Judge warned of deadly path for man wanted in Fayetteville double murder back in 2012

In 2012, a federal judge warned against probation for a teen convicted of a violent armed robbery and carjacking before sending him to prison

"I mean we read about this constantly in the local papers, about someone ... being on unsupervised probation or intense probation or supervised probation, and they murder somebody," U.S. District Judge Terrence W. Boyle said after the defense requested leniency at the March 14, 2012, sentencing of then-18-year-old Rhaim Mosies Santiago, according to a transcript of the hearing. "And it's not until they murder somebody that anyone goes back and says, oh, my gosh. You know, I wonder how that probation went?

"It's the MO for every story, and he's the star in it."

Santiago, on probation after serving nine years of a 10-year federal prison sentence, died by suicide Tuesday in Johnston County while evading warrants for a Fayetteville double homicide Monday.

Previous coverage: Man sought in Fayetteville double homicide died by suicide Tuesday morning, police say

He was being sought in the shooting deaths early Monday of Marchellous Latrel Braddy, 33, of Raeford, and Nakea Latasha Brooks, 27, of Fayetteville. The bodies of Braddy and Brooks were found early Monday morning in the 5700 block of Aftonshire Drive. Braddy was discovered inside a home by the resident. Brooks was found in the yard by police. The three were known to each other, police said.

A motive in the slayings has not been released.

The Fayetteville Police Department announced Monday evening that warrants had been issued for Santiago in the slayings. A Toyota Camry he'd been driving was located in Smithfield on Monday evening, said Officer Jeremy Strickland, spokesperson for the Fayetteville Police Department.

Then shortly before midnight Monday, the Selma Police Department announced that Santiago had earlier led Johnston County law enforcement on a “short vehicle pursuit and foot chase” but was able to evade capture.

About 7:30 a.m. Tuesday, Santiago was firing shots at police on Kay Drive behind the Brightfield Flea Market in Smithfield, according to recorded police scanner traffic.

For at least an hour, law enforcement surrounded the flea market, a field and nearby apartment complex, trying to pin the wanted man in.

Selma police announced the manhunt was over around 8:30 a.m. Fayetteville police confirmed Santiago had killed himself.

A life of crime

What preceded Santiago’s life of crime was summed up in the mitigating factors his defense attorney presented in federal court 10 years ago.

The July 28, 2011, robbery was particularly egregious, the prosecutor said. Not only was Santiago armed with an assault rifle as he entered the Clayton Walgreens shortly after midnight, but when the 55-year-old female clerk didn't move fast enough, he bashed her in the back of the head with the rifle butt. The next day, the prosecutor continued, Santiago put a gun to the chest of a woman in plain view of her child, cursed at her, and then stole her vehicle. He led police on a chase before crashing the stolen car and being apprehended.

Santiago’s court-appointed federal public defender at the time, Gale Adams, now a Cumberland County Superior Court judge, told Judge Boyle that Santiago witnessed his mother get stabbed by a boyfriend, that his parents had drug addictions they could not overcome, and eventually, he ended up in state foster care and group homes, according to the transcript.

Adams said that Santiago turned to gangs — a circumstance the judge pulled from him during questions prior to sentencing — after “DSS had cut him loose” because he, “aged out” of the foster care program.

"So he was basically living from pillar to post. He had nowhere to go,” Adams said during the March 14, 2012, hearing. “He wasn't so closely involved in gang members (but) they were putting him up and he had somewhere to go..."

Boyle was unmoved by the argument.

"They don't put you up. They don't run a social welfare program," he said.

When Adams said Santiago committed the robbery in order to get money for his son's care, and when she said that he committed the carjacking so he had a vehicle to take the stolen money to his child, Boyle cut her short.

"It's not a Robin Hood exercise, you know," the judge said.

Adams continued, saying Santiago expressed remorse for his actions and wanted to better himself while in custody.

"And actually, whenever someone is taking the time with him in the school system ... they said that he'd done very well … if someone just takes the time with him,” she said.

But the judge interjected again, "Well, I mean … does he have to kill somebody to be a cry for help," he said.

The judge then sentenced Santiago to the top end of the guidelines — 171 months in prison. In 2019, one of the sentences was vacated and he was resentenced to 112 months.

Crime news: Fayetteville man surrenders in April 1 Cumberland County homicide

With nine years served, he was released on parole in April 2020, the record indicates.

Within two months of his release on probation, however, Santiago was arrested in Johnston County for a series of charges including felony fleeing to elude arrest, hit-and-run and resisting arrest. In September 2020, he tested positive for marijuana and opiates. In November of that year, he was arrested again for driving without a license and speeding 70 mph in a 45 mph zone. Come December, Santiago tested positive again for marijuana.

In February 2021, Boyle revoked Santiago's probation, sentencing him to four months behind bars. That sentence expired in June.

On March 11, 2022, he was sentenced to 18 months of state probation in the March 2020 chase.

Then 17 days later, Santiago led the State Highway Patrol on a high-speed pursuit in Smithfield after failing to stop for a trooper. According to the SHP report, while the rental vehicle he was driving was still moving, Santiago jumped out and ran away. The vehicle crashed into a ditch. A passenger inside was unhurt. The SHP issued a warrant for his arrest.

That charge, along with a charge of probation violation, preceded the murder warrants issued in Cumberland County earlier this week.

Boyle’s expectations for Santiago’s life played out a decade later nearly as the judge had forecast in 2012.

“Because he's an 18-year-old gang member. I mean (the robbery is) the most foreseeable circumstance you could hope for. First, he's in the gang. Probably joined when he was 13. He's smoking five blunts a day. He's probably selling dope. You know, I mean how is the progression not foreseeable?” the judge said at the time. “It's almost like he couldn't do anything else.”

Military & crime editor F.T. Norton can be reached at fnorton@fayobserver.com.

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This article originally appeared on The Fayetteville Observer: Judge warned of deadly path for man connected to Fayetteville murders