Tasha Santiago

Tasha Santiago (born Carlos Santiago, c.1965 – December 10, 1990) was a transgender woman who was murdered whilst working as a prostitute in Oceanside, California. Her murder was one of five transvestites or transsexuals slayings in San Diego County that year; however, police don't believe they are related. Two US Marines, Jeffrey Todd Hammons and Todd Alan Thornton, were arrested in connection with and subsequently convicted of her murder.

Santiago was murdered on December 10, 1990 at the Wally Johnson Motel in what police describe as "a sexual encounter gone awry." It is believed by investigators that Tasha was paid eighteen dollars for oral sex with one of the two men charged in her murder; when Jeffrey couldn't ejaculate, he demanded his money back; Tasha refused in which an argument ensued resulting in her jacket being stolen as she ran away. Tasha reported her jacket as stolen and later that night she saw the two assailants driving by her motel room; when she went to call police at the payphone she was put on hold and within one minute shots were fired; leading other patrons to call 911. When police arrived they found Tasha laying dead in the driveway.

Motel patrons reported the car driven by the assailants as being the killers'. The suspects in the case, Jeffrey Todd Hammons and Todd Alan Thornton, two U.S. Marines, were talked to by police following the murder, in which police confiscated a handgun used in the murder. It took months for police to gather an arrest warrant; however after working with the Naval Investigative Service, the assailants were turned over to civilian authorities.