Man convicted for murdering his girlfriend in Dorchester

Attorneys made their closing arguments in the downtown Boston courthouse Thursday, and here is the Globe's account:

The key to Jose Torres’s mind – and the answer to the question of who brutally murdered Melissa Santiago in her Dorchester apartment while her four children were home – was laid out in Torres’s own handwriting, attorneys told a Boston jury today.

Suffolk Assistant District Attorney David Deakin said Torres in January 2008 foreshadowed the savage murder of Santiago when he wrote in his journal that “today was a really good day. But out of nowhere I got filled with rage... I’m afraid that one day I’m going to blow up on someone… Liquidation time.’’

But defense attorney Jeffrey T. Karp said that a few days before Santiago was strangled with an electrical cord and had her throat cut twice with a knife as she fought for her life, Torres wrote an acrostic love poem to her.

M -- is for the magnificent love you give me
E --is for the everlasting love we have
L -- is for love the love that I have for you
L -- is for the life we will have together
I -- is for the intelligence you have
S -- is for being so sweet to me
A -- is for always being so beautiful

Torres, who misspelled his girlfriend's name, had moved in with the 29-year-old three weeks before her death on March 8, 2008. Torres is on trial in Suffolk Superior Court for first-degree murder. Closing arguments were delivered today before the jury begins its deliberations.

Deakin told the jury that Torres finally executed his “liquidation time’’ plan inside Santiago’s Washington street apartment after she taunted him over his masculinity and scratched him in the face as they argued.

While the four children -- the oldest was just 5 years old – were home, Deakin said Torres beat Santiago in the head and then strangled her and cut her throat to make sure she was dead. He also told the oldest of Santiago’s children, who saw parts of the attack, that Santiago was just sleeping and it was time to go to bed, Deakin said.

One son, who is now 6 years old, took the stand and told of how he saw his mother being attacked in the kitchen and collapse onto the kitchen table. The boy identified the attacker as Jose, but was not asked to identify Torres as the same person.

Deakin also said DNA evidence links Torres to the murder, including traces of Santiago’s blood that was found on his gym bag, and on one of his sandals recovered after the killing.

“Every single piece of evidence points in one direction and only in one direction,’’ Deakin said as he pointed at Torres while a color photograph showing Santiago's battered face was displayed behind him.“That man murdered Melissa Santiago in cold blood.’’

Karp seized upon the same information and said prosecutors and Boston police have vigorously investigated Santiago’s killing, which he described as a “horrific, brutal crime, a savage, savage killing.’’

But Torres’s written words expressed how he felt about Santiago. “Is that poem from a man with a plan to brutally murder this woman?" he asked jurors. “He cared for her children…He genuinely wanted to see her improve her life.’’

Karp said a time line built by prosecutors exonerates Torres. He said a neighbor last saw Santiago and Torres together – smiling and joking – around 10 p.m. And the MBTA reported that Torres's Charlie Card was then used on the Route 23 bus at 11:30 p.m.

During that time, Karp said, prosecutors allege he murdered his girlfriend, shooed the children into their beds, packed up all of his belongings, tried to eliminate physical evidence linking him to the crime, and got on the bus somewhere in Boston.

“That is a lot of things do in that amount of time,’’ he said.