Posted on April 1, 2021

Miami Man Arrested After 12-Year-Old Boy Was Raped and Shot in the Face

Charles Rabin et al., Miami Herald, March 30, 2021

A child who placed pillows on his bed to make it appear he was asleep, then sneaked out of his home well past his bedtime, was abducted, raped, shot in the head and left for dead on a Brownsville street, police said.

The child remained hospitalized Tuesday after Saturday’s attack. Police, using DNA evidence and going door-to-door in the Central Miami-Dade neighborhood, identified 43-year-old Aliex Santiesteban as the man who sexually assaulted the child.

Aliex Santiesteban

Aliex Santiesteban

They took him into custody Monday as he was leaving an Overtown apartment. Santiesteban has been charged with attempted murder, kidnapping and sexual battery with a deadly weapon. He was booked into the Turner Guilford Knight correctional center, without bond. Santiesteban denies the allegations, according to his arrest affidavit.

“As the father of a 12-year-old, this is extremely disturbing. It will take him years to overcome the trauma,” said Miami-Dade Police Director Alfredo “Freddy” Ramirez.

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Pointing at a picture of Santiesteban, Ramirez called him “the face of evil, ladies and gentleman.”

Police said the boy left his Brownsville home to visit a friend who lives about 2 1/2 miles away and left pillows on his bed in case his parents checked up on him. Police said as the child was walking home, Santiesteban drove up to him at the corner of Northwest 43rd Terrace and 30th Avenue. It was about 3 a.m. Saturday.

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“This isn’t really someone who is connected to him,” said Maj. Brian Rafky, who heads up the Special Victims Unit. “He was out walking and he was preyed upon.”

At some point, police said Santiesteban forced the boy into his car. The boy told police he couldn’t escape because the child locks were on.

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“He sexually assaulted and shot him in the face. Then he dumped him out of the vehicle, leaving him for dead,” Rafky said.

Police said the boy couldn’t see at the time and was using his touch to try and find his way around, Local 10 reported. Then a good Samaritan found him screaming for help and escorted him to a nearby convenience store.

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Surveillance cameras recorded the bloodied boy shortly after the attack as he walked to the market to call 911. He then collapsed. Miami-Dade Fire Rescue took him to Jackson Memorial Hospital’s Ryder Trauma Center in critical condition.

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When confronted by detectives, Santiesteban eventually admitted the boy had been in his car — but claimed that the child had tried to carjack him, the source said. {snip}

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