The Mortgage And The Murder

Did A Stressed Out Mortgage Broker Kill His Clients?

(CBS)  Nearly a year after Bernadette and Greg were gunned down in their home, Ron was arrested, charged and jailed for the couple's murders.

He says he hasn't done "anything to anyone," but if he did, the question is motive. It’s the big hole in the case.

"We can’t explain why does anyone murder anyone? I mean lots of times, you look at a case and it just doesn’t make any sense but it happens time and time again," says District Attorney Kari Brandenberg.

His motive certainly was not money. If Ron closed on the loan, he stood to make only a few hundred dollars. And why would Ron - the ultimate people pleaser - want to hurt his own customers?

"People really liked Ronald Santiago and he had a good reputation up until recently as a good loan officer," Moriarty points out.

"I think that the common misperception is that criminals have to be bad people and they can’t have any good qualities. And you know that there’s a very good positive part of them and then there’s that part of them that commits the crime that they’re accused of committing," Brandenberg says.

Police speculate that the couple became upset when their $40,000 loan was delayed and threatened to report Ron to his boss. To stop the couple, police say Ron killed them. It does sound a little far fetched, even to Renee.

Soon after Ron's arrest, Renee was cleared by police, allowing her to collect her parents' insurance money. But she still questioned Ron’s involvement. She says she never even heard his name before. "I just knew my parents were dealing with Countrywide. That's all I knew."

Ron’s lawyer Joseph Riggs says Ron clearly told the couple they did not qualify for the loan. "There was no evidence that there was to be a closing ever, at all."

Ron says he does like to help people, but that he had made no promises to Greg and Bernadette.

Riggs and his co-counsel, Natalie Bruce, say the case against Ron is flimsy at best. "This was a unique case in that there was a great number of people who could have been, should have been, and I think were suspected of being involved in this case," Riggs says.

Besides Bernadette's friend Mike Allen, there was an angry woman who repeatedly made threatening phone calls to Bernadette at work. Bernadette's co-worker Lucille says Bernadette was scared of the caller.

The woman believed Bernadette was having an affair with her boyfriend.

"We later learned from the police investigation that Bernadette was so fearful of being shot she had a partition built outside her work cubicle a couple of years before," Riggs says.

It sounds incredible, but Lucille says it is absolutely true. She also says she told police about the calls.

The woman was in the Albuquerque area around the time of the murders, but investigators do not believe she was involved.

Greg's brother Randy gave police another lead - a male friend from out of state who'd been calling Bernadette non-stop.

But investigators never considered Bernadette's friend a serious suspect. They never even called him. When 48 Hours did call him, the man in question told us that he had gone to Albuquerque to see Bernadette a year before her death. He said they were friends and that he had nothing to do with her murder.

"The police are treating this, with respect to Ron Santiago, with blinders on. They cannot look at anything else other than Ron Santiago," Riggs says.

But the Albuquerque police are confident they have the right guy, mainly because of too many close calls involving Ron's clients.

Remember what happened to Catherine Howard's break line, which had been cut on the day her loan was supposed to close? And another of Ron's customers had two separate homes burn down.

"You know one coincidence, two coincidences - but you start layering these things and it becomes not just highly curious but very troubling," says police spokesman John Walsh.

Ron's reaction to all of this? "It’s frightening, it’s scary. I have not done anything to anyone. I did not hurt anyone, I didn’t tamper with anyone’s personal belongings, their vehicles, anything. I’ve not done anything wrong."

Authorities have no proof that Ron was responsible for any of those incidents. And there is almost no physical evidence that connects him to the murders either.

Walsh acknowledges that none of Ron's fingerprints, DNA, or blood was found in the house.

The key to the police case is that incriminating shell casing found in a bag in Ron’s garage. But how did that single shell casing end up there? Did Ron put it there or did someone else?

[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.