The most callous crime was committed on Karina Castro’s doorstep, leaving the community on a knife’s edge…
A loving mum of two, Karina Castro, 27, was on a mission to get her life back on track.
For the past few years, things hadn’t exactly been easy for her and her beloved young children.
Even though she ‘loved her kids more than anything’, her parents Laura and Martin were deeply concerned about their daughter’s behaviour.
They were concerned about her partner
In a relationship with aspiring rapper Jose Raphael Solano Landaeta, 33, it was rocky and often turbulent at times.
And he suffered with schizophrenia, too –something he’d been medicated for.
However, as a protective father, Martin was not happy about Jose’s actions.
‘Don’t talk to him – leave him,’ he would advise every time that he saw Karina.
Only, Karina refused to listen.
That was until April 2022, when something appeared to change.
Getting a restraining order against Jose, Karina packed up and moved her and the kids to San Carlos in a bid to start afresh. While it’s unclear exactly what went down between the pair, it was evident Karina had had enough.
And she made the push to try and get him out of her life for good.
Supportive and willing to help, Karina’s mum, Laura, dropped off groceries on 8September 2022, leaving the apartment at roughly 10.50am.
Only, it was in those next five minutes that all hell broke lose.
Leaving her children inside the property, Karina walked outside to her black Volkswagen that was sitting on the drive.
And locals who were walking past at the same time had noticed a disturbance, crossing to the other side of the road to avoid it.
‘Are you going to hit me?’ Karina was heard screaming, before quickly shoving a male individual away from her.
It was her ex-boyfriend, Jose. Seen to turn away, Jose then grabbed an item from a nearby car, running up to Karina in a rage.
Striking her in the arm, Karina left a trail of blood along the pavement as she dashed to safety, desperately hiding behind a neighbour’s car.
And on the pathway, strands of blonde hair were left, too.
As the weapon of choice that Jose had retrieved from his car boot was a samurai sword.
With passers-by witnessing the attack, Jose swung the sword around in the air, frantically chopping at Karina’s head as she lay defenseless on the ground.
Striking her multiple times around the neck and head, Jose then threw the bloody sword in his boot before fleeing the scene. With one witness running to
Karina, they quickly realised that they couldn’t help her.
And what they saw
