Adult Boyfriend Charged With Killing CT Teen: Reports

WATERBURY, CT — Police said a Waterbury teenager was found dead in a crashed car on Thomaston Avenue Monday night, and are investigating the shooting death as a homicide, according to multiple reports including NBC Connecticut.

After initially not revealing the teen's identity, police later announced that 16-year-old Evelyse Santiago of Waterbury was identified as the victim. 27-year-old Dominique Pittman is charged with her murder.

NBC Connecticut reports that the two were dating, and Pittman was in the car at the time of the crash.

“As the investigation continued it was very clear right from the onset that this was a homicide," Deputy Chief Fernando Spagnolo of the Waterbury Police Department said, according to NBC Connecticut. "It became a homicide investigation with the motor vehicle accident being a secondary to that."

Both NBC Connecticut and the Hartford Courant said the girl was a student at Wilby High School, recently transferring from Crosby High School. Investigators were seen canvassing the area Tuesday morning, looking through nearby cars and dumpsters.

A witness told the Hartford Courant that the crash knocked out power to the area, and that she saw smoke coming from a car shortly after. The witness said the car had caught fire shortly after, neighbors worked to get the occupants out.

Another witness told the paper that the car nearly missed a nearby house.

NBC Connecticut reports police are waiting on autopsy results.

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