Suspected murders of Texas infants and parents extradited from Mexico City in 1994

A man was charged this month with capital murder for allegedly killing a 3-year-old boy and his parents in El Paso, Texas more than 28 years ago.

US Marshals with the Lone Star Fugitive Task Force located and arrested Arturo Ortega Garcia, 69, in Mexico City on November 4 before extraditing him to the US for indictment.

Police said on August 11, 1994, officers found the bodies of three victims in an apartment building on Garden Gate Way in El Paso.

The victims were identified as 59-year-old Francisco Santoni, 28-year-old Concepcion Villa and 3-year-old Dante Santoni.

According to an El Paso Police Department press release, investigators recovered evidence from the crime scene that couldn’t develop into viable leads given the limitations of the technology, and the case went cold.

But with advances in technology, the department reopened the case in 2015 and identified Garcia as a suspect.

An arrest warrant was issued for him as a result, police said, although he could not be located.

Still searching for Garcia, investigators discovered that Garcia was arrested in Mexico City in 2020, where he remained pending his November 4 extradition.

El Paso Judge Ruben Nunez set Garcia’s bail at $5 million.