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‘IT WAS PLEASANT’

Cold Case Murder Suspect Reunited With Wife He Left in 1983

She had no idea what happened to him—until he was arrested for strangling a woman in 1984.

Donald Santini

Hillsborough County Sheriff

A man arrested last month for allegedly strangling a woman and leaving her body in a ditch in 1984 got an unexpected video visit while locked up—from the wife he left 40 years ago, who thought he was dead. Marla Santini of Texas told WFLA she learned Donald Santini was still alive when she learned he had been nabbed in the cold-case killing of Cynthia Wood in Florida. She said she has spoken to him six times since his arrest but they don’t talk about the criminal case. “Surprisingly, it was pleasant,” she said. “He don’t act like he’s the same person.”

Read it at WFLA

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