The murder of Ralph Santos is being considered a hate crime
because alleged killers Eliseo Rojas and Eusebio Ramos were angered
by Santos’ alternative lifestyle, according to newly released court
documents.
The murder of Ralph Santos is being considered a hate crime because alleged killers Eliseo Rojas and Eusebio Ramos were angered by Santos’ alternative lifestyle, according to newly released court documents.
The documents are part of a 60-page criminal complaint filed against Rojas and Ramos in San Benito County Superior Court.
According to the complaint, the police investigation into Santos’ disappearance revealed that the 73-year-old retired janitor was participating in sexual activity with other men.
Investigators with the Hollister Police Department reportedly learned about Santos’ alternative lifestyle during interviews with a number of local men and the murder suspects, according to the court records.
Santos’ lifestyle reportedly included him propositioning men on Park Hill and in Dunne Park for sexual favors.
Hollister Police Chief Larry Todd declined to comment on the revelation concerning Santos’ lifestyle.
“I have no comment on the case. This is currently being prosecuted in the courts and any questions should be directed to the district attorney’s office,” Todd said.
Prosecutors failed to return several phone calls from the Free Lance for comment.
It was this alleged practice that brought Santos into contact with Rojas and Ramos, according to the court records.
When members of a local task force questioned Rojas and Ramos after their arrest in Stockton on June 29, they both said that they met Santos in the parking lot of a local supermarket when he approached them, according to the court documents.
Rojas and Ramos reportedly confessed to investigators that they directed Santos to an isolated section of a mustard-seed field where they beat, strangled and repeatedly stabbed Santos to death and left his body in the field, according to the court documents.
However, in their statements to police, Rojas blamed Ramos for the murder while Ramos blamed Rojas as the one who wanted to kill Santos.
Although some of the details of their stories match, each suspect provided a vastly different interpretation on which one was determined to kill Santos, according to the complaint.
Rojas told police that Ramos was upset because Santos had approached him sexually, and that he only grabbed and held Santos because Ramos told him to and that it was Ramos who repeatedly stabbed Santos in the upper leg, chest and back with a screwdriver-like tool, the document said.
In his interview with police, Ramos reportedly told police that Santos had promised Rojas that he would give him his red Kia Optima if they spent some time together.
Afterward, Ramos said Rojas became angry when Santos refused to give the suspects the Kia. Ramos told police that Rojas then borrowed one of his shoe strings and used it to strangle Santos, the court documents said.
Ramos told police that when Santos struggled against Rojas, it was Rojas who ordered him to stab Santos or he would come after him next.
Word of Santos’ secret lifestyle “devastated” his family, said attorney Greg LaForge said speaking on behalf of the family.
LaForge said the family was hoping to work through this unexpected revelation about their father and grandfather before it went public.
“The chief told us that the Hollister Police would not be releasing this information at this time, but that eventually it would come out,” the family said in a written statement.
Santos family members said they want to help police and prosecutors in the case.
“We want to work with the appointed deputy district attorney Steven Wagner to prosecute this case. We are all on the same side in this matter and want to see justice carried out to its conclusion for our father/grandfather.”
The family said Santos was a good man and a loving person whose memory they treasure deeply.
“We love our father/grandfather unconditionally. His memory, his accomplishments and our love for him will never be tarnished,” the family said.
The special allegation labels the murder as a hate crime. If Rojas and Ramos are found guilty under the hate crime statute, they could be sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole, according to the state penal code.
Rojas and Ramos are accused of murdering 73-year-old Ralph Santos on June 10 and discarding his body in a 50-acre mustard seed field off of Buena Vista Road, and stealing his car and some of his personal property.
