On a Monday evening, November 18, 2019, the life of 26-year-old Joemil Rios-Santana was cut short in a violent home invasion in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. That night, two men dressed entirely in black and wearing masks forced their way into a residence near 14th and Manitoba. The male victim was with his girlfriend at the time of the break-in.
One of the intruders held the woman against a wall while the other assailant engaged in a struggle with Rios-Santana.
The sounds of the fight filled the apartment, followed by the deafening sound of gunshots. Rios-Santana cried out that he had been hit. The gunman then demanded money from the dying man before turning to the woman and demanding money from her. Despite attempts to save his life, Rios-Santana succumbed to his wounds on the kitchen floor. Investigators at the scene recovered several. 40 caliber casings near his body.
The key witness, Rios-Santana's girlfriend, immediately recognized the voice of the primary aggressor as her ex-boyfriend, Javier Batista-Cabrera. Her suspicion was confirmed when the assailant's mask briefly slipped, revealing his neck tattoos. She told police that Batista-Cabrera had threatened Rios-Santana on several occasions prior to the fatal shooting. This information proved crucial to the investigation. Ballistic analysis later confirmed that the bullets from the murder scene matched those from the prior incidents she had reported.
In December 2019, 29-year-old Javier Batista-Cabrera was arrested and charged with first-degree reckless homicide for the death of Joemil Rios-Santana. He made his initial court appearance and was held on a $100,000 cash bond. The second suspect, also dressed in black and masked, was present during the home invasion but his identity and role in the events were not detailed in the initial reports.
