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Wednesday, November 04, 2009

Raul Renato Castro confessed to putting 4 year old Alex Mercado in dryer

TRACIE CONE, Associated Press Writer
via The News-Herald
via hosted2.ap.org

FRESNO, Calif. (AP) — A 14-year-old with a baby face told investigators he drowned his 4-year-old neighbor in a bathtub then hid the body in a dryer because the child was going to reveal the teen molested him, according to an affidavit released when he appeared in court Wednesday.

Raul Renato Castro, dressed in a purple T-shirt issued at the juvenile jail, appeared emotionless while staring at his hands in Fresno County Superior Court for the in his first appearance for the murder of Alex Mercado...

...Castro eventually told police he had enticed the dimpled, brown-eyed boy into his house across the street and sodomized him, the affidavit states. He said he killed Mercado after the child fell and hit his head, started crying, then threatened to tell his mother, the document states. "Castro said he panicked and decided to kill the victim by drowning him in the bathtub," the affidavit says.

...Castro had been scheduled for arraignment as an adult on charges of first-degree murder, sodomy, child molestation, kidnapping and murder to silence a witness...


Earlier the teen had nodded without expression when Judge Jon Kapetan asked him if he understood the proceedings."He told me he was scared," said Marousek, who spoke with the teen as he sat in the jury box. "He could be in shock."

Marousek said after the hearing that she doubted the teenager understood the Miranda Rights read to him by investigators, which could put his confession in doubt. He understood well enough when he raped, murdered and hid little Alex's body.

...Bail was set at $2.1 million. Castro, who turned 14 on July 29, cannot face the death penalty but could be sentenced to as long as 47 years-to-life if convicted.


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1 comment:

Anonymous said...

good castro is going to be trated like an adult
because i think he new what he was doing and he is a dangerous person also his parents if they have more kids they should think of what they are doing wrong to rise a kid with that kind off felings