Man Indicted for 2016 Murder was Arrested for Sexual Assault of a Child

 

Copperas Cove, TX – Matthew Stoddard, the Copperas Cove man indicted on a murder charge in Nov. 2017 for the April 2016 killing of his then-girlfriend Angelica Santiago, was arrested again on Jan. 9. This time Stoddard was arrested for sexual assault of a child, according to kcentv.com.

Stoddard, 23, was booked into the Coryell County Jail late Tuesday night.

No specific details about the sexual assault charge he faces were available at this time.

The prior murder charge, for which Stoddard was already out on bond, stemmed from the shooting death of Santiago in the bathroom of their Harker Heights apartment in 2016. According to authorities, Stoddard allegedly told officers he was in the bathroom with Santiago when she grabbed a gun and shot herself. Investigators initially believed Santiago's death was a suicide -- but later ruled it a homicide after finding two gunshot wounds. 

In 2016, Stoddard turned himself in after first learning he was wanted in connection with the crime. Initially, he faced a $1 million bond which was later lowered to $150,000 – allowing him to bond out in April 2016. Because of that bond situation in 2016, he was not taken back into custody after his 2017 indictment for the same case.

In an October interview, Santiago’s best friend Britnee Strickland told Channel 6 that Stoddard and Santiago had a troubled relationship for years and said there was no doubt in her mind that he was behind her friend’s death.

Stoddard's trial date in the murder case was recently scheduled for May 14, 2018.

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