In a Wednesday sentencing, a Florida resident who had long ago been accused of raping a 27‑year‑old woman in her Midtown Manhattan apartment finally received his punishment.
Jancys Santiago, 50, was handed a 20‑year jail term plus five years of post‑release supervision for the May 2000 assault that had remained unsolved for more than a quarter of a century, the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office said in a statement.
According to officials, the victim turned home on May 23, 2000, only to find a masked Santiago hiding in her closet. He allegedly forced her into the bathroom, threatened her with a knife and a gun, and then used a wire hanger to tie her limbs before raping her, prosecutors said.
A DNA profile made from the survivor’s rape kit was listed as “John Doe” in the 2005 case file. It wasn’t until December 2023 that the new genetic‑traceback technology linked the evidence to Santiago—and also to a 2001 rape of a 21‑year‑old woman in the Bronx.
A $500,000, three‑year grant from the U.S. Department of Justice’s Bureau of Justice Assistance helped the Bronx District Attorney’s Office revisit the crime‑scene evidence that resulted in Santiago’s incarceration.
Santiago was living in Groveland, Fla., before he was extradited to New York to face charges. On September 30, he was found guilty of first‑degree rape and first‑degree burglary for the Manhattan case. In the Bronx case, prosecutors say he broke into the apartment of a sleeping 21‑year‑old woman in December 2001, covered her face, bound her with a wire hanger, and sexually assaulted her. The rape kit from that incident produced a DNA profile that matched Santiago’s Manhattan profile.
The Bronx case remains open.
“After 25 years of evading accountability, Jancys Santiago was sentenced to a substantial prison term for raping a woman in her own home,” District Attorney Alvin Bragg said in a statement.
“Dogged investigators and my Office’s prosecutors ensured that this cold case was closed, and Santiago was convicted at trial. I thank the survivor for testifying about this horrific crime after so many years, and for her words at today’s sentencing,” Bragg added.
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