Trial set to begin Monday for Green Bay man accused of killing man to whom he owed $80,000 for drugs
GREEN BAY – The trial of a 34-year-old Green Bay man accused of killing Jason Mendez-Ramos in September 2021 is set to begin Monday with jury selection in Brown County Circuit Court.
Pedro Santiago-Marquez is charged with first-degree intentional homicide and mutilating a corpse, both as party to a crime. He is accused of fatally shooting Mendez-Ramos, a 36-year-old Ashwaubenon man, to whom he owed around $80,000 for cocaine, according to the criminal complaint.
Mendez-Ramos' body was found at the site of a grass fire at the northwest corner of the Cofrin Memorial Arboretum on UW-Green Bay's campus in the early morning hours of Sept. 28, 2021.
Santiago-Marquez's trial may last the full week. If convicted, he could face life in prison.
According to a criminal complaint, Mendez-Ramos' girlfriend told investigators she last spoke with him over the phone around noon Sept. 27, at which time he told her he was in Green Bay and planning to visit Santiago-Marquez, who owed him money. Mendez-Ramos had "an angry tone" during the phone call, his girlfriend said.
During a police interview in December 2021, a witness told investigators Santiago-Marquez owed Mendez-Ramos around $80,000 for a cocaine deal. The witness also said he heard Santiago-Marquez talk about shooting Mendez-Ramos a week before his death, the complaint says.
That same witness said he spoke to Mendez-Ramos at Santiago-Marquez's paint shop, located on East Mason Street, on Sept. 27, and "in a roundabout way" tried to tell Mendez-Ramos to leave, the complaint says. Mendez-Ramos stayed to talk to Santiago-Marquez, and the witness left the shop. Later that afternoon, the witness returned and "could tell something was up," he told police. At that time, Santiago-Marquez told the witness to leave the shop, and Mendez-Ramos' car was still parked in the lot, the complaint says.
Later that day, the witness said Santiago-Marquez called him and asked him to move Mendez-Ramos' car from the lot in exchange for cocaine. The witness told police he got someone else to move the car because the witness "did not want to be associated with it," the complaint says.
The witness said a few days to a week later, another man, Alexander Burgos-Mojica, told the witness he was at the shop when Santiago-Marquez shot Mendez-Ramos. Burgos-Mojica told the witness that Santiago Marquez and another man, Jeisaac Rodriguez-Garcia, moved Mendez-Ramos' body to a van, the complaint says.
In February 2022, the witness contacted investigators with more information. He said that when he returned to Santiago-Marquez's shop the afternoon of Sept. 27, Burgos-Mojica handed the witness a bag and told him to throw it away. The witness said there were three shell casings in the bag, and he sealed them in concrete of a home on Pine Street where he was doing foundation work. Police uncovered the three shell casings, which appeared to be of the same make, model and caliber, the complaint says.
Burgos-Mojica is charged with harboring or aiding a felon, and Jeisaac Rodriguez-Garcia is charged with mutilating a corpse, as party to a crime, in connection with the incident.
Contact Kelli Arseneau at (920) 213-3721 or karseneau@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter at @ArseneauKelli.
This article originally appeared on Green Bay Press-Gazette: Trial to begin Monday for man accused of killing over $80K drug debt
