GOT HIM

Murder Suspect Caught in California After Nearly 40 Years on the Run

Cynthia Ruth, 33, was found dead in a watery ditch in 1984 after she’d been strangled in Florida.

Cops in California have nabbed a fugitive who managed to avoid capture for nearly 40 years in connection with a murder on the other side of the country. Authorities arrested Donald Michael Santini in connection with the 1984 killing of Cynthia Ruth, a 33-year-old woman whose body was found in a watery ditch after she’d been strangled in Florida. After police in the state got a warrant to arrest Santini for his alleged involvement in the killing, he fled—and he didn’t turn up again until Wednesday. After California authorities took him into custody, police from Florida traveled to San Diego to interview the captured Santini. “This arrest allows us to reexamine evidence collected in 1984 using the technology of today, as the case is now considered open once again,” a spokesperson for the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement.