SAN DIEGO — Donald Santini, the alleged hit man who was featured on America’s Most Wanted for a cold case murder, filed for bankruptcy under an alias at least three times as he owed dozens of people and companies hundreds of thousands of dollars while living life on the run.
Santini, who is currently in custody in Florida, was wanted for the 1984 strangulation of Cynthia Ruth Wood, a mother going through a custody dispute, and managed to evade capture for nearly 40 years. In 2004, Simmonds listed over $161,000 in liabilities. His creditors included American Express, and a couple owed $3,200 in business debt in San Diego. A woman in El Cajon was owed another $5,000, while the San Diego Union-Tribune newspaper was owed over $10,000 in business debt. These are just a few examples.
Santini told ABC 10News in a letter from jail that his wife in Campo had no idea about her husband’s past. He has another wife in Texas who still has the last name Santini and a daughter in that state he last saw in person as an infant.U.S. Marshals arrested him in June after he allegedly was caught committing identity fraud while trying to obtain a passport fraudulently, according to Florida court records.
The construction worker alleged in a 2013 lawsuit reviewed by Team 10 that Wells Simmonds committed fraud, intentional deceit, negligence, and misrepresentation.