District Attorney

Queens Man Sentenced to Life Without Parole After Killing Girlfriend, Daughter With Hammer

A Queens man was sentenced to two consecutive terms of life without the possibility of parole in prison after beating his girlfriend and her daughter to death with a hammer.

Carlos Alberto Amarillo, 48, was found guilty of murder, criminal possession of a weapon and endangering the welfare of a child in the deaths of Estrella Castaneda, 56, and Lina Castaneda, 25. The two women were found brutally beaten in their home in January 2014. He claimed the two were witches and had been casting voodoo spells on him.

District Attorney Richard A. Brown said, “This defendant will rightfully spend the rest of his natural life behind bars for fatally beating to death his girlfriend and her daughter – who was the mother of a young child who also happened to be in the residence that night but fortunately was not harmed.”

A 44-year-old man is accused of beating his girlfriend and her 25-year-old daughter to death with a hammer because he believed they were witches who were casting spells on him, according to police and prosecutors. Brynn Gingras reports.

According to trial testimony, Estrella was found "face up on the bed with a pillow over her face," Queens District Attorney Richard Brown said. "The rubber grip of a hammer was beside her body on the bed."

Brown said Lina's body was found in the rear bedroom "face down with injuries to her head and a hammer was on the floor beside her." He said her 7-year-old daughter was found unharmed on the bed in her mother's room.

Amarillo called 911 stating that "two females are dead, they were assassinated, hurry they are dead. I killed them because they are witches, I want the police to kill me. I killed them with a hammer," according to trial testimony.

When police arrived, Amarillo was holding a Bible and told the officers the women were "witches and were performing voodoo and casting spells" on him that made him sick, Brown said.

Copyright AP - Associated Press
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