An investigation is underway in Acton after police discovered two deceased individuals, a 16-year-old girl and her 49-year-old stepfather, in a tragic incident believed to be a murder-suicide, officials said.
The grizzly scene unfolded late this afternoon when Acton Police were alerted to a potential abduction of the teenager, prompting a swift response aided by the GPS monitoring device on the suspect, Juliano Santana, due to his entanglement with an ongoing court case, Middlesex District Attorney Marian Ryan and Acton Chief of Police James Cogan confirmed.
Authorities promptly located Santana's vehicle in a parking lot on Great Road, a stone's throw from where the victim lived, and there they found both Santana and the young victim with fatal gunshot wounds, the incident is now the subject of an active and deep-dive investigation led by the Middlesex District Attorney's Office along with the Massachusetts State Police Detective Unit and Acton Police.
It has come to light that this harrowing act was not Santana's first alleged offense; back on September 7, 2021, the same victim reported multiple sexual assaults at his hands, which resulted in Santana's arrest and charges of aggravated rape of a child he had been out on bail with a monitoring device, and was facing a trial set for July this year, the ongoing investigation is peeling back the layers of this case that has left more questions than answers in its wake.
The community of Actown is grappling with the tragic loss, as the news of the young victim's death circulates, a life snuffed out far too soon, and the investigation efforts continue to unravel the events that ultimately led to this senseless violence, painting a clearer picture of the steps that led to this devastating outcome.
