Post by Scumhunter on Jul 30, 2022 6:42:23 GMT -5
(Above: First two photos: Steven Santiago (STILL AT LARGE as of 3/7/2023; Bottom two photos: Jahmel Sanders. (Captured on 3/7/2023) Photo Credits: pix11.com via NYPD)
From the New York Daily News (nydailynews.com):
The NYPD identified two men wanted for questioning Thursday in the double murder of a young woman and her innocent friend found burnt beyond recognition in a car in the Bronx.
Police released photos of Jahmel Sanders, 30, and Steven Santiago, 34, but did not say what role they may have played in the shocking killings of Nikki Huang, a 23-year-old nail salon owner, and Jesse Parrilla, 22.
Huang’s mother, Amy Chan, said the pair used to eat at their family-owned Chinese restaurant, Wa Lung Kitchen, where Nikki frequently worked.
“They were customers,” Chan said, recognizing Santiago and Sanders.
“Nikki used to feed them when they didn’t have money. This is what she got in return.”
A police source said Santiago and Sanders are believed to have been involved in the murders.
The News reported in June that the killings were linked to long-simmering gang tensions in the Lower East Side that exploded in eight hours of extreme tit-for-tat violence.
The victims’ charred bodies were found early May 18 in a torched car by the Pelham Split Rock Golf Course.
Cops believe Parrilla, a talented basketball player, was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time and wasn’t targeted in the gang war.
“I don’t know these people personally. I’m sure they’ve seen my son grow up in the neighborhood,” Parrilla’s mourning mother Michelle Morales told the Daily News. “These are grown men, I saw their ages and I was disgusted.”
The murders capped a series of retaliatory acts of violence after Huang, pistol-whipped and robbed of her pricey Louis Vuitton purse on the Lower East Side, reached out to friends in the Up the Hill gang, sources told The News.
Members of that gang sought revenge on Huang’s attackers, who ran with the rival Down the Hill Gang.
Retribution was swift, with Brandon Atkinson, 20, shot dead the night of May 15 at Avenue D and E. Third St. Atkinson’s ties to a revered elder statesman in the Down the Hill crew caused the violence to escalate even further, police sources said.
An hour later, a gunman shot and wounded a 22-year-old man in the wrist and a 19-year-old bystander in the leg in a park behind the Rutgers Houses near Madison St.
At some point that night Huang and Parrilla were kidnapped by furious Down the Hill members and forced to lure a 27-year-old gang rival from his home in Ridgewood, Queens, at 2:20 a.m. on May 16.
A waiting gunman shot that victim in the left side of his face and arm before fleeing.
The target escaped with his life and is recovering. Roughly two hours later, Huang and Parrilla were found dead in the burned car.
“I’m sure my son was pleading for his life,” Morales said. “They killed the wrong kid.”
“I’m happy that they’re looking for them,” she added. “I am so happy that I am getting closer to justice. ... I just want to break down every time, but God is answering my prayers.”
Both victims had been shot in in their heads and bodies.
“How dare you do this to a young boy?” Morales said. “Why would you take him if he had nothing to do with it? . . . He did not deserve this at all, because he was not from the streets.
“These gang people, they can’t just keep killing innocent people,” she added. “How do they sleep at night? What kind of people are you?”
Court records show that Sanders has three sealed cases in Manhattan, two of which are from more than a decade ago.
A friend of Santiago’s family at the Rutgers Houses said he had not been around the NYCHA complex for at least a year.
“The police were looking for him,” the friend said.
The mothers of both victims expressed frustration that authorities had not notified them about the development in the investigation.
“I had to find out on Instagram,” said Chan.
She worried that it would be difficult to find Santiago and Sanders so long after the murders.
“It’s been two months, they could be God knows where,” Chan said.
Huang worked at both the family restaurant and ran a nail salon given to her by her family. The night of her murder, Huang left a piece of jade on the doormat after receiving a call from Parrilla to come downstairs, according to Chan. The heirloom, given to Huang by her grandmother, now has heartbreaking significance.
“She knew she was walking into trouble,” Chan said.
www.nydailynews.com/new-york/nyc-crime/ny-suspects-named-burned-car-bodies-murder-nikki-huang-jesse-parrilla-les-gangs-20220728-mmcsog2t6zat7bk5jhvm2kfvtu-story.html
Additional coverage: pix11.com/news/local-news/2-sought-in-bronx-burning-car-deaths/
Thoughts? Based on the above article posting date, Santiago and Sanders were still being sought for questioning at least as of July 28th, 2022.
UPDATE/Admin Note #1: According to online articles, Jahmel Sanders was captured on March 7th, 2023. Steven Santiago remaoned at large. Anyone with information on Santiago's whereabouts were asked to submit tips to police by calling Crime Stoppers at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477), visiting crimestoppers.nypdonline.org, downloading the NYPD Crime Stoppers mobile app, or texting 274637 (CRIMES) then entering TIP577. Spanish-speaking callers are asked to dial 1-888-57-PISTA (74782).
Admin Note #2: If you have any news-related updates on this case, please contact us here: amwfans.com/thread/1662/website-contact-form
