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The Butcher of Galesburg
The most infamous murder in the history of Galesburg, Illinois is remembered because of its vicious brutality and unrepentant perpetrator.
But the story is deeper than blood and death, for it is also a tale of obsession and family; of the power of abuse and hatred, and even a classic story of an immigrant family finding “The American Dream.”
It begins in Ciudad Altamirano, Guerrero, Mexico only days after the end of the Great War, with the birth of Antonio Santamaria on November 17, 1918. There, in this small inland city between Mexico City and the Pacific Ocean, his father, also named Antonio, died at the age of 45 on January 13, 1922. Young Antonio was only three years old and was to be raised by a strict mother, Margarita.
Young Antonio fell in love, not with a woman, but with boxing. He joined the military and participated in boxing while a member. By the spring of 1945 he was living in Mexico City as a medical student.
Antonio graduated summa cum laude from Mexico City Medical College.
He went on to practice medicine in a Mexico City hospital, marrying and having children. According to family, this marriage failed and Antonio was banished by his bride’s brothers. Now 42, Santamaria noticed a 23-year-old nurse: Delia Elena Infante.
Delia’s story begins with her birth on April 22, 1937, in Arcelia, Guerrero, only a short trip down the highway from Antonino’s birthplace. She too, was raised by a widowed mother.
The beautiful, young Delia was popular working at the hospital, and Antonio became obsessed. He would follow Delia through the streets of Mexico City, showering her with gifts. One friend of Delia told a newspaper in 1985 that Antonio “saw her, wanted her, and that was it.” Delia felt badly for the older man, and married him in April 1960.
It was made clear in interviews by newspapers and investigators that the marriage was never truly a happy one. Antonio was distrustful and jealous. For the next 25 years, he never wavered or lost these traits and Delia and their children would suffer as a result.
The first of their children, Antonio, was born during that first calendar year of the marriage, and by the end of 1960 they moved 2,000 miles to the north so Antonio could intern and earn his residency at Michael Reese Hospital in Chicago.
Between 1960 and 1965, the family grew with the additions of Abraham, Salvador, twins David and Margarita Elena, and Eduardo.
In August of 1969, the Galesburg Register-Mail announced that Dr. Antonio Santamaria had joined the medical staff of the Galesburg State Research Hospital, with the family living at 1801 N. Seminary St. in apartments for hospital staff. The six children were now between the ages of 3 and 9.
Only four months later, Delia and the children were injured in a two-car accident at the intersection of Seminary Street and Carl Sandburg Drive. Delia and four of the children were injured seriously enough to require hospitalization.
The childhood of the Santamarias were said to be ones full of abuse from Antonio.
One newspaper called it “a home where violence was as common as the family photographs that dot virtually every wall”
Several sons told the press their parents fought frequently over the past and over the treatment of the children, of whom Antonio was a strict and abusive disciplinarian.
By 1971, the family moved into a two-story home at 638 Peck St.
Stories of Antonio’s abuse appeared in black and white in 1985 following his arrest, with blows to the head of the children by hand and by tobacco pipe being frequent. One child had eaten a box of cookies they had been forbidden from consuming. When the child would not admit their act, the father forced to suspect to drink large amounts of salt water in an effort to make the child vomit.
“We tried to make him proud, but it didn’t matter because there was nothing we could do that would please him,” one son told a newspaper.
He told another paper that “I don’t remember just smiling and laughing with him. I tried to remember times like that the other day, and I just couldn’t.”
Quad City Times: Dec. 29, 1985 In the late 1970’s the life of the Santamarias reached a crisis; Dr. Santamaria was forced to resign from his work at the Research Hospital as stricter rules regarding the education, testing, and licensing of doctors educated outside the United States.
In March of 1977, Delia wrote a letter published in the Register-Mail, in defense of her husband. She felt the changes were specifically made to discriminate against non-American born people.
“As a result of this cruelty, the embarrassment caused by this messy, and probably political, move affects not just the doctors, but their wives, as it is in my case, their children, their relatives, the community where the patients’ relatives reside and, of course, the patients whose case is in the hands of fewer doctors than ever before.”
Delia continued.
“As a result of the above, my husband is considering leaving this country just when I was recently accepted as an American citizen. All of this jeopardizes our children’s education and therefore our family future.”
At the age of 60, the career in Galesburg of Antonio Santamaria was over, though he did leave for a time to practice in New York and New Jersey. By all reports the lives of Delia and her children only grew worse.
In the summer of 1977, Delia’s smiling face appeared in the Register-Mail as she was honored upon receiving her American citizenship, nearly 17 years after first moving to American soil.
In August of 1985, Antonio and Delia were 66 and 48. The children were now all adults. Two sons remained at home and continued to be a source of arguments between the parents, as Antonio continued to be strict and disapproved of the activities outside the home of the sons.
Delia was working as a nurse’s aide at Applegate East Nursing Center on Frank Street.
The time had come where it was apparent that Delia was going to divorce Antonio.
In the early hours of Sunday, August 11, 1985, after partying at Burlington, Iowa, Abraham and Eduardo arrived home and discovered their mother missing. Their father told them she had left for Chicago to visit family. They remained suspicious as her car and purse had remained.
That same day, Delia did not show up for her scheduled shift at work, which was very much unlike her. On Monday, her coworkers contacted police due to the evasive answers given by Antonio regarding his wife’s whereabouts.
On the morning of Thursday, August 15, a search warrant was signed enabling police to search the Peck Street home.
There, police found horror.
Quad City Times: Sept. 29, 1985 Delia Elena Santamaria y Infante was found to have been cut into pieces and buried in the basement and garden.
Her husband was arrested without incident at Cottage Hospital at 5:25 p.m.
Quickly, headlines and news stories spread through the midwest and the country as a whole.
As reporters spoke with those who knew Delia, nothing but kind words were used to describe the victim.
“A heart of gold. A prompt smile. A stretched hand ready to help anyone who needed it. That was my friends, Delia Santamaria” – Maria Teresa Creighton
At a preliminary hearing in Knox County, Investigator David Claugue told the court that Antonio had admitted to him that he had killed his wife, but had done so in self defense.
One son testified his mother had told him on August 3 that she was going to file for divorce. He also testified that Antonio had told him he’d kill Delia and himself rather than divorce her. It was around this time they noticed their father digging a hole in the basement.
Claugue said that Antonio said he awoke to find Delia standing over him with a knife, which led to a struggle.
“Santamaria then grabbed the knife, Delia said “I love you,” and he stabbed her in the neck with the knife, Clague testified Santamaria told him,” read the Register-Mail.
He admitted to cutting her up in the bathtub and burying her in the basement and garden, even drawing a map of all the parts and providing it to the police.
On November 7, Santamaria was found mentally fit to stand trial.
On November 15, Santamaria pleaded not guilty to one count of murder, two counts of voluntary manslaughter, and one count of concealment of a homicidal death.
On April 7, 1986, jury selection began at the Knox County Courthouse and opening statements were made April 9 to the 7 man, 5 woman jury with Judge Stephen G. Evans presiding.
Sgt. Dick Flanagan of the Illinois State Police testified that Santamaria admitted to him after his arrest that he killed his wife. He claimed to Flanagan that he woke up early Aug. 11 to find Delia standing over him with a knife. They fought, according to Antonio, and when the knife came loose, he grabbed it and stabbed her in the neck, nearly decapitating her. He told Flanagan that he then cut her into 15 pieces in the bathtub.
Santamaria then drew diagrams to show police where he buried the parts and hid the weapon.
Michael Ogryzek, a crime scene technician with the Illinois State Police, told the jury of working with Galesburg Police, finding a two-foot diameter hole dug in the basement. Here, the torso, legs, and feet of Delia were found. Then in the garden, her arms, hands, and skull (with face removed) were discovered. The black handled fillet knife used was located in a box on a shelf in the bedroom of Antonio Santamaria.
Judge Evans spared the jury from seeing slides of the parts found due to the gruesome nature.
Attorney Donald Woolsey testified that Delia had contacted him four times between 1981 and 1985 about divorcing Antonio but that she changed her mind each time. In July 1985 she again wished to divorce, and a letter was written by his office to Antonio informing him of this. Delia took the letter from Woolsey on August 7, four days before her death.
Woolsey said that Antonio then contacted him, saying he and Delia had reconciled and would soon be moving to near the Mexican border.
Abraham Santamaria told the court that when discussing the possible divorce in early August with his father, Antonio told him he would rather kill her than allow a divorce.
He said that he and Eduardo arrived home between 3:30 and 3:45 a.m. on August 11, both falling asleep downstairs.
One coworker of Delia at Applegate East Nursing Center said she was worried when Delia did not show up for work on the 11th. She called the Santamaria home, with Antonio answering, telling her Delia went to Chicago, and quickly hanging up.
Another coworker, testified that she called the home on the 12th, with Antonio saying Delia was in North Carolina, then Chicago but that he had lost the address and phone number for her location.
Investigator Terry Boynton of Galesburg Police took the missing persons report from the women, and thanks to concern from the sons for their mother, a search warrant was acquired for the Peck Street home.
Police found Delia’s bedroom locked with a bicycle lock. Bloody clothing, blood stained carpeting, and blood splatter were all found.
A Peck Street neighbor told the court he saw Antonio digging in the garden on the afternoon of August 12, when “I never saw him digging in that garden before.”
On April 11, 1986, Antonio Santamaria took the witness stand.
He told his life story and admitted being strict with his children. He admitted he and Delia would fight over this treatment as he felt she was too lenient. He accused his sons of coming home frequently drunk and under the influence of drugs, which he said they did early August 11. He said he blamed Delia for this.
“Santamaria said he went to bed and awoke later to find his wife standing over him with a knife in her right hand. He said he grasped her right wrist with his left hand and said “por que, por que – why, why.”
The Register-Mail continued, as Santamaria described the struggle he claimed ensued. He claimed to have punched her multiple times in an effort to knock her out, and failing.
“As he pushed her into the bathroom, she said “I love you” but continued to struggle with him, Santamaria testified.”
He claimed she hit her head on the bathtub and he noticed she was not holding the knife very tightly. He took the knife and cut her neck.
“I was really, really shocked, I think I lost completely my control. And I just began to make the cuts here and there.”
Earlier that day, a Sears employee testified that Santamaria returned a food processor he had bought on August 10 that was used to destroy the internal organs of Delia, and that Santamaria “said his wife didn’t like it.”
Blood and hair found on the processor matched Delia Santamaria’s type.
A plumber testified to finding a hole dug in the basement when he repaired a pipe at the home on Aug. 1.
A rural resident told the court that Santamaria bought a 10-cubic-foot chest freezer on August 7 from them, and the mover who delivered the freezer the next day placed it in Santamaria’s closet, as requested.
It was also revealed that vases containing turkey bones soaked in lime were found in Santamaria’s bedroom. A sticker with August 7 written on it was placed.
Antonio Santamaria would go on to admit cutting her into 15 pieces, and explained why he cut off her face.
“Her beautiful face – I didn’t want nobody to see the effect of my blows… that was my main purpose of removing the skin.”
In closing arguments one prosecutor called Santamaria “the butcher of Galesburg.”
On April 14, 1986, Antonio Santamaria was found guilty of murdering his wife, Delia, by a jury after only two hours and nine minutes.
On May 22, he was sentenced to life in prison.
During the hearing, one prosecutor asked “what kind of Frankensteinish monster could reach into her chest and pull out her heart?”
Before Judge Evans imposed the sentence, Santamaria was given a chance to make a statement.
“She fought with me defending these boys who are always on drugs… We fought but I did not kill her. The one who says that is lying.”
He now claimed she stabbed herself and had bled to death and shouted much of his words, including “I am not the Butcher of Galesburg.”
Abraham and Eduardo both told the press they were glad their father was convicted and would spend the rest of his life in prison.
“I’m glad he didn’t get away with it,” said Abraham.
“It’s not enough,” said Eduardo, “he should get tortured every day.”
Abraham and Eduardo’s lives continued to see difficulties and they continued to live in the home on Peck Street.
Eduardo told the Des Moines Register in 1986 that people would gawk at the house “like a zoo.”
Abraham moved into his mother’s bedroom.
“This was my mom’s house. She cleaned it, cared for it and planted flowers beside it,” said Abraham.
Eduardo reported he was fired from his fast food job days after his mother’s murder since he could not focus on work.
While Abraham was attending Carl Sandburg College, he noted he suffered headaches since the murder.
“Sometimes I think that for me both mom and dad are gone, and that’s when I suffer the most.”
He also told of drawing a large portrait of his late mother at Christmastime, writing “we all love you very much. Could you whisper in God’s ear for help that I need? Your spirit is very much alive in me.”
Local stigma continued.
In the Summer of 1989, three people from Aledo approached Abraham, assuming because of his last name, he could do something for them. They wanted him to murder a Moline woman.
Early in the morning of August 23, 1991, the Santamaria home at 638 Peck Street was burned in a “very suspicious” fire. The home was vacant and without gas or electric service. Occasionally, it was said, one of the sons would stay there. The home was demolished as a result and the site remains vacant.
At the end of 1994, Antonio Santamaria, then 76, sought a pardon, claiming the murder was an accident and Delia stabbed herself.
Governor Jim Edgar denied the request.
Antonio Santamaria died in prison April 27, 2001 at age 82.
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The Disappearance of Paul Gordon Love
For 74 years and counting, Paul Gordon Love has been missing.
He was last seen in Galesburg on October 7, 1947. Since that time, no sign of him has turned up. His parents and three siblings have died. He has been all but forgotten.
The news of the 22-year-old’s disappearance was first reported in Galesburg in the pages of the Register-Mail ten days after he was last seen, Oct. 17.
“Local reporters knew of the disappearance shortly after it occurred, but the matter was not considered especially serious at that time and they agreed to hold up any immediate publicity at the request of the elder Mr. Love, a regional executive of the National Council of Boy Scouts of America… and local police who thought the youth would eventually return… or show up at his home in Hinsdale.”
The paper continued:
“Apparently the newsmen waited a little too long to break the story, for late Thursday forenoon Paul H. Love, the father, telephoned to Police Chief Paul W. Holmes here with the declaration he feared his son had met with foul play, and asked every possible cooperation in attempting to locate the latter.”
Paul Gordon Love was born to Iowa natives Paul Haney Love and Bessie Little Bleakly Love at Marshalltown, Iowa, September 3, 1925. The elder Love was a Great War veteran and Paul was the couple’s third child, following Barbara Louise in 1922 and John Bleakley in 1923. The family would end up in St. Paul, Minnesota by 1932, where another child, Bessie Leona, was born.
In 1940, the family was found in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania and it was at Philadelphia that 18-year-old Paul enlisted in the US Army during World War II on November 11, 1943, leaving high school to join.
By the time of the disappearance, Love was in Galesburg as a student at the local University of Illinois campus which opened in 1946 on the site of a former military hospital. He came to Galesburg on September 22, 1947 after working from May to August to earn his high school diploma.
On the morning of Oct. 7, Love was last seen wearing a light green shirt and matching trousers with brown shoes. He was described as 5’5” and 140 pounds, with black curly hair that was streaking gray at the temples. He also wore glasses.
He and his roommate, just before noon were at Lindstrom’s in downtown Galesburg, listening to a record Love wanted to buy. Love told the clerk he would be back later that day to buy it. The young men then had lunch at 1 p.m. at the New China Cafe. While the roommate, Jean R. Korn of Chicago, then took a bus back to campus, Love decided to stay downtown and skip class.
Paul Gordon Love was never reported to be seen by anyone he knew again.
According to the Register-Mail, Love told a classmate that “he had suffered battle fatigue while in action with the army in Italy, and that he frequently spoke of “Hill 606” in that country and declared he was going back there to look at it again the first chance he got.”
This classmate also added that Love acted “queerly” when talking about the war.
However, Love’s military record showed that Love had never been in battle, though he did serve overseas during the war.
Love’s family reported that they were on good terms with their son and that he showed no signs of having mental health issues or a desire to leave school or the area.
On the 17th, the Register-Mail reported that Lake Storey was being searched as a woman had told police, who it was hinted were not convinced of her story, that “the morning Love disappeared she saw some men with an automobile strike of youth of his description and place him in the machine, which was later said to have been seen going north on the Henderson Street road over the lake bridge and turning west on the road north of the park.”
Officers then probed with poles the shorelines with poles, with no sign of Love being found.
The story was now being sent out on the wires nationwide, and the F.B.I. became involved.
The next real Register-Mail update occurred on November 4, with the news that plans were coming together for 1,500 Boy Scouts to search for Paul Love.
Further details on the Lake Storey rumor were reported.
Shortly before 11 p.m. on Oct. 7, Lavonne Stotts of Galesburg was taking a taxi home from downtown to her home in the 400 block of Monroe Street. In the area of West and Losey streets she saw five young men in a blue Pontiac, heading north on West Street. A young man then staggered around the corner onto Losey Street, and fell down. The young men in the Pontiac stopped, got out and put him in their car. When asked by the woman and cab driver, the men declared that the new man was drunk. The young men seemed to have been drinking themselves.
The Pontiac then went west on Losey Street to Monroe Street. After turning north onto Monroe the Pontiac stopped. The “drunk” man exited the car, followed by two others. They placed him onto a terrace while one man held him, the other slapped him several times, according to the woman.
According to Stotts, the man was not wearing glasses and had a beige sweater over a green shirt, while otherwise matching the description of Love.
If Love disappeared intentionally, he left behind all his clothes in his room. He was believed to have a few dollars and an uncashed check for $20 in his pocket. He also had $1,400 in his bank account, which remained untouched following his disappearance.
On Nov. 8, the Register-Mail announced that the Santa Fe Railroad was going to lower Lake Storey by up to five feet in order to aid in the search for Love.
The same day the Register-Mail published the final letter written by Love on October 6. Written to his family and especially his 15-year-old sister Bessie, known as “Lee.” Lee, a Brooklyn Dodger fan and sophomore in high school, was described as Paul’s “pal.” He wrote the letter during game 7 of the World Series between the Dodgers and Yankees.
“Dear Folks:
Just another hurried note between classes. Who do you think will win the World Series, Lee? Frankly, I don’t think the Bums have a fighting chance. Just not good enough, I guess. The radio says there are three out in the Dodgers’ half of the ninth with the Yanks leading 5-2. I think the odds favor the Yanks. Wanna bet?
I’m glad you remembered to send hangers, because they seem to be fairly hard to get your paws on around here. And Dad, with his usual good taste in neckties, sent me all my favorites. Just one thing I lack: handkerchiefs.
I imagine you’re getting the same kind of weather that we are. It’s in the middle eighties today, without a cloud in the sky.
Well, I rush off again.
See you soon – Thanksgiving, I hope.
Love, Paul”
At this point, an absolutely massive search involving thousands of people was being planned for Saturday, November 8. Due to Paul Love’s father’s position as a high up executive in the Boy Scouts organization, over a thousand Scouts were going to assist in sweeping the countryside of Knox and Warren counties.
In addition, seemingly every farmer in the counties was being recruited to assist in the search.
“If he is dead his body is probably to be found in Knox County or a nearby portion of Warren County,” read the letter sent to 5,000 area farmers.
“Paul Love’s father is a National executive of the Boy Scouts of America, and this group will organize a searching party that will adequately cover the area, under the direction of trained persons who have successfully organized and directed Scout searching parties over state wide areas.”
“We also ask each farmer to search his own farm premises independently of the searching party, to his boundaries. Look under boards, wood, and brush piles, scrap heaps, in sheds and buildings, in ditches, in fields and timber tracts, in streams, wells and ponds, straw and hay stacks and in any place where a body might conceivably have been placed. Any sign of recently turned earth which could indicate a burial should be thoroughly investigated. Fallen leaves should be kicked aside or scraped through. If the body is not buried or submerged in water, a considerable odor of decaying flesh should be noticeable.”
The sky was gray and it was just below freezing, the first day of the season to fall to freezing, on the day of the search and 2,500 Boy Scouts from throughout Illinois came to search.
The Illinois State Police assisted in dragging Lake Storey, but the 24-inch drainage valve was corroded and clogged, preventing a lowering of the lake water.
But, despite all this manpower, zero sign of Paul Gordon Love was found.
His father spoke to the press at the Galesburg police station on the evening of Nov. 9.
“So thorough and efficient was the search that we may now believe and hope that Paul is alive and well somewhere, and that for some unexplainable reason he simply left the university. It is also possible that he was a victim of amnesia, and we will continue to search nationally and internationally through all agencies available in the hope of finding our boy.”
On September 13, 1952, bones were found on a farm near Wataga along with a rusted .22 rifle. The skull had a single bullet hole. The first thought of authorities was that these were the bones of Love. But dental and x-ray records proved conclusively that they were not. In addition, the gun was manufactured after Love’s disappearance.
On September 17, 1955, Paul Haney Love announced that the search was ended and his son was presumed to be dead.
Since then, Love’s parents and siblings have all died. His younger sister, the Brooklyn Dodger fan, was the final survivor in 2007.
If still alive, Paul Gordon Love would be 96 years old.
Where did he go? Why? Was he murdered? Will any of this ever be answered?
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Galesburg's Darkness 