SAN FRANCISCO, CA – A 27 year-old mother of two who was horrifically beheaded with a sword on a Northern California street last week was the alleged victim of an illegal immigrant with an expired visa who suffered from schizophrenia, according to police.
Door Dash driver and Bay Area resident Karina Castro had been in a relationship with the alleged murderer – Jose Raphael Solano Landaeta, 33, who goes by the name Rafa Solano – officials say had fathered the youngest of Castro’s daughters, aged 7 and 1.
Solano – who had reportedly assaulted Castro in the past – had attacked Castro with a sword in front of her apartment building last Thursday in broad daylight, decapitating her; police say that passing officers on patrol where flagged down by witnesses to the attack, and discovered Castro’s headless body lying in the middle of the street.
Castro’s father, Marty Castro, told local news that he had repeatedly begged her to stop seeing Solano, confirming that his daughter had gotten a restraining order against the man in April, but nonetheless continued to see him.
“Every time I saw her, I would beg her,” he said. “Don’t talk to him. Leave him and it seemed like the more I did that, the more she would see him.”
According to reports, Solano was in the United States illegally, claiming to have come from Venezuela ten years ago on a tourist visa but remaining indefinitely after it had expired.
According to a Witness report by KPIX CBS SF Bay Area News, the children were witnesses to the ordeal.
She was putting them in the car and she raised her head and he cut her head off. And the children saw everything. Everything.
Danielle Gannon, Castro’s grandmother, stated that Solano was a “diagnosed schizophrenic” that was on medication to treat the condition, but that heavy alcohol use would make him uncontrollable and violent at times.
“He would use that as an excuse for his behavior,” she said. “He drank excessively and you’re not supposed to do that on those kind of medications.”
A GoFundMe fundraiser has been created to assist the family.
“Thank you all, this money will help them and help us give my daughter a funeral to remember I’m devastated broken empty and more hurt than I ever thought I could be by the situation but thank you all for helping us and the worst time of our lives.”
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