Milwaukee Woman Allegedly Admits During FaceTime Fight That She Killed Her Husband: Police
A woman's alleged confession to her acquaintances about murdering her husband has landed her in jail four years after he died in 2020.
Cassandra Hult became a person of interest in the death of her husband, Jose Santiago, in Milwaukee, The Independent reported.
A jogger found Santiago dead in a car. A criminal complaint states that the witness noted a black Lincoln LS parked at the same spot while the witness was running through St. Adalbert Cemetery, two days in a row, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported.
On the second day, the jogger again visited the area at 6 p.m. and saw the vehicle, which hadn't moved. When she approached the car, she spotted an unresponsive man in the front seat. The jogger immediately contacted 911.
Responding officers found the man, who was later identified as Santiago, dead from a gunshot wound to the back of his head, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported. Investigators searched the car and found two McDonald's cups and a spent casing from a .380 pistol.
Detectives allegedly retrieved Hult's DNA from a McDonald's cup found at the crime scene and also received testimonies regarding the allegedly tumultuous relationship between her and Santiago, The Independent reported.
Detectives questioned multiple times but initially, they said, there wasn't enough evidence to charge her. According to police, she eventually allegedly admitted to having fought with Santiago a day before the murder.
Hult went on with her life and moved to Buckeye, Arizona, where she lived with two other women. One of the women and Hult fell out, leading to fights. Hult was ultimately kicked out of the house, The Independent reported.
During an argument on Facetime, Hult allegedly threatened to kill one of the women, and allegedly mentioned that she had murdered her husband, police said. The woman passed on the information to Buckeye law enforcement, The Independent reported.
Hult also allegedly confessed to one of her flings about the murder, The Independent reported. A man informed the police that in 2022 he had a fling with Hult in Vegas. She proceeded to move in with him and allegedly confessed to murdering her husband, according to police.
Hult appeared to have told the same to multiple people who came forward, claiming that they had heard Hult's alleged confession. This piece of information combined with her DNA on the McDonald's cup gave prosecutors enough to take Hult into custody, law enforcement officials said. A warrant for Hult's arrest was authorized on May 6.
She is currently being held in Milwaukee County Jail where her bond has been set at $500,000. She has been charged with first-degree homicide and has entered a not-guilty plea, The Independent reported.
Her next appearance in court is scheduled for July 10.