North Carolina Manhunt Ends in Double Murderer's Suicide

After a day-long manhunt for the perpetrator of a double homicide in Fayetteville, North Carolina, police affirm that 29-year-old Clayton man Rhaim Moises Santiago killed himself on the morning of Tuesday the 17th.

His motive for the murders of 27-year-old mother Nakeea Brooks and her boyfriend 33-year-old Marchellous Braddy is unknown, though WRAL News reports the victims were acquainted with Santiago. The police were alerted by an Aftonshire Drive resident who found their bodies on his property after the late night May 15th shooting; according to ABC11, one of them died on scene while the other survived as far as the hospital, although WRAL News and The Fayetteville Observer do not mention this.

During the manhunt, Santiago crashed his car in Selma Memorial Gardens, fired shots at his pursuers, and fled on foot toward the field five miles away where WRAL News reports he was located with drones and targeted with tear gas before his suicide.

According to The Fayetteville Observer, due to a hit-and-run charge from 2020, Santiago had been sentenced to 18 months of state probation on March 11th, 2022, and had been issued with a warrant for arrest on March 28th after violating probation and felony fleeing a trooper in a rented vehicle.

Santiago’s gun and stolen vehicles are currently in police evidence, according to WRAL News, and no accomplices are believed to be involved with the homicides.