Boston, December 13, 2016
A Revere man has been found guilty in the fatal stabbing of 50-year-old John Barrientos in 2012, in his East Boston building and dragging him to a nearby alley.
Cristian Santa, 25, who had pleaded not guilty, has been convicted and will now possibly face up to 20 years in prison on the charges of voluntary manslaughter. He was initially charged with first-degree murder of John Barrientos, 50.
Boston Homicide Detectives outside 220 Chelsea St.; Pic Credit: Boston Globe
Barrientos had been stabbed more than 80 times making the crime one of the most gruesome ones encountered by the investigators. In fact, in a statement made in 2012, the Suffolk County District Attorney Daniel F. Conley had mentioned how this was “among the grisliest crime scenes [investigators] ever encountered”. The body of the 50 year-old John Barrientos was found in an alley near 200 Chelsea St on May 4, 2012 in an attempt to remove the body from the crime scene, which was the basement of Barrientos’ house.
Neighbors of John Barrientos, and residents of the Eat Boston Building where the murder took place, said that they had heard screams and “thudding” sounds at about 5 am. The body was discovered at around 6:55 am. As per the testimony and the evidence presented by Assistant District Attorney Craig Iannini of the DA’s Homicide Unit, Santa and Barrientos had been drinking together at the Chelsea building where the victim lived on the night of May 3 and into May 4.
Other evidence presented at the trial, like DNA testing on blood left in the car in which Santa got in, and the blood collected at Santa’s house on Shirley St. matched the victim. Fingerprints left in blood and four of the bloody fingerprints at the Chelsea Street apartment were also found to be a match to the defendant.
Cristian Santa, a legal immigrant from Colombia, has no priors on his record. Santa is set to appear on Friday for his sentencing hearing before Superior Court Judge Christine Roach as per the DA’s office.
