The Mortgage And The Murder

Did A Stressed Out Mortgage Broker Kill His Clients?

(CBS)  In June 2006, a most unlikely suspect emerged. His name is Ron Santiago, and he met Greg and Bernadette in mid-2005 when they applied for a home mortgage.

A loan officer's assistant at Countrywide Home Loans, Ron was, by all accounts, a people pleaser. "I wanted to do the best possible job I could for them, every single time," he says.

Co-workers of Ron's say he seemed particularly upset when he learned of the murders. "I was shocked. I was disturbed. It was sad to hear," says Ron.

He says he cried. "I guess I’m an emotional person. I take things serious. When I heard that, it hurt. It was sad."

But Ron had little time to dwell on it. In 2005, before the current loan crisis, business at Countrywide was booming, and Ron had trouble keeping up.

"The pressure was incredible," he says. "I've taken loan applications on holidays, phone calls on Christmas Eve, Christmas Day. We were open 24/7."

Finally, in June 2006, Ron says he just cracked. "I had made a mistake. I'm not hiding from that, I'm not denying that - that's never been a question. Have I done something wrong? I participated in something that was wrong."

What Ron calls a mistake occurred when he was preparing a loan for another couple, Catherine and Matthew Howard.

Ron says the mistake was that he over-promised. "I told them that I can get the loan done within a specific period of time and I didn't. I dropped the ball."

So instead of coming clean, Ron forged two checks totaling more than $240,000, and used them to close the Howards' loan.

Bank officials soon discovered the forgery. Ron, who had never in his life been in trouble with the law, turned himself in to the U.S. Secret Service, the agency that investigates bank fraud.

"I’ve never done anything illegal in my life," Ron says. "To do something that was stupid, so stupid to do and lose everything because of that stupidity, that’s very emotional."

Ron was so emotional that he was taken to the psychiatric ward of a local hospital, where he took a welcome break from the hectic mortgage business.

As Brian Nguyen, a federal investigator who was then a Secret Service agent began to investigate, Catherine Howard told him of a very unsettling incident. "Catherine Howard explained to me that on the day that she was supposed to refinance her loan, the brake lines in her husband's vehicle were cut," Nguyen remembers.

And Catherine was convinced that it was Ron who had tampered with those brakes. "This guy tried to kill us. I mean that was my gut reaction," she says.

Nguyen began to dig into Ron's background and learned that one year earlier, Ron's other clients, Greg and Bernadette, had been murdered. Later he found out that Ron at one time had owned a 9mm Ruger handgun. And when Nguyen discovered that the couple had been shot with a 9mm, suddenly Nguyen’s forgery investigation became something far more serious.

The Secret Service agent went back to the hospital and questioned Ron about the murders that took place nearly a year earlier. "And right away Ron said it was a Tuesday," Nguyen says, "He knew exactly what day of week August 2nd, 2005 was. And that struck me right away."

Asked how he would remember it was a Tuesday, Ron says, "Well, it was a very dramatic event. I mean again, people that I work with were killed."

Late into the night, Nguyen continued to grill a medicated Ron, who never asked for a lawyer. "I was telling the truth. I denied everything. I had nothing to do with hurting anybody, a murder. I did not, and I answered all their questions," Ron insists.

At the same time, police went to Ron and his wife’s home to search for that 9mm Ruger. But Ron says he had traded the gun a year before the murders to a guy named "Robert."

After hours of searching, police found nothing to connect him to the murders until finally they looked in a bag in Ron's garage. There, police say they hit pay dirt: one spent 9mm shell casing.

Asked how the spent shell casing ended up in his bag, Ron says, "That is the whole case. They’re saying because that shell casing was in my gun bag in my garage that I was the one that pulled the trigger to kill these people."

And that's what police alleged: investigators said it was a ballistics match to the four casing recovered at the murder scene.

[lti07]

pcreversed,

Please contact me at [e-mail] as soon as possible.

Larry

[bajajohn1]

Ron sold his gun to a guy named Robert. He says he did not know the guy. Bull. When one sells a gun, he knows to whom it was sold.

Bernadette, on the other hand, sure did get a lot of male attention. What was up with that?

[gold_standard]

What about the finger prints and shoe print by the ladder? They don't match Ron, so we should be looking for someone who does match. Why not check finger prints of other men mentioned in the article? Why such a glaring hole in the investigation?

[asyongs]

If initial reaction determines the culpability of the suspecs, no holliwood stars can be convicted. Even 'expert shrinks' have very low batting average when predicting people's behavior.

I have a strong feeling that this case revolves around this bottom line- if the bullet shell indeed match that of the murder weapon, then either the police officers are lying and guilty of frame up, or the broker is guilty.

I tend to think that the broker has something to hide. He vividly remembers the day of murder, yet no recollection as to whom he sold his weapon. Come on, that's simply absurd.

[capegal67]

I believe that the daughter killed her mother and father for money. She is a cold and calculating cookie. She does not want to visit her parents graves because she might run into her relatives, well that should speak of itself. I mean if your mom and dad were gone, you certainly would want some blood relatives in your life, unless they are all kookie. I don't think the mortgage broker did this crime at all. I looked at the bag and surely did not see any bullet there until later in the pics. What kind of eyes do you have that you could see that bullet before that?? It could I suppose have been hidden, but this crys of a setup if you ask me. What motive would the mortgage broker have for committing this crime???? None. I mean he is a pretty heavy guy, picture him going in this home and not making any noise. The daughter is a cold fish. I never saw any compassion very much from her, attitude not good, like so what is her attitude. I wouldn't trust her as far as I could throw her. Those are my views, I think she murdered her parents.

[sch7777]

This what i think, Renee Ohlemacher had an affair with a ALBUQUERQUE cop and he planted the shell casing in order to clear her and frame the mortgage broker. This case is a crock of pooo. Thier daughter killed them. The dog not barking, Renee Ohlemacher calling the wrong number so it wouldn't be recorded, like all 911 calls are. That's because she was calling her cop lover to set the stage to frame the mortgage broker. And if i could see the court case files or watch the 48 hour program over and over i would still come to my belief i have now. Renee Ohlemacher killed her mother and father for the money, while she was having an affair with a cop. Come on people put it together.

[YCantWeAllGetAlong]

You've got to love "break line". I mean, who proofreads these stories, toddlers?

[formrusmcsgt]

Sounds like Bernadette had no shortage of male friends.

Could be she cut one off?

Looks like we'll never know......

[rsmik]

The dog barking or not doesn't mean much. My dog barked at everyone she saw who came in, went out, or walked near my house. But when burglars broke in, my dog hid under the bed and never made a sound.

[mightisright]

48 Hours left a lot to be desired with this one. Look at the pictures of the bag that contain the shell casing. You can clearly see the shell casing under a blue pen in the two proceeding pictures. It is pretty obvious that things are shifting around in the bag, but the shell is right there. Good grief.

Second. How about some details about where, when and how he met the guy he traded guns with? Did he meet him at a gun show? did he have a booth? Ad in the paper? Did he call the guy? Did a friend set the deal up? why did he keep useless bullets around? Where are the new bullets for the gun he owns now? Have the serial numbers been run on the traded gun to see whose name came back?

All in all. This whole ordeal is a cluster. But I believe that guy is straight lying about the gun and the gun shell.