CARMEL – A Pawling man who admitted to killing a Brewster taxicab driver last December is set to be sentenced next month to 21 years to life in prison.

Twenty-eight-year-old Santos Ramirez-Vasquez copped the guilty plea in Putnam County Court Thursday before Judge Anthony Mole.

The victim, Aurelio Orbez, 66, of Danbury, was reported missing by his family to Connecticut authorities.

Putnam County Sheriff’s Office investigators, working with other law enforcement agencies, determined that Orbez had picked up Vasquez-Ramirez near the Brewster Metro-North Railroad Station and four days later, the taxicab was found abandoned at the Purdys Metro North station and his body recovered the following day from the Croton Falls Reservoir.

Vasquez-Ramirez was identified as a suspect and arrested on December 12. During processing, he admitted to fighting with Orbez inside the cab over an unpaid fare, an altercation that led to Orbez’s death.

District Attorney Robert Tendy described the collaboration among agencies in the investigation in tracking down video surveillance, license plate reader footage, witness accounts and other information as being “phenomenal. It was around-the-clock effort on behalf of the entire Sheriff’s Office to put together hundreds of puzzle pieces that led to Vasquez-Ramirez’s arrest and plea of guilt. We hope that the demanding work of all involved, and hearing Vasquez-Ramirez admission in open Court, to the murder of Aurelio Orbez provides some comfort to the family and friends of Mr. Orbez,” he said.

Tendy added that Vasquez-Ramirez is in the US illegally. He has a prior arrest from August 2025 for DWI but did not appear in court and a warrant was ordered.