A California man, 33-year-old Jose Raphael Solano Landaeta, mostly known as Rafa Solano, arrested for the murder of his ex-girlfriend and decapitating her using a sword last year, now claims he did it in self-defense.
Police arrested Solano on September 8, 2022, in connection with the murder of Karina Castro, 27, in San Carlos, California.
Witnesses saw Castro being attacked on the street near her home.
Solano gave an interview to NBC’s Dan Noyes. He said he attacked his ex-girlfriend, who he had a one-year-old daughter with, in self defense.
Witness Martin Castro, Karina Castro’s father, said that his daughter was screaming and begging for help on the street during the attack.
During the NBC interview, Solano said that Castro had a knife when she got out from the driver’s side of her car, and she approached him with it. Solano said that he swung the sword in self-defense.
Castro’s father, however, said that Solano’s argument was not convincing, adding that the suspect was claiming self-defense against a girl half his size.
Castro’s father pointed out that his daughter was around 5’6″ and around 120 pounds and Solano was around 6’3″ and over 300 pounds. He called the suspect’s defense “grasping at straws” to try and get a lesser sentence.
It is unclear why Solano was carrying a sword.
Castro’s father said he had a bad feeling about Solano when he and his daughter first met, but she didn’t want to listen when her father warned her to stay away from the man who ultimately took her life.
San Mateo District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe said the evidence does not agree with the suspect’s self-defense claim. A few days after the murder, Solano’s lawyer Robert Cummings petitioned for a mental examination to be performed on his client, claiming that Solano has a diagnosis of schizophrenia.
On January 26, Judge Michael Wendler of the San Mateo County Superior Court ruled that Solano is fit to stand trial after reviewing his mental competency evaluation report.
Solano’s lawyer, Cummings, said that even though it is unclear whether his client would end up in a mental health facility or prison, the former would be better. In any case, he acknowledged that Solano had taken a life and would have to be punished for it.
Even though Karina Castro took out a restraining order against Solano in April 2022, the two continued to see each other.