Paul Ray Castillo, 34, plead guilty and no contest to nine felonies today, including of 60-year-old Campbell resident and mother of three Cindy Nguyen.
“As tragic and senseless as Cindy Nguyen's death was, we are lucky that Paul Castillo did not kill anyone else," Santa Clara County Deputy District Attorney James Leonard said in a release. “While it does not make his victims whole, the plea in this case guarantees that Paul Castillo will never return to the community to harm anyone again.”
The case, described as a "crime spree" by police began Sept. 6 and continued until Castillo's arrest on Sept. 18 in Sacramento. See our interactive timeline of this case here.
According to police reports, Nguyen had been shopping at The Plant Shopping Center in San Jose on Sept. 16, 2011 when her car would not start. She called her family for help and . This was the last time her family heard from her.
Castillo carjacked her white Lexus and kidnapped Nguyen and drove to his sister's home in San Jose, where Nguyen's body was found wrapped in a carpet in the garage, the release stated.
Blindfolded and handcuffed, Nguyen had been shot at close range in the head, with the same .357 Magnum that was used in a shooting of a man at a gas station in San Jose that had occurred that same day.
“For a little bit more than a week, Paul Castillo terrorized and devastated our community," said Santa Clara County District Attorney Jeffrey Rosen in the release. "Now he will spend the rest of his life in prison. He will die behind bars.’’
To read all of our coverage related to this case, please click here.
