Messages Before Beheading of Young Woman Reveal New Details
Messages Show What Came Before Beheading of Young Mother as New Details Unfold
A young mother who was brutally beheaded in broad daylight last week in the San Francisco Bay Area threatened to expose the primary suspect’s secrets the day before she was murdered.
Last Thursday, a man beheaded Karina Castro, 25, in the middle of the street in broad daylight and in full view of multiple witnesses in the city of San Carlos, California. Jose Raphael Solano Landaeta who goes by Raphael Solano, 33, has been arrested and booked into jail as the prime suspect in the grisly murder.
The victim and suspect are parents of a one-year-old daughter. Local outlet KGO-TV reported that over a dozen messages on Snapchat were exchanged between the two the day before Castro was murdered.
In them, Castro threatens to tell the world about Solano’s criminal record, which includes a rape conviction involving a minor. He calls her “snitch lip” and warns her “F*** around and find out.”
Castro responds, “U wanna put a target on my back, ur homies gunna kno the real u” and threatens to expose his sexual relationship with another man.
She adds, “Dude, go head try and take my a** out.”
Not long before noon on Thursday, Local outlet KRON-4 reported that the two had a confrontation in the street outside her apartment while the pair’s one-year-old, and Castro’s seven-year-old, were inside.
Castro’s father, Marty Castro, said that “He got really mad, went to the trunk of his car, pulled out whatever it was and killed her right there behind her car.”
Moments after the attack, Solano fled on foot before deputies arrived on scene and later returned to the crime scene unarmed, when he was taken into custody.
Castro’s family said they learned about the killing Thursday evening through media reports. Her father rushed to the scene and saw the fire department spraying down the blood on the street.
“When the deputy walked up, he would not confirm who it was,” Castro said. “But I said that she owned that black Volkswagen. He said yeah, that’s required. That’s my daughter.”
Social workers had already taken the girls, and both Marty Castro and his mother, Danielle Gannon, are currently pushing to have them returned to their custody.
“I want those girls,” said Gannon, “That’s what I want first, then I want [Solano] to fry in jail. I don’t care what happens to him.”
Gannon also said that Solano was “a diagnosed schizophrenic on meds. And he would use that as an excuse for his behavior. He drank excessively and you’re not supposed to do that on those kind of medications.”
