Reading, PA: Police: Man Kills Girlfriend, Self

John Craven | Reporter

Posted: 9:34 pm EDT July 23, 2011
Updated: 7:39 am EDT July 25, 2011

READING, Pa -- Police are investigating why a man murdered his girlfriend, then killed himself Saturday evening.
The incident happened in a home on North Front Street in Reading.
Friends, who spoke to both victims earlier in the day, said they saw no signs of trouble from either person before the killings.
On Sunday, the Berks County Coroner identified the dead as 43-year-old Rosario Santana, and her boyfriend, 47-year-old William Pagan-Franco.
Police responded to the home at 139 North Front Street after someone called 911, saying Pagan was threatening to harm himself. When officers arrived just before 8 p.m. Saturday, investigators said they heard a gunshot and entered the home.
Inside, they found Santana with multiple gunshot wounds on the first floor, and Pagan with a self-inflicted gunshot wound upstairs.
For neighbors, the whole scene was frantic.
"Up the street, we saw a police officer with a long rifle on a stand, like a sniper rifle type of thing, pointed at one of the houses up the street," said Melanie Thees, who lives several homes down.
Friends were stunned.
"She's my best friend, you know?" said Emelinda Velez, who spoke to both people earlier in the day. "She's a Christian person. Very nice, sweet -- always able to help other people."
Velez just spoke to Pagan, the suspected killer, just hours earlier. She said he showed no signs of distress.
"No, nothing at all," she said. "And she [Santana] called me in the morning, and she was so happy."
Friends said Santana was a deeply Christian woman. So was her boyfriend, which makes the killings so hard to understand.
"Whenever there would be like a Red Cross disaster, we would always see William stand up," said friend Ty Hairston. "He'd be like Superman. He'd head to the disaster area, lend his support."
According to friends, Santana and Pagan dated on-and-off for years. Although the relationship was rocky at times, they said they never heard complaints of violence.
"The only thing she used to tell me a lot that he was a very jealous person," Velez said.
Public records show that William Pagan does not appear to have any criminal record. Santana's autopsy is scheduled for Monday afternoon.