5 LoudounNow LOUDOUN COUNTY’S COMMUNITY-OWNED NEWS SOURCE
Loudoun lands a state park
[ Vol. 1, No. 33 ]
[ loudounnow.com ]
[ June 23 – 30, 2016 ]
LIFE IN PRISON Roberts Admits Guilt in Lansdowne Murder BY NORMAN K. STYER
excited. Now it’s kind of just space.” Victoria, the Castillos’ only daughter, told the jury her mother’s death has saddened her. “I was glad that she was the one to adopt me. I was her little girl and her only girl,” Victoria said. “There’s an empty space in my heart.” Victoria expressed gratitude for her foster parents, Stephanie and David Meeker, the Castillos’ former neighbors who have cared for the children since Michelle’s death. “I have an awesome family. I now have an awesome mom and dad,” she said.
Seven years ago, the body of a man who had been beaten to death was found along a Lansdowne street. Later, the body of his severely assaulted, barely alive wife was found lying nearby. On Monday morning in Loudoun Circuit Court, Anthony R. Roberts, the man responsible for one of the most horrendous attacks in the county’s history, pleaded guilty and was sentenced to spend the rest of his life in prison for the Anthony R. Roberts crimes. The hour-long hearing brought the long legal case to a close, with county prosecutors abandoning efforts to have Roberts face the death penalty but ensuring that he’ll never again be a threat to the public. As part of a plea bargain, Roberts, 27, pleaded guilty to the charge of capital murder with the condition that he be sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. He also pleaded guilty to charges of aggravated assault, robbery, and abduction with intent to defile. The agreement did not specify a sentence for those charges, but Judge Thomas D. Horne sentenced Roberts to the maximum—life in prison on each charge. William and Cynthia Bennet were walking along Riverside Parkway near the Goose Creek bridge early in the morning on March 22, 2009, when a van passed them. It stopped. Roberts
CASTILLO >> 27
ROBERTS >> 45
Renss Greene/Loudoun Now
Friends of Michelle Castillo, including Sharon Supp and Melodie Mandanis at center, talk to the press on the last day of the five-week trial of Braulio M. Castillo. He was sentenced to life in prison for the murder of his estranged wife, Michelle.
Jury Hands Down Guilty Verdict in Castillo Case BY PARISS BRIGGS
O
ne day after finding Braulio M. Castillo guilty of murder in his estranged wife’s 2014 death, tears were visible on the faces of jurors Tuesday morning as the couple’s children testified about the lasting impacts of the tragedy. Hours later, the jury unanimously recommended the 45-year-old spend the rest of his life in prison. During a five-week trial, county prosecutors presented evidence that Castillo broke into his wife’s Ashburn home, strangled and suffocated her in the mas-
ter bedroom and then moved her body to a basement bathroom where he staged a hanging suicide. The jury found him guilty of first-degree murder, breaking and entering and violation of a protective order. During the sentencing phase of the trial Tuesday, emotions ran high as a few of Michelle’s children and friends took the stand to tell jurors how her death has impacted them. Castillo’s oldest son, Nicholas, told the jury he hasn’t been able to sleep or think since his mother’s death. “I’ve lost track of time,” Nicholas said. “She was my mom and she got excited when I got
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