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Police Arrest Suspect For ‘Brutal’ 1994 Triple Murder at Family Home

The unsolved killings shocked Texas, and now investigators believe they have the man responsible.

Verity Partington
3 min readNov 11, 2022
The family murdered in 1994 (Image: El Paso Times via Newspapers.com)

A man has been arrested nearly 30 years after he is thought to have broken into an El Paso home and stabbed to death the three people that were inside.

Arturo Ortega Garcia, now 69, is being held on bail in connection with the 1994 murders of Concepcion “Connie” Villa, 28, her boyfriend Francisco Santoni, 59, and their three-year-old son Dante Santoni.

A shockingly brutal crime

Connie, a successful travel agent, Francisco, the owner of an international auto parts business, and their little boy were found dead on August 11th 1994 inside their home on Garden Gate Way.

According to contemporary newspaper archives, each person had been stabbed at least ten times. Police theorised that Connie had been targeted first in the master bedroom as she slept not long after midnight.

The killer had then gone into little Dante’s bedroom and stabbed him to death too. He subsequently removed some items including clothing from a closet in the master bedroom and took them to the family’s Dodge Colt in the garage.

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Verity Partington
Verity Partington

Written by Verity Partington

A writer and author of crime thrillers living in the UK. Partial to books, stationery, papercrafts and walking. You can find her books on Amazon here: https://a

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