Milwaukee, WI
DNA on McDonald’s cup links Milwaukee woman to husband’s 2020 execution-style killing
Cassandra Hult and Jose Santiago fought a lot during their short but turbulent marriage.
Santiago would turn up dead in a Milwaukee cemetery after an especially intense argument with his wife years ago.
Hult was questioned several times by police, but wasn’t arrested. She eventually left the state and carved out a new life for herself in the Southwest.
Prosecutors say in court papers Hult confessed to her house mates and a new lover she was the one who pulled the trigger, and killed Santiago, 27.
Hult, 28, was in a Milwaukee County courtroom Monday, some four years after Santiago’s execution-style slaying, answering to charges she shot her husband in the back of the head and left for him dead.
She is charged with first-degree reckless homicide. The charge against Hult also includes a modifier for use of a dangerous weapon, which means she can be subject to additional penalties if she is convicted.
During a preliminary hearing Monday, Circuit Court Judge Jeffrey A. Wagner found there was sufficient probable cause to bind the case against Hult over for trial.
Hult pleaded not guilty through her attorney, Theodore O’Reilly, of Milwaukee.
Her bond was set at $500,000. She remained locked up at the Milwaukee County Jail.
Hult’s next court appearance is set for July 10.
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Here’s what authorities believe happened:
According to a May 6 criminal complaint, a jogger spotted a black Lincoln LS as she ran through St. Adalbert Cemetery on March 22, 2020. A man was sitting in the driver’s seat. She didn’t think much of it and kept going.
The next day, she jogged through the cemetery in the early afternoon and saw the vehicle again in the same spot. She went through the cemetery around 6 p.m. and, again, it appeared to not have moved.
The jogger approached the car window and saw the person inside was unresponsive and called 911.
The man had been shot in the back of the head. A spent casing from a .380 pistol was found in the rear driver’s side seat.
Milwaukee police Detective Jake Puschnig testified Monday that forensic testing conducted on two McDonald’s cups found in the car turned up fingerprints and DNA for both Santiago and Hult.
More: ‘Justice system failed,’ judge says as Milwaukee man gets life for killing woman in 2022 during argument
Hult told investigators she and Santiago had been married for about a year and a half, and that they often fought.
One of those fights erupted on the morning of March 22, 2020.
She said they argued that day when she found texts on Santiago’s phone with other women and confronted him. Hult told investigators Santiago kicked her out of the car, and that afterwards she went to stay at her grandmother’s home on Milwaukee’s north side.
She mentioned nothing about going to McDonald’s.
Cellphone tower records show both Santiago and Hult’s phones were in the same general area at the time the jogger first spotted Santiago in his car, according to the complaint.
Hult also gave inconsistent accounts on what else she did that day, the complaint said.
More: Facing mostly white juries, are Milwaukee County defendants of color truly judged by their peers?
Hult resurfaced a year later in Buckeye, Arizona, where she had been with a woman and her daughter. Hult got into a heated argument on Sept. 27, 2021 with the woman, who told Hult to leave. She left, but the war of words continued on FaceTime.
During the argument, Hult threatened to kill the woman and blurted out that she had killed her husband back in Milwaukee, the criminal complaint said.
The woman’s daughter also told Buckeye detectives Hult confessed to her she executed her husband and left him on the south side, according to the complaint.
On May 2, a man told police he had met Hult in Las Vegas in January 2022 and that they quickly began a romantic relationship. Shortly afterwards, she moved in with him in Sacramento, California. While he was in a relationship with her, Hult confessed “multiple times” that she killed her husband, the criminal complaint said.
A warrant for Hult’s arrest was issued May 6, court records show.
MILWAUKEE – The Milwaukee Police Department requested the public’s help to find 11-year-old Sir’Charles Bason, a critically missing boy who was last seen near Teutonia and Kiley at around 6:20 p.m. on Saturday, April 18.
Police described Bason as 4 feet, 5 inches tall with a slim build, brown eyes and black, low-cut hair. He was last seen wearing a gray jacket with green lines, dark-colored jeans, tan sandals and carrying gray Nike Jordan shoes.
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What you can do:
Anyone with information on Bason’s whereabouts is asked to call Milwaukee Police District 4 at 414-935-7242.
The Source: The Milwaukee Police Department released information.
MILWAUKEE – A Milwaukee man, previously named one of Wisconsin’s Most Wanted, has been sentenced to prison for shooting and killing his cousin in 2020.
In court
What we know:
A Milwaukee County jury found 39-year-old Brandon Gladney guilty of first-degree reckless homicide and possession of a firm by a felon earlier this year.
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Judge Michelle Havas sentenced Gladney to 29 years in prison on Friday, April 17. He was granted credit for more than a year’s time served and further sentenced to 14 years of extended supervision.
Arrested in Arizona after years on the run, court records show Gladney has also been ordered to pay the Milwaukee County District Attorney’s Office more than $1,800 for extradition costs.
Homicide investigation
The backstory:
The shooting happened in May 2020. Investigators said Gladney was captured on video apparently arguing with the victim, his cousin, outside a Milwaukee convenience store near 21st and Meinecke.
“It’s all on video, and it’s devastating for that family,” the marshal on the case told FOX6 when Gladney was profiled on Wisconsin’s Most Wanted. “You have a family member that shot and killed another family member.”
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Prosecutors said Gladney walked away but then returned with a gun pointed directly at the victim and shot him. The victim died from his gunshot wounds at a nearby hospital. Multiple bullet casings were found at the scene.
Gladney went on the run for years. He was arrested in Arizona in January 2023, years after he was charged.
The Source: FOX6 News referenced information from the U.S. Marshals Service, Wisconsin Circuit Court and prior coverage.
Brice Turang slides to home plate to score during a game between the Miami Marlins and the Milwaukee Brewers on April 17. (Photo by Chris Arjoon/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
MIAMI – Garrett Mitchell went 2 for 4 with three RBIs including a two-run double in the 10th inning and the Milwaukee Brewers beat the Miami Marlins 7-5 on Friday night.
By the numbers:
Miami’s Calvin Faucher (1-2) entered a 4-all game in the 10th and walked Gary Sánchez with Brice Turang on second. Jake Bauers hit a single to load the bases.
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Luis Rengifo reached first on a throwing error by second baseman Xavier Edwards, allowing Turang to score. Mitchell followed with his double.
The Marlins scored one run in the bottom of the 10th when Jakob Marsee came home on Trevor Megill’s wild pitch. Megill settled in for his fourth save.
Coleman Crow, who made his debut on the mound for the Brewers, threw 77 pitches over 5 1/3 innings. He threw four strikeouts, gave up two earned runs and a walk.
The right-hander was 2-0 with a 4.07 ERA in two starts with the Brewers’ Triple-A affiliate in Nashville. He missed part of the 2023 season and all of 2024 after undergoing Tommy John surgery.
The Brewers scored three runs in the fourth inning. With the bases loaded, Mitchell hit an RBI single, Bauers scored on a forceout at first and Rengifo scored on a throwing error by catcher Agustín Ramírez.
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Miami’s Otto Lopez hit a triple to center field in the fourth and scored on a sacrifice fly by Owen Caissie. Lopez hit a two-run homer in the sixth to pull Miami within 4-3 and Ramírez doubled in the eighth to tie the game at four.
Abner Uribe (1-0) earned his first win of the season, coming on in the ninth inning.
Marlins third baseman Graham Pauley left the game in the seventh inning with right oblique discomfort after spinning out of the way of a pitch.
What’s next:
The Brewers and Marlins continue their 3-game series on Saturday, with Brandon Woodruff (1-0, 4.36 ERA) taking the mound for Milwaukee and Sandy Alcantara (2-1, 2.67) for Miami.
The Source: The Associated Press provided this report.
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