Fugitive on run for four decades arrested for ‘strangling woman to death’

A Florida fugitive who has been on the run from police for nearly four decades after allegedly strangling a woman to death in 1984 has finally been arrested, reports The Daily Express US.

Donald Michael Santini, 65, was arrested by the California authorities over the killing of Cynthia Ruth Wood, from the city of Bradenton, south of Tampa, Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office confirmed.

Three days following her disappearance on June 6, 1984, Wood’s body was found by police in a watery ditch in Riverview, near Tampa. It was determined she had been strangled by a medical examiner, as stated in the arrest warrant, and Santini’s fingerprints were found on her body, the Tampa Bay Times reports.

Santini was the last person seen leaving Wood’s residence in 1984, according to police. The Sheriff’s office notes in an ‘Unsolved Homicides’ page reads: “The suspect has not been seen since this incident and may be in the state of Texas using an unknown identity.”

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Before his arrest, Santini was actually liveing in the Golden State of California as a fugitive under an assumed name.

At least 13 aliases and a history of previous convictions including the aggravated robbery of a Texan convenience store in 1983 have been reported in connection to Santini, and following the 1983 robbery, he disappeared from the state days after.

Following his arrest decades later, Santini is being held in a San Diego County jail for questioning by detectives from the sheriff’s office.

The sheriff’s office said in a statement: “We are aware of this arrest and have sent detectives to interview Santini, while we await extradition.

“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.

At the time of the murder, Wood had been waging war in 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, Santini had phoned Wood promising to provide information about her husband, which was the premise of their encounter.