Wis. man sentenced to life for ordering hit on 'best friend' and burning his body

GREEN BAY, Wis. (TCD) -- A judge sentenced a 34-year-old man to at least four decades in prison for orchestrating the fatal shooting and burning of his friend who he reportedly owed tens of thousands of dollars in drug money.

The Green Bay Press-Gazette reports a Brown County Circuit Court judge ordered Pedro Santiago-Marquez to serve life in prison with the possibility of parole after 41 years for the shooting death of 36-year-old Jason Mendez-Ramos. Court records show Santiago-Marquez was convicted in March of first-degree intentional homicide and mutilating a corpse.

Mendez-Ramos was shot the head, back, and torso, and his body was placed in a plastic tarp before being lit on fire.

On Sept. 28, 2021, Brown County dispatch received a call about a grass fire at the arboretum near the University of Wisconsin Green Bay campus. University police arrived and found a male’s body after extinguishing the flames. Green Bay Police responded to the scene to assist.

The victim was later identified as Mendez-Ramos.

Green Bay Police arrested Santiago-Marquez and Alexander Burgos-Mojica in February 2022 in connection with Mendez-Ramos' death. Burgos-Mojica pleaded no contest in March to harboring/aiding a felon. A third person, Jeisaac Rodriguez-Garcia, was charged with mutilating a corpse.

According to the Green Bay Press-Gazette, Santiago-Marquez ordered someone to shoot and kill Mendez-Ramos at a business he owned in Green Bay, then burn the body. Prosecutors reportedly argued that Santiago-Marquez was deep in debt to Mendez-Ramos and owed him $80,000 for cocaine.

At his sentencing hearing, Santiago-Marquez reportedly referred to Mendez-Ramos as his "best friend" and insisted he did not kill him.

MORE:

• Green Bay man sentenced to life in prison for homicide, mutilating a corpse in 2021 case - Green Bay Press-Gazette
• State of Wisconsin vs. Pedro Arnaldo Santiago-Marquez
• Green Bay Detectives are investigating a suspicious death and are asking for the public's assistance, 9/28/2021 - Green Bay Police Department
• Green Bay Police make two additional arrests in the Homicide of Jason Mendez-Ramos, 2/2/2022 - Green Bay Police Department
• A man was expecting to be paid $80,000 for cocaine. He was shot to death by a Green Bay man and then his body was burned, prosecutors say., 2/3/2022 - Green Bay Press-Gazette
• Life sentence handed down in Green Bay murder case - WLUK