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A shocking murder investigation quickly escalates into a brutal family massacre in the premiere episode of The Death Investigator with Barbara Butcher airing Sept. 27 on Oxygen.
What was the reason behind the terrible slaughter covered in the “Meet the Butcher” episode?
“Every injury on a victim is like a chapter in a book,” according to medicolegal expert Barbara Butcher. “The death investigator’s mission is to understand the story that those wounds tell.”
What happened to Evelyn Santos?
On March 2, 2000, Evelyn Santos, a 39-year-old mother of two, was found dead that day in the elevator of a housing development in the Bronx. A .9mm shell casing was found on the floor.
“She’d been shot through the head,” said NYPD Bronx Homicide Detective David Negron. “I saw on the ceiling, hair, brain matter, and part of a skull.”
Santos had been visiting with Shenell, a neighbor in the building, while her 14-year-old daughter, Theresa, was home with her niece, Gaby. She was in the elevator making a run to the store.
Besides the head wound, Santos was shot in the chest, stabbed, and her throat slit from one side to the other. “We’re talking about overkill,” said Butcher. “That’s rage, that’s personal.”
Body of Denise Santos found
When Bronx detectives were unable to locate Evelyn’s sister Denise Santos and Irvin Aguilar, the parents of 4-year-old Gaby, they went to the couple’s nearby home.
Inside, they found the house ransacked and Denise’s body in a pool of blood.
“She’s been stabbed 14, 15, 16 times,” Butcher recounted. “A knife has been jammed through her neck into the wooden floor.”
The state of rigor mortis showed that Denise was killed hours before Evelyn.
Three more family members found dead
But why was this family targeted? That question loomed even larger when detectives went to the nearby apartment of Eduardo Santos, Evelyn and Denise’s brother.
“When they go in,” investigative journalist Steph Watts noted, “what they found is a complete bloodbath…This was a massacre of an entire family.”
Irvin Aguilar, 34, who was Denise’s partner and Gaby’s dad, had been stabbed 16 times including through the neck, and shot three times.
Eduardo was shot once in the head, and there was no indication of rage. “What springs to my mind,” Butcher explained, “is killing Irvin was personal but Eduardo’s murder was business.”
The third victim at the scene, 14-year-old nephew Ishmael Santos, was shot through the head.
Shell casings collected at the scene were .9 mm, the same as the one found near Evelyn.
They were sent to the crime lab for analysis, said NYPD Bronx Homicide Commanding Officer Sean O’Toole, who added, “But you don’t have to be Dick Tracy to figure out that this is all related.”
Blood evidence at the scene, including a boot print that later proved significant, showed that the victims had been killed before both sisters.
Evelyn’s cousin, Nydia Veloz, recalled the heinous murders “as being in a Twilight Zone. This was literally a nightmare.”
Investigators look for a motive
As police worked the case, they learned from Theresa that her mom had told her she’d just seen her ex-boyfriend from Florida, Luis Garcia, in the neighborhood.
Investigators also learned that Irvin had a past drug conviction, but they found no indications the five murders were drug related.
They also made the key discovery that Eduardo had come into a large sum of money through a lawsuit. Eduardo had loaned money to various friends and family — including $80,000 to Luis.
Irvin was so angry with Luis for not paying him back that he beat him up. Investigators believed they’d found the motive for the massacre.
“I’ve seen this before with mafia and other gang-related murders,” Butcher said. “The rage and ferocity of these killings speak to someone who is settling a score and sending a message.”
Witnesses put Luis and an unknown male at the three crime scenes, thanks to the fact that they were in an eye-catching purple sports car.
On March 4, Bronx investigators flew to Miami. With help from local detectives, they apprehended Luis and his suspected accomplice, Jose Cosme Pizarro.
At Luis’ apartment, Bronx detectives collected evidence including blood-covered cash and a gun that had been cut up. Investigators were still able to match casings in evidence to the firearm.
When questioned, Luis and Jose blamed each other for the slaughter.
Bronx County Assistant District Attorney Jeremy Shockett told The Death Investigator with Barbara Butcher that when Pizarro was questioned, he was wearing a ring on a chain that belonged to little Gaby.
Arrests made for the Bronx massacre
Luis and Jose were arrested and extradited back to New York.
Ultimately, the suspects sought to erase the hefty debt with murders, authorities determined.
“This whole story revolved around one thing,” Butcher concluded. “Luis Garcia didn’t want to pay back the loan. Jose Pizarro and Luis Garcia killed Eduardo and eliminated any potential witnesses.”
Garcia was convicted of first-degree murder. In a separate trial, Pizarro was convicted of three counts of murder in the second degree. Both are serving life sentences.
The Death Investigator with Barbara Butcher airs Saturdays at 9/8c p.m. ET/PT on Oxygen.
