What Happened To Juan Santiago?
[Info]
Juan Santiago (also known as Juanchito with his family) was born around 1984 (various sources state that he was anywhere from 35-37). He was from Massachusetts, and in 2020 he and his girlfriend Kristina Mock moved from Chealsea, MA to San Antonio, Texas. He is described as having been 5'10", 145 pounds, with brown hair and brown eyes (though some flyers describe him as having been 5'6"). Juan had a friend named Isaac that had a job for him there, where it has been stated that Kristina went with Juan for this reason. Juan was to reach out to Isaac when he got to San Antonio. Mock may or may not have had family in San Antonio, that was supposed to help them set up once getting to Texas.
Juan was described as a kid friendly guy, that loved his family. His children knew that they were loved, and he was on good terms with his childrens' mother, Sara Kulmacz. Juan was also described as the type of person that would drink a bit too much.
It seems that Juan and Kristina Mock were living in a hotel room in a Motel 6 on the 5500 block of Rittiman road.
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| Juan and Kristina |
On June 19th (sometimes also listed as June 20th), 2020, Juan vanished from the Motel 6 after having made a 911 call. In the call, he is heard arguing with someone, and asks the operator to stay on the phone while he ran. He stated that he was running for his life from an unknown person that was after him. He had only been in San Antonio for one day before this happened.
On namus, it is stated the date of last contact is June 22nd, 2020.
When Sara found out that Juan had gone missing, she traveled to San Antonio from Florida to look for him, of which Juan's girlfriend, Kristina went to help her. According to articles, Kristina stated that Juan was suffering from alcohol withdrawal and had been experiencing hallucinations, proceeding to then run out of the hotel room.
When Juan disappeared, his family stated that it was uncharacteristic of him to not contact his family.
Later on when Sara had heard the phone call that Juan made to 911, she suspected that there was to the story than what Mock had told her. Sara is quoted saying, "I felt betrayed. I wish she just told me the truth from the beginning. Because I would have had more to go on when I went out there, I would have been looking harder in wooded areas, for body and not just a homeless man.”
Allegedly, Mock had told a close family member that Juan had been suffering from alcohol withdrawal on the train (that they presumably took to San Antonio), before even getting to Texas.
According to Mock, when Juan ran out of the hotel, he grabbed her wallet and phone. This prompted a call from Mock, to Juan's family asking for 500 dollars. Juan's family refused, and Mock reached out multiple times afterward, asking for different amounts of money. She then called Juan's mother (who was deaf/mute), asking for money, stating that Juan had been arrested, and she needed it for bail. An aunt of Juan's walked in on the conversation and she asked Mock what jail Juan was being held in, then "freaked out" stating "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, it's just a misunderstanding.", then hung up.
Juan's family stated that they (Sara) received 'ransom' text messages stating that the receiver was cartel, and they were holding Juan hostage, and he was really sick and dying. If Juan's family didn't send 7000 dollars Juan would be killed. When his family went to the police about the text messages, they asked "Are you sure that he isn't sending you those text messages?". Sara had went to San Antonio and posted missing person posters around town, with her phone number, and received the fake texts all from the same number. SAPD then asked Sara if she wasn't sure that it wasn't Juan doing all of this. She notes that SAPD never took it seriously, and were making jokes the entire time about Juan's case.
SAPD joked that Juan was running from his girlfriend, when listening to the audio of the 911 call.
Juan's aunt, Aidely Santiago, stated in an interview with Jason Herbet that she had asked Mock if they had gone to the police to file a report. Mock stated that she tried to file a report with the San Antonio Police Department (SAPD), and that they told her that because she wasn't family, she couldn't file. Aidely then called SAPD to try and file, and they initially told her that an official (a security guard) saw Juan, and because Juan was 35 years old, he wouldn't be considered a missing person. Apparently the security guard also called 911.
In the interview with Jason Hebert, Sara stated that she was told that unless the person is a child, elderly, or disabled, a missing person's report on that person cannot be filed.
Juan's family then wanted a copy of the 911 call, and then had to go through the bureaucratic process. They were told that they had to request the 911 call in writing, in which they did so, and received it two weeks later.
After Juan's disappearance, Mock returned to Massachusetts, went to the hospital, then died. She checked herself into the Melrose-Wakefield Hospital, having had suicidal thoughts, and wanted to get help. It is unknown how or why Kristina Mock passed away. She had been in her hospital room for 15 hours, and was under suicide watch.
Sara Kulmacz, the mother of Juan's children, stated, "“She was the missing piece to the puzzle. She knew exactly what happened that day, when Juan went missing. Unfortunately, we’ll never get that piece anymore. We’ve had to accept that at this point.".
After Juan disappeared, Kristina Mock listed on her facebook that she was in a relationship. There are reports that supposedly she had already been talking to another man after Juan's disappearance.
Foul play is suspected as a part of Juan's disappearance, even before his body was found.
[Found]
Juan was missing for four months before his body was found in October of 2020. In one article, it states that Juan's body was found on October 17th, in John James Park. Apparently a man that had been walking his dog near the park entrance reported what they thought were human remains. An article from Kens5 states that the remains were badly decomposed. Days after the discovery, the bones were determined to be human. Maryln Rosa, Juan's aunt, reached out to the coroner that examined the remains, who stated that they fit the demographics for having been Juan. Interestingly, the bones were believed to have belonged to an older male. This may have been due to the advanced decomposition of the remains.
A man by the name of Frank Trevino, who lives in San Antonio and volunteers to help search for missing people, got into contact with Juan's family through social media. Trevino went to the park that the remains were found, and tried to find any sort of clue or material remains that may have belonged to Juan. One of the items that he had looked for was a diamond earring that he was known to wear, but Trevino left the park empty handed.
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| Frank Trevino |
Different sources state that Santiago's remains were found Fort Sam Houston, which is right next to the park that the remains were initially found. This may be a misconception since Fort Sam Houston has its own park which the Salado Creek runs through (as the Salado also runs through the John James Park). John James park is technically owned by the city of San Antonio.
In an article from Kens5, on January 1st, 2021, the remains were confirmed to have been Juan's. It is important to note, that Juan's body was found relatively close to the motel.
Despite the family asking for phone records and information, there was no help from SAPD in coming forth with an information with either Juan or Kristina's phones.
Allegedly, the Air Force office of Special Investigations is working with several law enforcement agencies and San Antonio Police Department on the case. According to Juan's family, the FBI is also involved.
[Character]
The integrity of Kristina Mock's character is the most that comes into question. According to Juan's aunt Aidely, Mock was not very well known with Juan's family, and did not really participate in family events.
There apparently hadn't been much known conflict in the relationship between Juan and Mock, though at some point there was controversy about Mock claiming to have been pregnant which was a false positive (Mock instead had a tumor that may or may not've been removed). Mock was from a different city than Juan in MA, and Sara stated that no-one knew her. There is a story from Sara that Kristina Mock had stolen pills from a person in the past.
An interview with Kristina Mock's sister stated that she was just as shocked about her sister's death as Juan's.
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On facebook, there is a group called 'Help Find Juan Santiago of Chelsea Ma'. There is a post from Frank Trevino talking about the area that Juan's body was found. He states that the area that Juan was found was on federal land, unaccessable to the public. The area that Juan's remains were found was in a heavily wooded area near the outer perimeter of the base, the only people having access to the area having been the groundspeople that work for Fort Sam's National Cemetery. While the cemetery is open to the public during business hours, there aren't any roads to access the remote location on the outskirts of the cemetery grounds. The nearest building to the area being a group of maintenance sheds 1000 ft west for maintenance vehicles. Holbrook road is parallel to the creek, a public road that has access to Salado creek. In Trevino's post he states with confidence that Juan did not enter the park through Fort Sam Houston, but rather through Holbrook road. It is important to note that this area is less than 5000 feet from the Motel 6 that Juan was staying at.
In an interview, Sara stated that she was disappointed in San Antonio, Texas, SAPD, and Texas in general. She is right to feel that way especially towards SAPD, since they were not helpful and would even give incorrect information at times. Earlier in this post, I wrote how she was told that a person of Juan's age wouldn't be able to have been reported missing. I am unsure why the family was told this information, when there are literally people of all ages and backgrounds reported missing in the state of Texas. According to the 'Texas Missing Person Act', as available on the Texas Department of Public Safety website, a missing person is defined as:
"a person 18 years of age or older whose disappearance is possibly not voluntary. A "Missing Person" also includes a person of any age who is missing and is:
a) under proven physical or mental disability or is senile; or
b) missing under circumstances indicating that the missing person's safety is in doubt; or
c) unemancipated as defined by the laws of this state; or
d) missing after a catastrophe.".
The difficult part is getting the local law enforcement that a person went missing from to file the missing persons report. For some reason, the SAPD did not take Juan's disappearance seriously, and even stated that an official/security guard had seen Juan. Allegedly an official may or may not have given Juan a ride, though this does not explain him still going missing for four months after the June date. Even still, through recordings of the 911 phone call, it appears more like Juan had been fighting with his girlfriend Kristina Mock, and he had been set up, and the people out to get him were trying to force him into a car.
All Texas law enforcement agencies are to immediately enter the name of the missing person into the Texas Missing Persons Clearinghouse upon receiving a report of a missing adult/child, and the entries are to be automatically entered into the NCIC's (National Crime Information Center) Missing Person File.
From what it sounds like me, it seems that Juan's family has grounds to sue the SAPD for negligence against Texas law standards.
Even further, to disprove the erroneous information that Juan's family was told about filing the missing person's report, there are technically different alerts for various age groups. While anybody can be registered as a missing person, elderly people for example, would be categorized as a Silver Alert, and as with the rest of the country, children are listed as Amber Alerts. There is absolutely no reason a 35 year old male could not be filed as a missing person. Even further, a person can easily look onto websites such as the doenetwork and namus, and find files of people missing in the state of Texas from wildly different ages.
Through my own personal opinion, Juan's family could have filed the paperwork for him to have been considered endangered missing or to file a clear alert, before his remains were found. Of course, they are at the mercy of the SAPD, who seemed to have refused to have done their jobs. It really feels like Juan's family was taken advantage of, because they were from out of state.
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While this does not directly affect Juan's case, I personally feel like this is yet one more example of the United States police system needing a revamp in requirements. While each state is different, it seems like the bar is set too low. In order for a person to join the police force in any area in Texas, they are supposed to have their TCOLE certification (for people not from TX, the TCOLE is the class that basically teaches you the police stuff.) that can usually be done at any community college. The problem with this though, is that TCOLE classes are less than a year, usually anywhere between a semester's worth of time to maybe 9 months. It takes longer for a person to get an associate degree, or even a bachelor's degree than it does to become a police officer. This is my own personal opinion, which I don't like to normally interject in cases like these, but I really do feel like police officers need more training before being hired for the job. There is a gross lack of misunderstanding and humility with officers and it shows in Juan's case, as they refused to help his family.
In the city of San Antonio, a person only needs to be over the age of 21, with a high school diploma or GED, and a clean offense record to be considered a potential applicant. SAPD flaunts having one of the highest starting pays for cadets in the state of Texas, with a base pay of 45,000 a year. Interestingly, in an article with Kens5, Scott Hermes a 27 year career officer, stated that turnover is a regular thing for SAPD. In 2018, it was reported that an income of 58,504 dollars was needed to live comfortably in the city. The starting pay for a cadet is less than that. In a 2017 article with Texas Public Radio, it was reported that San Antonio has one of the lowest officers per capita of any police department in the country. In October of 2016, there were 40 cadets in the Delta Class, of which 23 graduated. Normally the attrition rate was 13%, then it rose to over 40. In comparison to other major cities in Texas, where Dallas 27 and Houston have 23 officers per 10,000 people, San Antonio has 15.
Juan's case is not the only one of negligence in the SAPD. In 2016, there was the story of a San Antonio cop that fed a homeless man a feces sandwich. While the cop lost his job, he was later reinstated, due to a local city code that prevents and officer from discipline for conduct that occurred more than 180 days before they are disciplined. This same officer also defecated in a female restroom in the downtown bike patrol office and refused to flush the toilet. He and another officer took some sort of brown substance and smeared it on the toilet seat giving the appearance of feces.
To me, this proves that the officers of San Antonio are severely lacking in education, judgement, and hiring protocol. It is extremely unfortunate that Juan was put into a situation where the people that are supposed to have helped him, were useless from the start.
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It is implied though not directly stated, that Kristina must have been addicted to some sort of drugs, and it makes me wonder if perhaps she tried to get Juan onto something. I wonder if she set him up and the whole situation may have been a drug deal gone wrong. There is not much that seems to have been said about this contention. Even further, according to many articles she is quoted as having said that Juan was going through alcohol withdrawals. Interestingly, in the DSM IV it states that symptoms of alcohol withdrawal, from heavy and prolonged abuse, include:
-autonomic hyperactivity (sweating or pulse rate greater than 100)
-increased hand tremors
-insomnia
-nausea or vomiting
-transient visual, tactile, or auditory hallucinations or illusions
-psychomotor agitation
-anxiety
-and grand mal seizures.
It should be noted though, that when a person alcohol withdrawal delirium they are likely to have some other sort of clinical relevant general medical condition such as liver failure, pneumonia, gastrointestinal bleeding, or hypoglycemia.
Despite the reports from Kristina Mock that Juan had been suffering from hallucinations, it does not seem that he may have really been undergoing alcohol withdrawal, and even further, not a single family member has ever stated that he had any serious medical problems like those listed above. Even further, a person who would suffer from alcohol withdrawal would have to have had alcohol abuse, which typically affects a person's family; and as Juan's family stated multiple times he loved his family so much, and always kept in contact with them.
I'm sure that many people have questions as to how his body ended up where it did, and how it went unnoticed for so long. If he went missing in June, and skeletal remains weren't found until October, wouldn't anyone have smelled a decaying body in the Texas humidity?
What is important to remember, is that the skeletal remains wear near the Salado river. What I think may have happened, and this complete conjecture, is that Juan was killed for some sort of potential drug deal gone wrong, and his body was dumped somewhere on that side of San Antonio. What people might not know though, is that the Salado creek tends to flood when it rains enough in San Antonio. Even further, I have seen for myself, that when the creek floods it tends to get a load of trash flowing through it. There may have been a possibility that Juan's body was in the Salado for those four months, maybe nipped at by animals, and then eventually, the remains landed at John James Park. I do think that the people that killed him stripped him of his clothes that he was wearing when he started running in the 911 call. Considering how no piece of his clothing or his diamond earring was found, I can only assume that he had to have been stripped naked.
People may also have the question as to why Sara initially thought she may have been looking for a homeless man at first, instead of body. San Antonio has a large homeless population, and you can drive around the city and see homeless camps in various places from under highways, to behind Walmarts, and people sleeping on the Riverwalk. There is a definite economic disparity in the city, especially among different races; and while San Antonio brings in new companies to build new stores, the jobs stay low wage and low paying. The price of housing keeps going up, while the availability to have a career gets lower. Colloquially, people from the area tend to see San Antonio as a place to get 'call center' or 'McJobs', where as the other big cities such as Austin or Houston provide more room to have a career.
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Through all of that, I do not have much more to provide about the scenario. I do look at the situation with an 'occam's razor' point of view. Meaning, 'the simplest explanation is usually the right one'. Personally, I think that Kristina Mock had some type of drug addiction. I think that she knew people in San Antonio, and whether Juan was knowledgable about it I am not sure. I think that the reason for the 911 call, must have been from a drug deal that she must have organized and it started to go south, or perhaps she purposely tried to get Juan robbed. I believe that Mock knew the real story, and the real location of Juan, and who killed him. She must have had an extreme amount of guilt on her conscience once she saw the family outcry and search for Juan. It is interesting to me that she thought about suicide, and was on suicide watch not long before she died. In some sort of way, I think that she must have killed herself before ending up in the hospital. It possible that she may have ingested something that later would have killed her when she was in the hospital. Unfortunately we may never know the real story, and the truth as to what happened to Juan.
Since this story is so new, there is no find a grave page for either Kristina Mock or Juan Santiago. Seeing that the news was only confirmed on January 2nd, 2021 and at the time of writing, it is the 3rd, Juan's remains are still in the process of going back to his family.
May he rest in peace.
[SOURCES]
https://youtu.be/49zciNF8D-w
https://www.boston25news.com/news/local/search-continues-missing-chelsea-man-family-his-late-girlfriend-also-seeks-answers/QU3QY3FVUJD4XOULEEHZXKQFJQ/
https://www.nbcboston.com/news/local/police-investigating-mysterious-disappearance-of-mass-man-in-texas/2176913/
https://www.kens5.com/article/news/community/boston-familys-search-for-man-last-seen-in-san-antonio-running-on-few-clues-desperation/273-7b093505-7215-4e38-a83c-2d7a85187076
https://youtu.be/2A9rUTSLzK8
https://news4sanantonio.com/news/local/man-seeking-employment-in-san-antonio-disappears-help-us-find-juan-santiago
https://www.kens5.com/article/news/crime/family-identifies-remains-of-missing-man-found-at-fort-sam-houston/273-3b688eca-b357-4d10-a572-2b60cdd312df
https://www.boston25news.com/news/local/mystery-continues-grow-over-chelsea-mans-disappearance-unexpected-death-his-girlfriend/SY54R6SQJRHVHIMPJRGT7HZZOQ/
https://www.sanantonio.gov/ParksAndRec/Parks-Facilities/All-Parks-Facilities/Parks-Facilities-Details/ArtMID/14820/ArticleID/2622/John-James-Park?Park=105&Facility=
https://www.namus.gov/MissingPersons/Case#/71593
https://www.dps.texas.gov/IntelligenceCounterterrorism/Alerts/CLEAROverview.htm
https://www.kens5.com/article/news/local/law-enforcement/sapd-applications-down/273-4ad0e06f-24e4-4040-a981-e096bcd48cc7
https://sanantonioreport.org/report-san-antonio-one-of-10-cities-where-cost-of-living-outpacing-wages/?
https://www.tpr.org/news/2017-06-12/police-vacancies-add-to-concern-about-smaller-number-of-officers-on-san-antonio-streets
https://www.ksat.com/news/defenders/2020/01/03/sapd-officer-who-gave-homeless-man-a-feces-sandwich-trying-to-win-back-job-for-a-second-time/
