Pauline McFadden said she disapproved of their relationship so much that she didn’t attend her daughter’s wedding because she didn’t trust Santiago Jr.
Wednesday night, there was no word on his condition because “no information is to be released,” said a nursing supervisor at Miami Valley Hospital.
“I put him in jail once,” Pauline McFadden told News Center 7’s Layron Livingston on Wednesday evening. “He picked my daughter up by the throat and slammed her into a wall.”
The mother said her daughter was trying to get away from Santiago Jr.
“She was going to come down here and live,” the mother said, referring to Port St. Lucia, Fla., to start a new life. She said she thinks Santiago Jr. killed her daughter in the bedroom of their home on Neal Avenue to keep her from leaving.
Pauline McFadden said she’s coming to Dayton to see her grandchildren and hopes to take them back to Florida with her.
FIRST REPORT
Five children woke up to gunfire in their Dayton home early Wednesday morning. Police said a father shot and killed the mother of the children, then turned the gun on himself.
The victim has been identified as 31-year-old Ashia McFadden. The suspect, Ricardo Santiago Jr., 31, is the father to four of the children.
The shooting happened inside the bedroom of the couple’s home in the 400-block of Neal Avenue shortly after 3 a.m. Wednesday. McFadden died of a gunshot wound to the head, and her death has been ruled a homicide, according to the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office.
A teenager in the home, who is a child of McFadden’s, made the emotional call to 9-1-1 for help. Screams of children could be heard in the background as the dispatcher tried to determine if Santiago was also deceased. He was not. Santiago remains in critical condition at Miami Valley Hospital.
The victim’s sister, Sharon McFadden, said her sister had a troublesome relationship with Santiago and was planning to move with the kids to Florida this morning “to get away from him.” She said her sister “loved him to death,” but that love cost her her life. She said the couple married in 2006.
“She was fun, she was a loving person, she loved her kids very much, she would do anything for you, if you needed help, she would help you,” Sharon McFadden said.
She said Santiago has a history of mental illness.
Police are planning to charge Santiago, who remains in critical condition. His mental illness and criminal background are being looked into.
The children, who police said range in age from toddler to teenager, are with a paternal aunt.
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