A man who killed a Danbury cab driver in Brewster after an argument over an unpaid fare and dumped his body in the Croton Falls Reservoir has pleaded guilty, the Putnam District Attorney’s Office announced.
Aurelio Zhunio-Orbez’ body was discovered in the Croton Falls Reservoir on Dec. 7, 2025, six days after the 66-year-old Danbury cabdriver and church leader went missing at the Brewster train station. On Dec. 12, 2025, Santos Vasquez Ramirez of Pawling was arrested and charged with second-degree murder in the killing.
Santos Vasquez-Ramirez, 28, of Pawling, pleaded guilty Wednesday, June 17, to second-degree murder in the December 2025 killing of 66-year-old Aurelio Orbez after he was promised a prison term of 21 years to life.
Orbez’ body was discovered in the reservoir by a fisherman on Dec. 7, six days after he had been reported missing to Danbury police.
It was determined that Orbez was last seen December 1 picking up a fare at the Metro-North train station in Brewster and his cab was found at the Purdy’s train station in the days before the body was discovered.
Sheriff’s investigators used license plate readers and video surveillance to track Vasquez-Ramirez and arrested him at his home on Dec. 12.
Putnam County sheriff’s investigators escort Santos Vasquez Ramirez Dec. 13, 2025, following the Pawling man’s arrest on murder and robbery charges in the death of Danbury cabdriver and church leader Aurelio Zhunio Orbez, whose body was discovered Dec. 7, 2025, in the Croton Falls Reservoir.
According to the DA’s news release, Vasquez-Ramirez admitted to investigators that he killed Orbez after a physical confrontation in the cab over a previous unpaid fare.
Orbez was a married father of four adult children, a native of Ecuador and a pillar of his Mormon church in Danbury.
District Attorney Robert Tendy called the collaboration among law enforcement agencies in the case “phenomenal.”
“It was an around-the-clock effort on behalf of the entire Sheriff’s Office to put together hundreds of puzzle pieces that ultimately led to Vasquez-Ramirez’s arrest and plea of guilty,” Tendy said in a statement. “We hope that the hard work of all involved, and hearing Vasquez-Ramirez admit today, in open Court, to the murder of Aurelio Orbez provides some comfort to the family and friends of Mr. Orbez.”
According to the news release, at the time of the killing there was a warrant for Vasquez-Ramirez’s arrest after he failed to appear in court following an August 2025 DWI arrest.
Vasquez-Ramirez was returned to the Putnam County Jail Wednesday to await sentencing, which Putnam Judge Anthony Mole scheduled for Aug. 26.
This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: Man pleads guilty to murder in killing of Danbury cabdriver Aurelio Orbez