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Office of the District Attorney News Release • April 11, 2023 • Jason Ramey D.A.
(Wentworth, NC) – On April 6, 2023, Santos Cruz-Salmeron, 37, pled guilty in Rockingham County Superior Court to one count of Second-Degree Murder and one count of Driving While Impaired. Rockingham County Superior Court Judge John Morris sentenced Cruz-Salmeron to a minimum of 108 months (9 years) to a maximum of 142 (11 years and 10 months) in the North Carolina Department of Adult Corrections.
On April 19, 2021, around 3 a.m., Santos Cruz-Salmeron was driving north on US 220 when he entered the turning lane and attempted to turn left onto Price Farm Road in Stokesdale. Cruz-Salmeron pulled out in front of a tractor-trailer traveling southbound on US 220, causing the tractor-trailer to collide with the passenger area of Cruz-Salmeron’s vehicle and killing Nelson Bonilla, the front-seat passenger in Cruz-Salmeron’s vehicle. The driver of the tractor-trailer was not injured. When Trooper Alex Stanly of the North Carolina State Highway patrol arrived on the scene, he found Cruz-Salmeron speaking with EMS personnel. Trooper Stanley smelled an odor of alcohol when speaking to Cruz-Salmeron. Cruz-Salmeron initially claimed that the driver of the vehicle ran into the woods; however, through a professional and thorough investigation, Trooper Stanley was able to determine that Cruz-Salmeron was the actual driver of the vehicle. Trooper Stanley charged Cruz-Salmeron with Felony Death by a Motor Vehicle, Driving While Impaired, No Operator’s License, Reckless Driving, and Failure to Yield. A few days later, after meeting with the District Attorney’s Office, Trooper Stanley also charged Cruz-Salmeron with Second-Degree Murder. Lab Results showed that Cruz-Salmeron had .11 Blood Alcohol Content and that he also had methamphetamine and benzoylecgonine (a metabolite of cocaine) in his system.
Cruz-Salmeron had already been convicted of three prior DWIs in 2004, 2008, and 2011 and had failed to appear on two other DWIs that he received in 2015 in Guilford County. Therefore, those charges from 2015 had not been resolved when Cruz-Salmeron chose to drive while impaired on April 19, 2021. Under North Carolina Law, Second-Degree Murder is the unlawful killing of another with malice and is punishable as a Class B2 Felony when: “[t]he malice necessary to prove second degree murder is based on an inherently dangerous act or omission, done in such a reckless and wanton manner as to manifest a mind utterly without regard for human life and social duty and deliberately bent on mischief.” N.C.G.S. § 14-17(b)(1). Prior convictions for Driving While Impaired are routinely used in North Carolina to prove malice in Second-Degree Murder Cases arising out of impaired driving.
After his arrest, Cruz-Salmeron posted a $500,000 bond. He was then picked up by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (I.C.E) and ordered to be deported to El Salvador. One day before Cruz-Salmeron was scheduled to be deported, Chief Assistant District Attorney Veronica Edmisten was able to determine where Cruz-Salmeron was being detained in an I.C.E. facility in Louisiana. Judge Stanley L. Allen then issued a writ of habeas corpus to bring back Cruz-Salmeron to face trial for his crimes. I.C.E. then transported Cruz-Salmeron to Georgia and required the District Attorney’s Office to arrange for Cruz-Salmeron to be transported to Rockingham County. Although this case was not charged by the Sheriff’s Office, Sheriff Sam Page agreed to send officers to Lumpkin, Georgia to pick up Cruz-Salmeron and transport him to the Rockingham County Jail. Captain Shane Bullins and Captain Grey Smith retrieved Cruz-Salmeron and brought him back to the Rockingham County Jail.
District Attorney Jason Ramey said: “Cruz-Salmeron manifested his utter disregard for human life by choosing to continually drive while impaired. He has no respect for the laws of this State or concern for the safety of people with whom he shared the roadways. Because of his unconscionable decision to once again drive while impaired, Nelson Bonilla lost his life. I want to express my utmost gratitude for Trooper Alex Stanley, Trooper Brian Martin, and Chief Assistant District Attorney Veronica Edmisten for getting justice for Nelson Bonilla and for making sure that Cruz-Salmeron will spend at least nine years in prison. I also want to thank Sheriff Sam Page, Captain Shane Bullins, and Captain Grey Smith for making sure that Cruz-Salmeron faced justice for his crime in the United States of America. After he has paid his debt to society in the North Carolina Department of Adult Corrections, Cruz-Salmeron will be deported to El Salvador. I hope this case sends a message to the community that we will aggressively prosecute Impaired Driving cases in Rockingham and Caswell Counties. If a person has previously been convicted of a DWI and subsequently kills someone while driving while impaired, my office will prosecute that individual for Second-Degree Murder. Sadly, this is the 5th Second-Degree Murder based on impaired driving that my office has successfully prosecuted.”
Santos Cruz-Salmeron
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