Crime & Safety
Man Who Strangled Woman And Left Her For Dead In Point Pleasant Indicted: Prosecutor
Juan M. Santiago-Rojas is charged with attempted murder, accused of strangling the woman to unconsciousness in 2022 and fleeing.
TOMS RIVER, NJ — A Point Pleasant man who strangled a woman and left her for dead in 2022 has been indicted on an attempted murder charge, the Ocean County Prosecutor's Office said.
Juan Santiago-Rojas, 32, was indicted Thursday in the attack that happened in Point Pleasant on Aug. 22, 2022, Prosecutor Bradley D. Billhimer said.
Point Pleasant police answering a 911 call for an unconscious woman at a Butler Avenue home found the victim unconscious and with serious injuries to her head and neck, authorities said.
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She was taken to Ocean University Medical Center in Brick but transferred to the trauma unit at Jersey Shore University Medical Center in Neptune because of the nature and extent of her injuries, authorities said. She was treated and eventually released from the hospital, the prosecutor's office said.
Investigators determined the woman had been assaulted by Santiago-Rojas on Aug. 22, 2022, and on Aug. 23, 2022, charged him with aggravated assault and issued a warrant for his arrest, but Santiago-Rojas had fled the area.
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Santiago-Rojas’ name was entered in the National Crime Information Center database, and he was a fugitive for 16 months before he was arrested Dec. 8, 2023, in Wilmington, North Carolina. Authorities have not said what led to his arrest in North Carolina.
He was extradited to New Jersey on Jan. 12, 2024, and has been held in the Ocean County Jail since then. There also are two detainers on Santiago-Rojas by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency.
Investigation after his arrest determined Santiago-Rojas had assaulted the victim and strangled her to the point of unconsciousness, and he was additionally charged with attempted murder on Jan. 22, 2024.
Thursday's grand jury indictment charges him with attempted murder, strangulation, possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose, and unlawful possession of a weapon, Billhimer said.
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