A Missouri mom allegedly gunned down her estranged husband, then drove across state lines to shoot the father of one of her other kids, killing the new girlfriend he was with, according to cops.
Taylor Santiago, 31, gave a dead-eyed stare in her mugshot after allegedly turning herself last week for the shocking two-state murder spree, according to the Aurora and Marionville Police Department.
The mom randomly “decided” on the killing spree while grabbing coffee at a local general store in Aurora, according to an affidavit obtained by the Kansas City Star, which said she was enraged by child custody battles with both dads.
She then invited her estranged husband, Troy Huffman, to her home “under the pretenses of seeing” their 12-year-old son — telling the boy when his dad arrived that he should cover his ears because she was going to “take care of the bad guys,” according to the affidavit.
Then she left the bedroom with a .38 revolver tucked behind her back — and put a bullet in Huffman, the affidavit said.
When the first shot didn’t put him on the ground, she fired again, the affidavit said.
She had to drag the body away from the door so she could get out and steal his car — leaving one of her kids behind with the body, according to OzarksFirst, without confirming if it was the murdered dad’s son.
Santiago then drove 50 miles south to Eureka Springs in Arkansas to kill another ex, Nathan Green — the father of one of her other kids — and his new girlfriend, Sophia Williams, a mom of five, the affidavit said.
The pair had told family that day that they had been awarded custody of Green’s daughter, and several children were at the house when the pair were shot, OzarksFirst reported.
Williams died at the scene, while Green was rushed to a nearby hospital in critical condition, the reports said.
However, Santiago appears to have assumed she killed both — telling cops when she turned herself in back in Aurora that she had killed three people, the affidavit said.
Santiago was charged with murder, robbery, unlawful use of a weapon and endangering the welfare of children, police said.
If convicted, she could face the death penalty — which Williams’ heartbroken sister, Calista Abernathy, says she “deserves.”
“She’s a monster,” Abernathy told OzarksFirst.
“She took lives. She left children without parents. She doesn’t deserve to breathe, to eat. She deserves none of that,” she said.
“She took a wonderful person from all of us,” she continued. “Sophia was an amazing mother … She was so good. My sister literally died from saving a child.”
Police Chief Wes Coatney said custody battles with both Santiago’s estranged husband and her ex-boyfriend likely spurred the killings.
While he wasn’t sure why she returned to Missouri to give herself up, he told KYTV: “I’m glad she did. I wish she would’ve come to us before she did all of this so we could’ve helped her.”
