Smirking suspect in brutal murder of cabbie dumped in NYC reservoir is illegal migrant: feds
The man who reportedly told authorities he strangled a cab driver over a fare fight and then dumped the victim’s body in a reservoir upstate is an undocumented migrant from Guatemala, the Post reports.
According to sources and U.S. Department of Homeland Security officials, Santos Paulino Vasquez‑Ramirez illegally crossed the U.S.‑Mexico border in 2013 near Hidalgo, Texas, during President Obama’s administration. He ignored a removal order issued in 2016 under the first Trump administration, which was never followed.
Assistant Secretary of DHS Tricia McLaughlin told the Post, “He should’ve never been in our country in the first place and provided the opportunity to gruesomely take the life of Aurelio Zhunio‑Orbez.”
She added that “Open border policies have deadly consequences. ICE lodged a detainer with local authorities to ensure this criminal illegal alien is never allowed back into American neighborhoods. Under President Trump and Secretary Noem, ICE is targeting the worst of the worst.”
The victim, a 65‑year‑old cab driver, was legally residing in the U.S. as an immigrant from Ecuador. Vasquez‑Ramirez, photographed last week grinning in the back of a patrol car, had a prior record that includes two DWI arrests and a misdemeanor for breaking a deli window.
On December 1, after 11 a.m., the suspect hired the cab driver at Brewster MetroNorth station and allegedly forced him into a chokehold, killing him inside the driver’s black Toyota Sienna.
After the murder, authorities say Vasquez‑Ramirez dragged the body into the woods near the Croton Falls Reservoir, part of New York City’s water supply. He then stole the minivan the driver used and left it abandoned near Purdy’s MetroNorth station. A fisherman discovered the victim’s body a week later, floating on the reservoir’s surface.
The driver had been employed by Orbe’s Taxi Service, owned by his cousin Homero Orbe, who expressed deep sorrow: “I never had a brother. He was like a brother to me. It hurts my soul that he had to die like this.”
He described the brief but tense interaction: “One driver, who was working that day, told me it took a while until [Vasquez‑Ramirez] got into the car. The driver saw Santos walking up to the window of the car, he talked to Aurelio — they were negotiating something, and then he walked off again. Back and forth for a while. Until Aurelio opened the automatic door, the guy got in and they left.”
While the exact dispute is unclear, coworkers noted that Zhunio‑Orbez— a missionary leader at his local Mormon church— was not the type to argue over a fare. A female cab driver, who asked to stay anonymous, remembered him telling a customer who had lost her wallet, “Ok, mamacita, don’t worry.”
The driver, who was a regular client, told The Post that they had never had any problems with him. “He was a regular client. Our cab company also drove him, but we never had any issues with him,” she said.
Neighbors expressed fear of the suspect, with one sharing, “I don’t want MS‑13 gang members to come after me,” before quietly locking their door. The sheriff’s office, however, confirmed that Vasquez‑Ramirez has no known gang ties.
Vasquez‑Ramirez, now held in Putnam County Jail on murder and robbery charges, is also known among local cab drivers who wait at Brewster’s MetroNorth station for commuters. During the past four years, Zhunio‑Orbez worked as a cab driver in the northern suburbs, lived in Danbury with his family, and loved country music, Western films, and playing with his dog. He leaves behind a life partner, the mother of his children Irene Fernandez, four kids, one grandchild, and six siblings.
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