Delia Elena Santamaria, a 48 year-old mother of six, who was described by her boss at Applegate East nursing home, as “one of the sweet and great ladies” did not show up for work on Sunday, August 11, 1985. A co-worker called her home, but her husband said she was in Chicago, then hung up. That evening her sons stopped by the nursing home, looking for their mother. They did not know where she was. The next day, another co-worker called her home and spoke to her husband, the 66 year-old Antonio Santamaria. He first claimed she had gone to North Carolina, then he said she was in Chicago, but had lost the address she was at. The ladies were concerned and told him if they did not hear from Delia within an hour that they would call the police, which they did, at 4:30PM on Monday, the 12th. Her car and purse were still at home, according to her sons. Her picture was taken to the bus and train stations. No one had seen her. Their son told police that his father had dug a large hole in the basement recently, which was very odd. Delia’s co-workers knew that the Santamarias were having marital problems. A search warrant of the Santamaria home, a modest white frame house, with hanging plants on the porch and flowers lining the sidewalk at 638 Peck St. In the basement, in a hole two feet in diameter, about 19 inches deep, was found the lower half of Delia’s torso. Also in the hole were the torso’s upper half, her upper legs, lower legs, and feet. She had been disarticulated at the joints. A bag of surgical gloves was found nearby.

At 5:25PM, the man who had been a surgeon in Mexico and a doctor in Galesburg, was arrested without any resistance at Cottage Hospital. When told that his wife had been found, he stated “I knew you would.” He drew three diagrams for police. The first showed where the knife he used to kill his wife was. In a box on a shelf in his bedroom. The second showing where he buried the parts in the basement. The third was where the rest of his wife was resting in the garden. That is where they found her upper and lower arms, hands, and the faceless skull of the woman who had worked as a nurse in Mexico and a CNA in Galesburg. Her body had been cut into 15 pieces. She was identified by dental records.

What could lead to this horrific crime? It shocked the residents of Galesburg and newspapers across the country reported on it. Even the Weekly World News, known for printing crazy and mostly made-up stories, told of it.

Antonio Santamaria was born in Mexico in 1918, where he became a doctor. He married Delia there, who was born in 1937 and was 18 years younger than him. They moved to the United States, and she eventually became a citizen here, while he did not. In 1969 he became a staff physician at Galesburg Mental Health Center. In 1978, laws and regulations required him to take a state licensing exam, which he failed, losing his job. He went to the East coast and worked in New York and New Jersey for five years before returning to Galesburg. He and Delia had many disagreements about raising their two youngest sons. Antonio was a strict man regarding discipline, while she was less so. He testified that his sons would come home drunk and stoned often, and that he blamed their mother. Between 1981 and the murder Delia had started to file for divorce, but changed her mind each time. August 1, a plumber saw a large hole in the basement that had not been there before on previous visits. On August 3, she told her son she was divorcing his father. When the son discussed it with Antonio, the man said he would rather murder her than get divorced. August 7th, he tested dissolving turkey bones in lime in a vase in his room. August 8th, a mover placed a new 10 cubic foot in the bedroom closet of the “anxious and nervous” husband. On August 9, the husband received the divorce papers from his wife. On August 10, she worked her shift from 3-11PM. That day, Antonio bought a food processor from Sears.

After she returned home they discussed the divorce and returned to their separate bedrooms. Santamaria claimed that that night he awakened to Delia standing over him with a knife. He struggled with her, knocking her back into the bathroom, yelling “Por que?” over and over. He claimed after knocking the knife from her hand by punching her several times in the face, that he “lost completely my control” and cut her throat, nearly decapitating her. “I was unable to control my thinking, my movements, my actions. I was cutting one after the other, after the other.” However, the blood stains were found in her bedroom and hallway. He cut her up in the bathtub. He removed her internal organs and drained her blood, as they were the parts that cause a dead human body to stink the most. He used the new food processor to destroy those organs. He returned the appliance to Sears, telling the store clerk that “his wife didn’t like it.” Her blood and hair were found in it.

On April 14, 1986, during closing arguments, Antonio Santamaria was called “the butcher of Galesburg” by prosecutors. After only two hours and nine minutes of deliberation, the jury of seven men and five women found him guilty of first degree murder and concealment of a homicide. He showed no reaction in the courtroom. His two youngest sons agreed with the verdict. One prosecutor said the crime gave Santamaria the “credentials to wind up in a wax museum someday.”

“No breathing human being other than a murderer, a premeditated murderer” could do what he did. “It would torture all logic for you to return to this courtroom with a verdict of less than guilty of murder.”

When sentenced to life in prison without parole, the man who showed little emotion throughout his trial, stood and angrily yelled. He shouted he had been listening to nothing but lies the whole time. Despite testifying on his own behalf for an hour and ten minutes, he claimed he had no chance to speak. “She fought with me defending these boys who are always on drugs..I did not kill her!”

“I AM NOT THE BUTCHER OF GALESBURG!”

Antonio Santamaria died in prison at Joliet in 2001 at age 82.

“What kind of Frankenstein monster could reach into her chest and pull out her heart?”