DATE: AUGUST 13TH, 2013
TIME: BODY DISCOVERED AT 0701 HOURS
LOCATION: YARD AT 321 LINNMORE STREET, HARTFORD
CAUSE OF DEATH: MULTIPLE GUNSHOT WOUNDS
MANNER OF DEATH: HOMICIDE
VICTIM: VALENTIN SANTOS 12-9-1991 21 YEARS OLD
By Christopher J. Lyons
August 12th, 2013, at approximately 2200 hours, Hartford Police received a call of multiple shots fired in the Linnmore Street, Hartford area. No specific location was given. Police responded to the general area to investigate the shooting reports but could not find a location or anyone to come forward to provide them information about the call. Police cleared the scene. The person who made the call did not give police her name stating that police did not need it. That caller never met with police or tried to assist in this first call of gunfire in the Linnmore Street area.
At 0701 hours of August 13th, 2013, Hartford Police received another call. This call was from a resident of 321 Linnmore Street, Hartford. In that call there was a report of a dead person lying in the backyard of 321 Linnmore Street. Police responded to that address and found in plain sight the lifeless body of Valentin Santos, lying face down in the back yard by a set of wooden steps. Santos had been shot multiple times and because he was dead became part of the crime scene. After the scene was completely processed Santos was removed from the scene to the medical examiner’s office. The victim was identified via fingerprints at the scene.
The yard where the victim was found was completely fenced in at all sides. Once inside of the fence, there was nowhere for him to go. He was trapped. At the scene police found bullet casings all around the victim and on top of his clothing as he lay on the ground. This indicated to policed that after the victim was shot and on the ground that someone had stood over him and shot him as he lay prone. In addition the victim was thought to have tried to crawl away from his attackers after being shot and this indicated cruelty on the part of the shooter.
At the ME’s Office it was determined that the cause of death for the victim was multiple gunshot wounds. Examination of the victim revealed that he suffered 19 gunshot wounds throughout his body with 11 of the wounds in his back. The attack upon the victim indicated a personal reason or revenge for something done by the victim to someone else.
In the investigation, police took statements from many individuals and learned a lot about his criminal activities. Valentin was an active person in crime and on the night before his death was set to meet with several people throughout the evening. In addition, the victim had been a regular heroin seller to several individuals, all capable of killing him. Police were able to determine several persons of interest and were able to identify several persons they knew had information about his whereabouts on the night of and before the murder and who could assist in the investigation. But, no one assisted police in this investigation and it is still an unsolved homicide. To aid in the investigation police put out several bulletins asking for public’s assistance but as of this writing, the case remains open and no one has been placed under arrest for the murder of Valentin Santos.
