Karina Castro a mother of two was beheaded in broad daylight; her ex-boyfriend has been detained in connection with her death.
In front of horrified neighbours in the Bay Area, Karina Castro, a 27-year-old mother of a 1-year-old and a 7-year-old daughter, was beheaded with a sword on Thursday.
Thankfully, her two daughters were inside the house and were not present when their mother was brutally murdered that morning.
Castro’s ex-boyfriend Jose Raphael Solano Landaeta, also known as Rafa Solano, a 33-year-old aspiring rapper, was instantly detained by the San Mateo County Sheriff’s Office in connection with her passing.
Authorities claim that Landaeta is the father of Castro’s 1-year-old daughter, but in April, a restraining order was issued against him.
Landaeta has a history of drinking while taking his medication, according to Castro’s family, who advised Castro to avoid him. Landaeta has been diagnosed with schizophrenia.
He is accused of fleeing the crime scene on Thursday only to return when police arrived at Castro’s San Carlos house a short time later.
In San Mateo Court, Landaeta will now be arraigned on Monday.
Speaking forward about their allegedly abusive relationship, Castro’s family claims they had been concerned about it for years prior to her passing on Thursday morning.
Her father, Marty Castro, told ABC7 how he took every chance to try to stop her from seeing him, saying: ‘Every time I saw her, I would beg her, “Don’t talk to him, leave him.”
‘And it seemed like the more I did that, the more she would see him.’
He and the victim’s grandmother, Danielle Gannon, described Castro as an independent woman.
She had attended Menlo-Atherton High School, from where she earned her GED, and was working as a Door Dash driver at the time of her death.
Castro was ‘determined to raise her daughters on her own,’ Gannon said.
She reportedly had issues with Landaeta, who Gannon claimed “is a diagnosed schizophrenic on medications,” and who she claimed “would use that as an excuse for his actions.”
He drank excessively, which is against the rules while taking those kinds of drugs, Gannon said.
Marty is now warning parents: ‘If there’s somebody out there abusing your daughter, don’t take off. Don’t let it go. Don’t take “no” for an answer.
‘You will feel responsible no matter what anyone says.’
In the meantime, recently found Snapchat communications between Castro and Landaeta show that, just before she passed away, she had threatened to publicise his supposed relationship with another man.
Landaeta responded by sending her ominous texts, which eventually sparked the altercation outside Castro’s house on Thursday morning. According to her father, Landaeta “became really upset, went to the trunk of his car, brought out whatever it was and killed her right there behind her car.”
Chapel Thorborne, a neighbour, claimed to have seen the horrifying image from the steps of his house near the San Carlos intersection of Laurel Street and Magnolia Avenue.
