The father and son died together in a bathtub, each from a single gunshot wound to the head.
Five-year-old Deion Santistevan was shot in the tub while laying on his father’s stomach in a southeast Denver condominium on Aug. 7, according to autopsies released Monday.
His father, 22-year-old Elias Santistevan, had a 0.124 percent blood-alcohol level, an amount above Colorado’s legal driving limit of 0.08 percent, the Denver Coroner’s report says. No other drugs were in his system.
What the autopsy does not answer is why Santistevan decided to pull the trigger and at what point he made the decision to kill his little boy and himself.
On Aug. 6, Santistevan got into a fight with his wife, Chanell Trujillo. He took Deion and their 2-year-old daughter, Yariah.
At one point overnight, Santistevan decided to drop the little girl with a friend.
Santistevan kept Deion and took him to a friend’s condominium at 9725 East Harvard Ave. While there, he called friends to say goodbye and took three people hostage, firing shots at police and refusing to surrender.
He told police that he wanted to talk to his wife in person, but they wouldn’t to let her go into the condo.
During the exchange, Santistevan told Trujillo he was going to kill their son for revenge and he accused her of cheating on him.
Denver police say that as SWAT officers stood on the outside of condo, they heard Santistevan fire a shot. The police went in and found Santistevan and his son dead in the bathroom.
Contrary to police reports, a hostage told Deion’s mother and family members that Santistevan only fired the shots after SWAT officers stormed the condominium.
The autopsy shows that despite the obvious fatal wound, paramedics tried to resuscitate Santistevan after the shooting. No resuscitation efforts were apparent on Deion’s body, the report said.
Deion’s gunshot wound was on the right side of his head at the temple. The bullet went out the left side, the report says.
Santistevan’s wound was in the same spot as his son’s bullet wound, according to his autopsy report.
Staff writer Felisa Cardona can be reached at 303-954-1219 or at fcardona@denverpost.com.
