Luis Santiago, a 39-year-old Hispanic man, was a father to a son and daughter, ages 8 and 12, at the time his life was brutally taken in March 2017. His death was the culmination of a terrifying home invasion, kidnapping, and robbery in Memphis, Tennessee, that also targeted his wife.
The ordeal began on Thursday, March 30, 2017, when two men forced their way into the couple's home in the 4200 block of New Willow Road in East Memphis. The assailants, armed with a gun, abducted Santiago and his wife, forcing them into their own white Chevrolet pickup truck, which had a distinctive camper on the back. According to a neighbor, Santiago knew at least one of the attackers. Inside the truck, the couple was robbed of their cash.
During the horrific kidnapping, Santiago's wife was sexually assaulted. In a desperate act of survival, she managed to escape by jumping from the moving truck near the intersection of Getwell Road and Winchester Road.
She flagged down a passing motorist who drove her to the Memphis Police Department's Raines Station precinct to report the crime. Her escape triggered a frantic search for her husband.
The search came to a tragic end the following day, March 31. Memphis police discovered Luis Santiago's body in a wooded area in the 3000 block of Getwell Road, not far from where his wife had escaped. His hands were bound, and he had been shot once in the back of the head. He was pronounced dead at the scene. His truck was found nearby.
The Memphis Police Department's investigation quickly identified two suspects. A juvenile warrant was issued for 17-year-old Kevvon Clark for charges including aggravated robbery, aggravated rape, and aggravated kidnapping. The second suspect, 19-year-old Jamarcus Thomas, was apprehended on April 18, 2017, in Bolivar County, Mississippi. Thomas was charged with first-degree murder, first-degree murder in the perpetration of kidnapping, and aggravated rape, and awaited extradition back to Tennessee. In November 2017, the court system decided to transfer Kevvon Clark from juvenile court to be tried as an adult for the slaying.
In January 2020, Kevvon Clark, then 20, was convicted by a Criminal Court jury for his role in the crime. The jury found him guilty of premeditated first-degree murder, murder in the perpetration of kidnapping, two counts of especially aggravated kidnapping, aggravated rape, and aggravated robbery. For the murder convictions, he automatically received a sentence of life in prison. He was scheduled to be sentenced on the other convictions in March 2020.
The case against his co-defendant, Jamarcus Thomas, who was 22 by the time of Clark's conviction, was still pending. The conviction of Kevvon Clark brought a measure of justice for the family of Luis Santiago, closing a significant chapter in the violent and senseless crime that took the life of a father and husband.
