GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) — Prosecutors say they know why Jason Mendez-Ramos was killed in Green Bay on Sept. 27th of last year.
The murder was due to an $80,000 drug debt, one witness told police, according to new murder charges filed Wednesday.
The burned body of Mendez-Ramos on the edge of the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay campus was found Sept. 28 after a report of a grass fire. Police investigating the fire discovered his body.
Jeisaac Rodriguez-Garcia was charged last month with mutilating a corpse for allegedly setting the fire. Rodriguez-Garcia has been ordered to stand trial, and returns to court Feb. 21 for an arraignment.
Jeisaac Rodriquez-Garcia (Photo courtesy Brown Co. Jail)
Charges of first-degree intentional homicide and mutilating a corpse were filed Wednesday against Pedro Santiago-Marquez, while Alexander Burgos-Mojica was charged with aiding a felon. Both are expected to make initial court appearances Thursday afternoon.
According to the criminal complaint, a witness told police Santiago-Marquez owed Mendez-Ramos “$80,000 for a past cocaine deal.”
That witness also police Santiago-Marquez was going to ‘pop’ Mendez-Ramos. The witness stated he tried to talk Santiago-Marquez out of doing so, telling him to just pay the money, the complaint states.
That witness also told police Burgos-Mojica said he saw Santiago-Marquez shoot Mendez-Ramos in the head.
Mendez-Ramos’ cell records show his last text message was on Sept. 27 at 12:27 p.m., shortly after he was seen entering Santiago-Marquez paint shop. At 2:27 p.m., Santiago-Marquez and Alexander Burgos-Mojica are seen leaving on video from the paint shop in a tow truck. At 2:33 p.m. Mendez-Ramos’ cell phone was tracked as moving, which corresponds to the time the two left the shop.
Jason Mendez-Ramos (GBPD)
Santiago-Marquez told police Mendez-Ramos had worked for him previously, and he owed Mendez-Ramos about $1,000 for that work. Santiago-Marquez said when he left in the tow truck at 2:27 p.m. it was for towing jobs.
After 7 p.m., “Santiago Marquez stated that he returned home to his residence and was there for the rest of the night,” the complaint states.
In the complaint against Rodriguez-Garcia, the following timeline was offered for disposal of the body early on the 28th:
- 12:21:41 Suspect vehicle comes into camera view going south on Sussex Road
- 12:21:52 Suspect turns the headlights of vehicle off
- 12:22:20 Driver’s side door opens
- 12:22:26 Movement is observed inside of the suspect vehicle
- 12:24:19 Movement is observed inside or behind the suspect vehicle
- 12:25:21 Driver’s side door (rear) opens
- 12:25:31 A fire is observed to have been ignited
- 12:25:42 Suspect vehicle leaves eastbound on Champeau Rd.
A DNA sample taken from a sock found near the body consisted of a four-person mixture with a “very strong support for inclusion” with a statistic of 1 quadrillion times more likely to observe this DNA profile to be inclusive of Rodriguez-Garcia.
