Mysterious Disappearances: What Happened to Felipe Santos?

In 2003, Felipe Santos went missing in Florida, United States. He was 24 years old at the time of his disappearance.

The disappearance caused significant suspicion when a year later, another man (Terrance Williams) went missing. The duo were linked as they had been arrested by the same Police officer before going missing.

This article reviews this case. There is a reader’s poll at the end of the article, which you are welcome to vote on – it will then show how the rest of our readers voted too.

Background

Felipe Santos was originally from Mexico. At the time of his disappearance he was an illegal immigrant. He was living in the Immokalee area in Florida.

Santos was employed at the time of his disappearance, and was sending money back to his family in Mexico.

The Disappearance

On 14th October 2003, Santos was driving to work alongside his two brothers at around 6.30am. During the journey, Santos was involved in a small car accident.

Deputy Steve Calkins of the Collier County Sheriff’s Department arrived on the scene and cited Santos for careless driving and for driving without a license or insurance.

Santos was placed in the car of Calkins, who was on his own at the time. Santos was last seen driving away with Calkins.

Later in the day, Santos’s manager contacted the county jail in order to post bail. However, it turned out that Santos had never been brought to jail.

Amidst confusion on Calkins’ role, it took until 29th October for Calkins to submit an incident report. Upon this being completed, the Santos family reported him as missing.

The Investigation

An investigation into what had exactly happened on the 14th October ensued. Calkins was asked if he knew anything about Santos’s whereabouts.

Calkins said that while he was due to drop Santos off at jail. he changed his mind due to Santos being “polite and cooperative”. Therefore, Calkins claimed that he had left Santos at a Circle K convenience store and driven off.

It took until 29th October for Calkins to finally submit his incident report, which outlined the above. By this point, Santos had not been seen for over two weeks.

While an investigation into Santos’ disappearance took place, very little progress was made. Moreover, the fact he was an illegal immigrant led to less resources being put into the case.

The Santos family filed a complaint against Calkins. An internal investigation found Calkins had done nothing wrong. Due to the internal nature of the investigation, more details aren’t known.

Calkins’ whereabouts in the two hours after the car accident are unaccounted for. There is no evidence of Calkins, nor Santos, ever making it to the convenience store.

Unfortunately, there seemed to be very little attention given to the case initially. There were no further leads that arose.

Later Developments

Three months later, another disappearance took place with strangely similar circumstances to those seen in the Santos case.

A man named Terrance Williams had vanished after being placed in the patrol car of Steven Calkins. This was the same police officer that had arrested Santos.

The Mexican Consulate made the Williams family aware of the similarities in the cases. This led to an investigation taking place.

Williams was arrested following “erratic” driving, which led to Calkins placing him under arrest. He was last seen being taken away in Calkins’ car.

Calkins was also late in submitting an incident report for the Williams case too. His report was full of contradictions. In his report, Calkins said that he had dropped Williams off at a Circle K convenience store – the same chain that he had allegedly dropped Santos off at.

Calkins later mentioned he had called the store, but was told that Williams didn’t work there. However, phone records showed no such call took place. Store employees were interviewed and confirmed that no one could recall seeing either Calkins or Williams.

There were other problems with Calkins’ report – including his involvement with the vehicle that Williams had been driving, and him apparently not knowing the full name of Williams, despite Calkins asking a fellow employee for a background check on Williams – in which Calkins said his full name.

Crucially, Calkins’ whereabouts in the aftermath of Williams’ arrest could not be accounted for – as was the case with Santos.

Calkins was subsequently placed under investigation. A GPS device was placed on his vehicle, while a forensic analysis on his car took place. Neither of these attempts led to anything being discovered though.

Shortly after, Calkins was fired from the sheriff’s department following the contradictory statements provided on both disappearances, and for refusing to cooperate with the department’s investigation.

The investigation of Santos’ disappearance was unable to produce any other person of interest. Unfortunately, no subsequent lines of enquiry have ever materialised.

The case went very quiet for several years. However, in 2012, interest in the case was reignited due to attention from the media. TV shows, news broadcasts and podcasts all mentioned the case.

Moreover, American actor Tyler Perry brought further interest in the case in 2018, when he offered a $200,000 reward for any information leading to the location of Williams and Santos.

Due to the similarities in the Williams and Santos disappearances, it led to significant confusion and intrigue. It continues to be a hotly-debated topic on the internet.

Steven Calkins remains alive. He has kept a very low profile in recent years, and has declined opportunities to partake in TV shows and other media about the case.

After he moved out of his home, investigators searched the house and dug up surrounding land. However, no human remains were found.

Also in 2018, the Santos and Williams families filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Calkins. However, the arbitrator in the case said that while Calkins was uncooperative, that there was no evidence that incriminated him in either disappearance. Therefore, the case wasn’t ruled in their favour.

Santos’ wife Apolonia Cruz-Cortez criticised the investigation into his disappearance. She noted that she hadn’t been interviewed by the Police.

At the time of writing, Santos has not been declared legally dead, although he is presumed to have passed away. His whereabouts remain unknown.

Theories

Most of the circumstances outlined above point towards foul play. But other theories exist too – meaning that it might not be entirely clear.

We take a look at the evidence for each theory:

Theory One: Felipe Santos was murdered by Steven Calkins

Most of the evidence points towards Santos being murdered by Calkins. The fact that Calkins was the last person to be seen with Santos is a key part of this theory.

Perhaps more concerningly, Calkins’ whereabouts remain unknown in the time following the arrest. This would give him enough time to murder Santos and dispose of his body.

Then there is the case of Terrance Williams a few months later. The circumstances are almost identical. Due to the lack of interest in the Santos case, Calkins may have felt he could get away with another murder.

All of the contradictions in the incident reports also further arouses suspicions. Nothing that Calkins put forward makes sense, his guilt almost looks certain. Moreover, he has refused to cooperate in subsequent investigations.

Both are persons of colour, perhaps the decision to target the duo had racial motivations. In any case, Calkins is the common denominator in both cases.

There isn’t really any evidence that disproves this theory. From the information known, this theory looks very strong.

Theory Two: Felipe Santos was abandoned and froze to death

An alternative theory involves the possibility of Santos being abandoned by Calkins and subsequently freezing to death.

This is linked to several deaths in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan in the early 2000s. These deaths involved people being abandoned by the Police after being driven to the city limits, or outskirts of the town.

Due to the freezing temperatures in the area, they often died from hypothermia or exposure. It has therefore been proposed that Calkins drove Santos out to the city limits and abandoned him. This could explain the time that Calkins was not accounted for.

But while this theory is possible, it has been countered that Florida is a warmer state, and in the winter months it rarely drops to a point where someone could be beset with hypothermia and eventual death.

Theory Three: Felipe Santos was dropped off at Circle K and was the victim of foul play

Another theory is that what Calkins said was accurate, and that Santos really was dropped off at the Circle K convenience store.

This theory proposes that Santos was then the victim of foul play. For example, he may have been hit by a car, been attacked randomly, or was the victim of a mugging that turned fatal. His body may have been concealed by whomever killed him.

But given the similarities between the Santos and Williams disappearances, it seems unfathomable that the same thing would happen twice. Additionally, there is no evidence to suggest that Calkins and Santos ever made it to Circle K.

Reader Vote

We now invite you to vote on the poll below in terms of which of the above theories you believe is most likely:

Summary

The case of Felipe Santos is incredibly sad. It seemed that barely any effort was put into finding him. Had it not been for the connection to the Williams case, it would have probably never made mainstream headlines.

You can read our full article and analysis of the Terrance Williams case here.

Unfortunately, it looks as if the truth in this case will never be known. Perhaps one day there will be an advancement in the case.