Woman Charged With Murder Breaks Down in Court

The woman charged with strangling her boyfriend over the weekend faced a judge in Hartford on Monday.

Katherine Santiago, 24, cried uncontrollably in the courtroom during her appearance.  The judge told Santiago to calm down so that the proceeding could continue.

Santiago is charged with killing Marcos DeJesus by strangling him with an electrical cord on Saturday. 

Police were called to a home at 372 Wethersfield Avenue Saturday afternoon and found DeJesus unconscious.  He was pronounced dead at the scene.

Monday would have been DeJesus's 28th birthday.

Santiago was taken into custody and charged with murder.

According to court documents, Santiago told family members that she acted in self defense and choked DeJesus because he was beating her.

She can be heard on a 911 call telling a dispatcher about the incident.

"So when he hit me I grabbed the extension cord so he'll stop hitting me, so I choked him," Santiago told the dispatcher.

Police said there were no signs of a struggle in the room where DeJesus was found, nor were there defensive wounds on DeJesus' body.

Santiago is being held on $2 million bond.

She has seven prior arrests and is currently on probation for an assault in December of 2012, court records show.

Contact Us