Green Bay man gets life in prison for 2021 killing of man whose body was found burned

GREEN BAY, Wis. (AP) — A Green Bay man has been sentenced to life in prison for a drug-related killing in which prosecutors said the victim’s body was later burned at his order.

Pedro Santiago-Marquez, 34, was sentenced Tuesday in Brown County Circuit Court to life in prison with the possibility of release on extended supervision in July 2064, the Green Bay Press-Gazette reported.

A jury had convicted Santiago-Marquez in March of first-degree intentional homicide and mutilating a corpse in the 2021 slaying of Jason Mendez-Ramos, 36, of Ashwaubenon.

Santiago-Marquez was also sentenced Tuesday to 10 years on the charge of mutilating a corpse, with that sentence to be served concurrent with his life sentence.

Jurors determined that Santiago-Marquez either shot or ordered Mendez-Ramos' shooting on Sept. 27, 2021, and later that day ordered his body burned. Mendez-Ramos’ remains were found the next day on the grounds of the Cofrin Memorial Arboretum.

Investigators said Santiago-Marquez had owed Mendez-Ramos money related to drug trafficking.

Santiago-Marquez maintained his innocence at Tuesday’s sentencing hearing, saying he did not kill Mendez-Ramos and calling him his “best friend.”