GUILTY CA - Cindy Nguyen, 60, abducted & murdered, San Jose, 16 Sept 2011

San Jose man suspected in deadly spree has long criminal history

http://www.mercurynews.com/crime-courts/ci_18928789?source=most_viewed

9/19/2011

As Paul Castillo ran from police after one of San Jose's most violent one-man crime sprees in years, he was also running from a drug-addicted, criminal past with a lengthy rap sheet dating back to his childhood and a path of broken promises to change.

While most kids his age were learning to read and write, Castillo was learning from his mother how to break into houses by squeezing through doggy doors.

The disturbing picture of the 33-year-old San Jose man began to emerge Monday, a day after police hunted him down to a West Sacramento pizza parlor in connection with the shooting Friday of a man pumping gas and the slaying of a Vietnamese radio personality.

Castillo is scheduled to be arraigned Wednesday in Santa Clara County Superior Court on charges including homicide, kidnapping and armed robbery, and he could be a candidate for the death penalty. His court appearance will come two days before friends and family hold a vigil for Cindy Nguyen, the 60-year-old woman who police say was abducted, then killed by Castillo.

From August 2012:

http://www.mercurynews.com/ci_21259285/san-jose-man-pleads-guilty-crime-spree-that

Castillo's crime spree began with an auto theft on Sept. 6 and progressed to him pointing a gun at a woman in a road-rage incident three days later. Days after, Castillo attempted to run down a man who discovered him breaking into his car. That was followed by a robbery two days later, with the violence peaking on Sept. 16...

Nguyen had called co-workers to tell them she was stranded, then called back to report she no longer needed their assistance -- a kind man with a lot of tattoos was there to help jump her car, Leonard said.

Witnesses saw a scuffle, and Nguyen was forced into her car. Her body was found the next day, wrapped in a carpet in the garage space of people Castillo knew. She had been handcuffed, blindfolded and shot between the eyes at close range with a .357 Magnum, Leonard said.

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http://www.sfgate.com/crime/article/San-Jose-man-gets-life-for-crime-spree-3770365.php

A parolee will spend the rest of his life in prison without the possibility of parole after being convicted Tuesday of a deadly one-man crime spree in San Jose, authorities said.

Paul Ray Castillo, 34, of San Jose pleaded guilty or no contest to nine felonies, including murder, assault with a deadly weapon, robbery and auto theft.

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