An Atlantic City man jailed in the killing of a woman at his home last year was indicted this week on charges of murder and weapons offenses.
Maximo Santiago, 70, previously told investigators that he didn't intend to kill 32-year-old Marketa Thorpe, "but was hoping more to put her in a wheelchair so she would stop coming around his place and bothering him," Assistant Prosecutor Kate Robinson told a judge at Santiago's detention hearing last year.
Santiago and Thorpe apparently had a history that included a relationship that had ended, according to information shared in court at that time.
Thorpe, who was apparently homeless, had slept on Santiago’s porch the night before and then tried to attack him with what Santiago described as a plastic broom.
He then went inside, loaded a rifle with five rounds and then came back out and shot Thorpe once, Santiago allegedly told detectives.
Thorpe died of a single gunshot wound in the Sept. 12 shooting.
Santiago remained calm during his interview with the investigators, and even joked after pulling a round out of his pocket, Robinson said, quoting him as saying, “Now I’m even more guilty, aren’t I?”
The prosecutor said Santiago admitted that he could have just stayed inside and called police, and that even if Thorpe had struck him, it likely wouldn’t have caused injury.
Santiago was indicted on charges of murder, second-degree possession of a weapon and possession of a weapon by previously convicted person.
He was convicted of first-degree sexual assault in 1975, his last apparent charge until the killing.
Police were called to Santiago’s home in the 1500 block of Belfield Avenue at 11:24 a.m. Sept. 12.
There, officers found Thorpe. She was taken to the AtlantiCare Regional Medical Center’s City Campus, where she was pronounced dead.
Santiago was arrested as he tried to flee in his Nissan Pathfinder, according to the affidavit.
He has remained in the Atlantic County Justice Facility since.
