Cassandra J. Hult, inset, (Milwaukee County Sheriff’s Office) and St. Adalbert Cemetery in Milwaukee where she is accused of killing her husband (Google Maps)
A 28-year-old woman in Wisconsin has been arrested for allegedly killing her husband, executing him with a bullet to the back of the head and leaving his body in a cemetery.
Cassandra J. Hult was taken into custody last month and charged with one count of first-degree reckless homicide in the fatal 2020 shooting of Jose Santiago, court records reviewed by Law&Crime show.
Prosecutors also included a modifier for use of a dangerous weapon, which, if convicted, could increase the maximum penalty she faces.
According to a report from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, a jogger on March 23, 2020, discovered Santiago’s body inside of a car parked in the St. Adalbert Cemetery in the 3500 block of South 13th Street. The jogger often ran through the cemetery and told investigators that the car had not moved in days and when they went to get a closer look, they spotted the body inside.
Investigators with the Milwaukee Police Department responded to the scene and determined that Santiago had been fatally shot one time in the back of the head. Inside of the vehicle, authorities recovered a spent .38 casing, two soft drink cups from McDonald’s, and a receipt showing that the drinks had been purchased at 12:29 p.m. on March 22, 2020.
Police tested the items recovered from the car and found that a straw from one of the McDonald’s cups tested positive for Santiago’s DNA as well as Hult’s fingerprints, Milwaukee ABC affiliate WISN reported.
Cellphone location data reportedly also showed both Hult and Santiago were in the area of the cemetery just before Santiago’s body was discovered.
In an interview with police, Hult told police that on the morning of March 22, 2020, she found text conversations on Santiago’s phone with other women, the Journal Sentinel reported. The couple had been married for about a year and a half at the time.
Hult reportedly said that when she confronted Santiago about the messages, they argued and he kicked her out of their car. She then claimed she went to her grandmother’s home.
Hult was interviewed several times, but the case eventually went cold and Hult moved out of the state.
Hult was living with another woman and her daughter in Arizona in September 2021 when she and the woman allegedly got into an intense argument. After the argument, Hult allegedly called the woman on FaceTime, threatened to kill her, and said she had “killed her husband in Milwaukee and that she ‘has bodies on her.’”
The daughter reportedly also told police that Hult admitted to killing her husband.
Additionally, a former boyfriend of Hult’s allegedly told police that while they were living together in California, she told him “multiple times” that she was the one who killed Santiago.
Authorities obtained an arrest warrant for Hult on May 6 and she is being held on bond of $500,000. She is currently scheduled to appear in Milwaukee County Circuit Court on July 10.
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