly strangled a woman to death in Florida and left her body in a watery ditch.
Donald Michael Santini, 65, was arrested on Wednesday over the killing of Cynthia Ruth Wood in 1984, Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office said.
Wood, then 33, went missing on June 6, and her body was found in a watery ditch in Riverview three days later.
The alleged victim, who was from the city of Bradenton, located south of Tampa, was last seen leaving her apartment with Santini around June 4, WFTS-TV reported.
Florida authorities obtained an arrest warrant for Santini around a week later, and he has been on the run ever since.
Fugitive Donald Michael Santini, 65, was arrested on Wednesday over the killing of Cynthia Ruth Wood in 1984
Cynthia Ruth Wood was 33 when she was found dead in a watery ditch with strangulation injuries on June 9, 1984
Santini was arrested on Wednesday after 40 years on the run after being connected with the death of Wood
The arrest 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 had been in a custody battle for her children against her estranged husband, Barry Wood, who she also accused of physically abusing her and her son from a previous marriage.
According to the Tampa Bay Times, Wood’s encounter with Texas-born Santini came after he phoned her promising to provide information about her husband.
Santini also had at least 13 aliases and a history of previous convictions, the newspaper said, including aggravated robbery at a Texan convenience store in 1983, after which he disappeared from the state days later.
Following his arrest decades later, Santini is being held in a San Diego County jail, where detectives from the sheriff’s office will interview him.
The Manatee County suspect has been wanted for four decades
Online jail records said Santini was arrested as a fugitive, and he was scheduled to appear in a San Diego County court on Friday.
‘We are aware of this arrest and have sent detectives to interview Santini, while we await extradition,’ the sheriff’s office said in a statement.
‘This arrest allows us to reexamine evidence collected in 1984 using the technology of today, as the case is now considered open once again.’
Santini was scheduled to appear in a San Diego County court for an extradition hearing on Friday.
He does not have an attorney listed who could speak on his behalf.
DailyMail
