WORCESTER – Sixteen years after Patricia Santos was last seen, her former boyfriend, a suspect early in the investigation, has been indicted for murder in the case.
Santos, 36, when she went missing on May 19, 2009, has never been found.
Albert Carabba, a former boyfriend of Santos at the time she disappeared, was indicated on a murder count by a Worcester County grand jury on Sept. 23, according to the Office of the Worcester County District Attorney.
“For the last 16 years, the Worcester Police Department has not forgotten Patricia Santos,” Police Chief Paul Saucier said in a statement.
Carabba, 64, was taken into custody soon after the indictment. Authorities tracked him to Ocean Springs, Mississippi. He awaits extradition to Massachusetts.
Was ex-boyfriend at the time
Investigators focused on Carabba early in the investigation. The pair had broken up before she went missing.
At the time, court records showed Santos had a restraining order against Carabba. A witness told detectives he saw Carabba driving Santos’ 2000 Ford Mustang days after her disappearance.
Santos lived in an apartment at 45 Fruit St. She had not been home since about noon May 19, 2009. People at her workplace – Maranda’s House, a recovery program for women – said she didn’t come to work that day. She was supposed to meet her mother on May 20, but she never showed up.
Days later, police officcers spotted Carabba driving Santos’ car on Pleasant Street. A pursuit followed, with Carabba driving at 100 mph, before he was apprehended. He was the subject of arrest warrants and the new motor vehicle charges.
A search of Santos’ car turned up a newly bought shovel. Authorities questioned him about the disappearance, but he denied any knowledge.
At one point he told detectives that Santos relapsed into drug use and went to Florida.
June 2009 Police say ex-boyfriend’s letter ‘suspicious’
Carabba remained in custody while the investigation continued. About a month later, the investigation focused on Coes Pond, where a body was spotted in the water off Mill Street. It turned out to be unrelated; the death of a Westborough woman was deemed not suspicious.
Carabba was eventually released from custody.
The disappearance of Santos remained an active case, with Worcester police adding it to their list of unresolved cases.
Authorities have not detailed any developments that prompted the district attorney to present the case to a grand jury.
In recent weeks, a Worcester police detective collected stories on the case from the archives of the Telegram & Gazette.
“This arrest highlights the steadfast, patient determination with which WPD officers and detectives worked to take the next steps towards justice for her and her family,” Saucier said.
Worcester’s unresolved cases Patricia Santos
This article originally appeared on Telegram & Gazette: Ex-boyfriend faces murder charge in disappearance of Patricia Santos, last seen in 2009