Mother had warned her husband that he could flee to Brazil

A redacted police report submitted to the court states that the girl and her mother reported the sexual assaults to the Malden Police Station on September 7, 2021. The girl, then 13, alleged that from October 2019 to August 15, 2021, Santana sneaked into her room at night and sexually assaulted her, records show.

The girl’s mother told police that day she was “concerned that Juliano might find out that the police are now involved in this case and that he might try to flee the area and possibly return to Brazil, where he is from,” the report said.

Santana was arrested the same day, the file states. During the pretrial detention, he told police that he “needed to speak to a lawyer because he believed he was suffering from an illness related to the crime he was accused of. … On the way back to his cell, Juliano mentioned without prompting that he was being examined by a doctor ‘for this matter’ and that he might need to speak to a lawyer about his problem.”

He pleaded not guilty at arraignment and was released on $30,000 bail, despite prosecutors requesting $100,000 bail, officials said.

Santana’s attorney did not immediately respond to a call seeking comment on Friday.

The girl was a student at Acton-Boxborough Regional High School, said Peter Light, superintendent of the Acton-Boxborough Regional School District.

“We are deeply saddened to learn that one of our high school students died last night,” Light said in a statement Friday. “Our thoughts are with the student, his family, friends and our staff. We have no further information about the incident or the investigation. We have a plan in place, including counselors at schools, to support students and staff. We understand that children and teens may need additional support to cope with difficult news or events. Our school mental health staff will provide ongoing support to anyone who needs it. Again, our condolences go out to everyone dealing with this tragic death.”

At around 4 p.m. Thursday, Acton police officers responded to a call that the girl had apparently been kidnapped by her stepfather, authorities said.

Santana’s probation officer used data from his GPS monitoring device to help police track down his location. Officers went to a parking lot on Great Road in front of the girl’s home.

There they found Santana and the girl in his vehicle, apparently dead from gunshot wounds, according to the office of Middlesex District Attorney Marian T. Ryan.

Santana allegedly kidnapped the girl after school while she was walking on Great Road in Acton, authorities said.

Authorities said no Amber Alert was issued Thursday because the abduction site was “very close” to where Santana and his stepdaughter were found.

On Friday, Victoria Marchenko, 38, stood sad and lost in thought in the parking lot of Gould’s Plaza near the abduction site, where she works as a cashier at a supermarket. She said police circled the area Thursday and came into the supermarket several times, believing the girl had been there.

“It’s terrible,” she said.

She said she knew the girl, the daughter of a friend of hers – and her neighbor in the same apartment complex.

“She was a very, very nice girl,” Marchenko said calmly.

She said she had just started her shift on Thursday around 4 p.m. and that was why she had not met her.

“I deeply regret not meeting her before I started my shift,” she said. “I would have helped. I would have done something.”

Meanwhile, in Malden on Friday morning, a neighbor of the Eastern Avenue apartment complex where the girl lived with her family said she was stunned to learn that the teenager had allegedly been killed by her stepfather.

“Wow, I can’t believe it,” said the woman, who did not want to give her name. “I didn’t even know he was in contact with her. How did he even get in contact with her?”

The woman said the girl’s family had been checking on her after a medical procedure a few years ago.

“They were nice and quiet, and they knocked on my door and gave us something to eat, me and my children,” she said.

The neighbor said the family moved out in 2022.

When she first heard about the allegations against Santana, she said, she “couldn’t believe it.”

“He was a nice guy,” said the neighbor. “You never know these days.”

The neighbor remembered that after the family moved out, Santana came by and asked her to bring presents for the children and their mother for Christmas.

“I told him I didn’t want to get involved,” she said. “I wish things hadn’t turned out the way they did.”

Material from previous Globe articles was used. This breaking news story will be updated.

You can reach Travis Andersen at [email protected]. You can reach Ava Berger at [email protected]. Follow her @Ava_Berger_. Sean Cotter can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him @cotterreporterEmily Sweeney can be reached at [email protected]. Follow her @emilysweeney and on Instagram @emilysweeney22.