Ashburn man charged in estranged wife's death
http://www.insidenova.com/news/loudoun/ashburn-man-charged-in-estranged-wife-s-death/article_5f47a62f-d4b4-5fbd-8c5a-93ac2bec9bf0.html

Almost two weeks after Michelle Castillo was found dead in her Ashburn home, her estranged husband has been charged with killing her.

The Loudoun County Sheriff’s Office Tuesday evening announced that Braulio M. Castillo, 43, has been charged with first-degree murder. He is being held at the Loudoun County Adult Detention Center without bond.

Michelle G. Castillo, 43, was found dead in her home on Belmont Station Drive in Ashburn shortly after 9 a.m. Thursday, March 20. Deputies were first called to her home on a request to check on her welfare, but upon arrival found her body. A cause of death has not been released, but the sheriff’s office initially said they were investigating a suspicious death at the home. The investigation required multiple search warrants at two locations and door-to-door canvasses throughout the area.

The case was conducted in conjunction with the Office of the Medical Examiner and the Office of the Commonwealth’s Attorney.

The Castillos were in the middle of divorce proceedings at the time of Michelle Castillo’s death, according to court records. Records show they were scheduled to be in court the afternoon before Michelle Castillo was killed. Previously scheduled hearing dates for property distribution have since been withdrawn and a motion to dismiss now is scheduled to be heard Friday, April 4. The Castillos had five children.

Braulio Castillo is the president and CEO of Leesburg-based Strong Castle Inc., a small technology contractor that came under fire last summer for Castillo’s close relationship with an IRS deputy director that resulted in a large amount of contract business. According to published reports, Strong Castle won more than $500 million in IRS awards within a year.

The awards given to Strong Castle, which the Castillos purchased in January 2012, caught the attention of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee and Braulio Castillo was called to testify in June 2013. Castillo maintained his contracts totaled no more than $50 million.

In addition, Castillo worked to have Strong Castle classified as a Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business and a HUBZone Small Business, according to his House testimony, which would potentially give his businesses better standing to get the IRS contracts. The Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business classification drew harsh criticism from Rep. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.), a disabled veteran of the Iraq War, because Castillo’s injury allegedly stemmed from a foot injury at a military prep school.

To honor her life, County Christian School, where their children attended, held a prayer vigil for Michelle Castillo Tuesday night at their Ashburn campus.

A funeral service for Michelle Castillo is scheduled for 1 p.m. Sunday, April 6, in the Smith Center at McLean Bible Church, located at 8925 Leesburg Pike in Vienna. Interment will be held at Union Cemetery in Leesburg at 11 a.m. Tuesday, April 8. In lieu of flowers, charitable contributions are requested to the International Justice Mission, which can be found at www.ijm.org.
Attachments:

people already knew the $50 mil tech contract was huge fraud

but when she threatened to expose county officials tied into it to get better footing in divorce court, they off'ed her

they will first advertise the money as missing and stolen on tv and in court

if no one challenges, the money will be missing and stolen

No honor among thieves eh?

The wife was Chief Operating Officer for their IT company Strong Castle so surely she was aware (co-conspirator) in the $500million scamming of the federal government. But all the news stories talks about what a Christian woman she was. How can you be a devout Christian but scam the U.S. government for $500million? Just wondering

Just Wondering Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> The wife was Chief Operating Officer for their IT
> company Strong Castle so surely she was aware
> (co-conspirator) in the $500million scamming of
> the federal government. But all the news stories
> talks about what a Christian woman she was. How
> can you be a devout Christian but scam the U.S.
> government for $500million? Just wondering

The wife had absolutely nothing to do with the company.

She was given the fake title and an ownership stake so they could claim the business was "woman-owned" and get preference on government contracts.

There are a lot of gov't contractors where the wife "owns" 51% of the company for that very reason. Its just another way to scam the gov't.

Sad story - poor kids will have no parental supervision. Greed and cheating to get it is the lesson here kiddo's - too bad the Govt Contracting gravy train is coming to an end and this will be one of many more stories to come in NOVA.

She didn't run anything Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
>
> The wife had absolutely nothing to do with the
> company.
>
> She was given the fake title and an ownership
> stake so they could claim the business was
> "woman-owned" and get preference on government
> contracts.
>
> There are a lot of gov't contractors where the
> wife "owns" 51% of the company for that very
> reason. Its just another way to scam the gov't.



Wrong...and contradicted by the hundreds of stories written about this company since last June and by the company's own website. It was never a "woman-owned" company after he and his wife bought it. It was and still is a Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business (SDVOSB)...and he is supposedly the veteran. He was roasted in front of congress because he applied for this status shortly after buying the company.

http://nation.time.com/2013/06/27/service-connected-dissembling/

Why roasted? Because he was never really a veteran in the spirit of that word and the service-connection with his supposed disability is dubious at best.

He attended the USMA (West Point) Prep School (not USMA) for less than a year, but dropped out due to a supposed foot injury. He then went to San Diego City College and later University of San Diego, playing football at both schools, so his foot seemed to get better. In fact, he apparently never contacted the VA about this injury during the next 27 years.

Decades later, conveniently right when he wanted to buy this company, his foot hurt again suddenly. He then got a doctor in Sterling to attribute "this pain" to his injury at USMA Prep 27 years earlier rather to his football career at SDCC, his football career at USD, or something else that may have happened in the subsequent 23 years.

He then petitioned the VA to assign him status as a disabled veteran, which, amazingly, they did. He wouldn't otherwise qualify as a veteran, having spent no time at all on active duty, but the supposed service-connected injury and his supposed disability resulted in this status. He then used that status to get the company that he bought designated as a SDVOSB, thereby gaining an advantage in government contracting.

Of course, that advantage may not have been enough for him, because there have also been allegations that he used a personal friendship with a deputy director at the IRS to his advantage to win that half-billion dollar contract.

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2013/06/27/senior-irs-manager-invokes-fifth-amendment-right/

So no, his wife did not need to have a title in name only so that the company would receive an advantage in government contracting. In fact, she appears to have returned to the professional arena after some time away to help with the company:

http://www.linkedin.com/pub/michelle-castillo/44/890/20a

Thus, she may have been intimately familiar with many aspects of the company's operations, including the pursuit of SDVOSB status and the IRS contract. She had a professional background, apparently working for a number of years with her husband at Xerox.

Investigators with the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee uncovered potential contract steering, false statements, and questions about the company's SDVOSB status and so he was later called in front of Congress for questioning. Some time before he appear on Capitol Hill, she punched out of the marriage....right before the shit hit the fan.

Did she know what was about to happen? Was she even aware of the supposed improprieties? Who knows. By her account, she punched out of the marriage because he was abusive. Either way, he was swinging in the wind and she was back to being "Mom - Castillo Household" according to her LinkedIn profile...starting the same month he appeared in front of Congress.

No doubt, he is a scumbag and she did not deserve what happened to her, but let's try to get the story straight...since two seconds of Googling refutes pretty much everything that you typed.

This is sick ...

CEO 'beat his wife to death then hung her body from the ceiling so it would appear to be a suicide'

Braulio Castillo is charged with brutally murdering his estranged wife and mother of five Michelle Castillo on March 19

Police say Castillo hid inside her Ashburn then beat and strangled her before hanging her in a basement bathroom


Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2595310/CEO-beat-wife-death-hung-body-ceiling-appear-suicide.html#ixzz2yGkCYc00
Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook

Nigs niggin.

We knew Michelle from church, and she was one of the lovliest, most generous and kind people we've ever known. Always smiling, always generous. She really had no active role in her husband's company other than assisting with some of the software stuff in the past. She was an incredible Mom and adored children, working with them in ministry.

She is so missed. It is just a horrendous tragedy, and heartbreaking for her children.

Castillo Murder Case Advances To Grand Jury
http://www.insidenova.com/news/loudoun/castillo-murder-case-advances-to-grand-jury/article_092ece4a-a69e-5b3c-af34-c10cee180a3b.html

The Ashburn man charged with first-degree murder in the death of his estranged wife will face a grand jury.

After a preliminary hearing that continued into the early evening Thursday, Juvenile & Domestic Relations Court Judge Pamela Brooks ruled that there was enough probable cause to send the first-degree murder charges against Braulio Castillo to the grand jury. The prosecution will present its case to the grand jury Monday.

Brooks denied a motion from the Commonwealth's Attorney to revoke the $2 million bond set last week by a Circuit Court judge. A $1 million bond had previously been set in Juvenile & Domestic Relations Court, which prosecutors appealed.

Even with bond set, Castillo has remained in jail.

Castillo, 48, is charged in the death of his wife, Michelle, who was found dead, hanging from a basement shower, in her Ashburn home the morning of March 20. Deputies initially responded to a call from a neighbor to check on Michelle Castillo’s welfare, and found her body. As her death initially appeared to be a suicide, it was more than two weeks before Braulio Castillo was charged in her death.

According to testimony offered Thursday, Braulio Castillo had been called to the Belmont Station Drive home around 7:30 a.m. March 20 by his children who said they could not find their mother. Castillo went to the home, and asked a neighbor to help him look for Michelle in the house. When she was not found, Castillo took his children, eventually dropping the three older children at school. The neighbor then called the sheriff's office.

The Castillos were in the middle of divorce proceedings at the time of Michelle's death. She filed for divorce in April 2013. Braulio Castillo had been living a couple block away from Michelle and his children at the time of her death. A protective order prevented him from coming to the couple's Belmont Station Drive home or having contact with his children outside of set visitation.

The couple had been scheduled to be in court on issues of custody and financial support the afternoon before Michelle was killed, but that hearing was postponed. Michelle Castillo was seeking sole custody of the couple’s four minor children.

Before a standing-room only courtroom Thursday afternoon, the prosecution laid out some of the evidence against Castillo, culminating with the Castillos' friend David Meeker, who currently has emergency custody of the Castillos' minor children under the terms of the couple's wills, identifying with "100 percent certainty" his friend walking toward the Castillos' Belmont Station Drive home at 8:10 p.m. March 19.

Videos had been captured by the security cameras on a home across the street. The courtroom was silent except for the voices of Meeker and Assistant Commonwealth's Attorney Ryan Perry as four different video clips were shown. In the first clip, Meeker identified Castillo walking and jogging along the road and turned toward the driveway of his family's home. In the second clip, Meeker identified Michelle Castillo driving up to the home eight minutes later. In the final clips, around 12:30 a.m. March 20, Meeker identified Braulio Castillo again walking in the area.

When asked by Perry how he knew it was Braulio Castillo in a video that both sides acknowledged did not show his face, Meeker said, "As Mr. Castillo passes in front of the lighted brick column he takes a number of steps walking and then begin to trot with a certain amount of force that it bows his right leg out."

That bowing, Meeker said, is distinctive to Castillo.

Meeker testified that he had seen Castillo walk and run numbers times over their more than decade-long friendship, even though on cross examination from defense attorney Alex Levay he admitted he had not see him friend run for years.

Levay pressed Meeker on how he could be sure the person the video was Castillo, and whether he had any bias when he first viewed the video March 31. Meeker acknowledged that his wife believed that Castillo was responsible for his wife's death, but said detectives did not tell him that it was Castillo on the video nor did he want to think his friend had committed the crime, and had "openly questioned" detectives about the possibility of suicide or another cause of death. He said he did not want to be in the court testifying.

"No one told me it was Braulio Castillo in the video. I don't want to be saying it at all," he said. "But I am here to tell the truth."

Over the course of eight witnesses, prosecutors worked to paint a picture of the final night Michelle was alive. Her triathlon training coach testified about a celebratory team dinner he attended with Michelle and a group of people March 19. In part, the event was to celebrate Michelle's recent completion of a marathon and her qualification for the Boston Marathon.

Braulio Castillo's older sister Lucy Fuentes also was called to testify that after a dinner with the Castillo family, she took the Castillo children to the Lansdowne Harris Teeter as part of the set exchange. It was something she often did, she testified.

In argument, Chief Deputy Commonwealth's Attorney Nicole Wittmann noted that it was while his sister was taking his children to Michelle Castillo that Braulio Castillo was allegedly seen on video approaching the house.

"He knows she won't be home," Wittmann said, adding that "to the best of anyone's knowledge" Braulio Castillo is alone at his own home.

Wittmann also called into question Castillo's action after getting the call from his children the morning of March 20.

"At no point does he call the police," Wittmann said. "The only evidence of a call to police is calling someone he knows."

Loudoun Deputy Aaron Kozikowski briefly testified about two phone calls Castillo made to him about 8 a.m. March 20, and the one phone message Castillo left was played for the court.

"He doesn't say his wife is missing, that I violated this protective order by going to the house and taking his children..." Wittmann argued. "It is just a call with no sense of urgency...like a staged call."

During her argument, Wittmann listed the number of injuries to Michelle Castillo's body and face that were documented in the final autopsy report, including blunt force trauma to her upper arms and lower legs, red marks and bruises on her face and "pressure marks around her neck."

In his motion asking the judge to dismiss the case, Levay said the prosecution had not presented any real evidence of Castillo's involvement in his wife's death. "The absence of evidence is not evidence," he said. He also noted that the cause of death--strangulation--is consistent with suicide, the trauma on her neck and the pictures of the scene that deputies found.

"They haven't even proven anyone entered the house," Levay said, noting that video only shows "someone" walking and jogging in the area of the home.
Attachments:

DNA Evidence Links Ashburn Husband to Wife's Murder
http://www.nbcwashington.com/video/?_osource=SocialFlowFB_DCBrand#!/news/local/DNA-Evidence-Links-Ashburn-Husband-to-Wife-s-Murder/267573041

Northern Virginia Bureau Chief Julie Carey has learned DNA evidence ties Braulio Castillo to the murder scene of his wife Michelle.

Watch the news story here:
http://www.nbcwashington.com/video/?_osource=SocialFlowFB_DCBrand#!/news/local/DNA-Evidence-Links-Ashburn-Husband-to-Wife-s-Murder/267573041

This area is full of contractors that do jack shit and scam the government. What's new??

Nigs niggin Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Nigs niggin.

Spics spickin

Just Wondering Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> The wife was Chief Operating Officer for their IT
> company Strong Castle so surely she was aware
> (co-conspirator) in the $500million scamming of
> the federal government. But all the news stories
> talks about what a Christian woman she was. How
> can you be a devout Christian but scam the U.S.
> government for $500million? Just wondering


Of course you can if you are a member of McLean Bible Church. Their motto should be "Be an asshole thief and murderer. Jesus will forgive you. MBC=Human Garbage. The Pastor of MBC is an ex-con which means he is still a con.

Jeus will forgive you Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Just Wondering Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > The wife was Chief Operating Officer for their
> IT
> > company Strong Castle so surely she was aware
> > (co-conspirator) in the $500million scamming of
> > the federal government. But all the news
> stories
> > talks about what a Christian woman she was.
> How
> > can you be a devout Christian but scam the U.S.
> > government for $500million? Just wondering
>
>
> Of course you can if you are a member of McLean
> Bible Church. Their motto should be "Be an
> asshole thief and murderer. Jesus will forgive
> you. MBC=Human Garbage. The Pastor of MBC is an
> ex-con which means he is still a con.

And who is Jeus?

WHAT!?!? Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Jeus will forgive you Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Just Wondering Wrote:
> >
> --------------------------------------------------
>
> > -----
> > > The wife was Chief Operating Officer for
> their
> > IT
> > > company Strong Castle so surely she was aware
> > > (co-conspirator) in the $500million scamming
> of
> > > the federal government. But all the news
> > stories
> > > talks about what a Christian woman she was.
> > How
> > > can you be a devout Christian but scam the
> U.S.
> > > government for $500million? Just wondering
> >
> >
> > Of course you can if you are a member of
> McLean
> > Bible Church. Their motto should be "Be an
> > asshole thief and murderer. Jesus will forgive
> > you. MBC=Human Garbage. The Pastor of MBC is
> an
> > ex-con which means he is still a con.
>
> And who is Jeus?


I'm Jeus, I'm Jesus's son from his fifth marriage. Dad just could not keep it in under his robe. He would always blame it on my Grandfather..Immaculate this or that blah blah...My mom never
fell for it like Richard did. What a putz..Richard finally figured out Mary was banging the entire Roman army and they got divorced.She ended up marrying some Jewish guy who owned a manger store.

Just Wondering Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> The wife was Chief Operating Officer for their IT
> company Strong Castle so surely she was aware
> (co-conspirator) in the $500million scamming of
> the federal government. But all the news stories
> talks about what a Christian woman she was. How
> can you be a devout Christian but scam the U.S.
> government for $500million? Just wondering


Yes, of course. History has proved that time and time again.

I bet that year at home flew by a lot faster than he anticipated....they've been pretty quiet about what evidence they have that ties him to the murder. one week left

It got continued to May 2016

I hear the trail is set to start on 5/17/2016.

Why did it take so long and why is he free to walk around while he waits for the trail?

"Trail?" Seriously. Jeez. Spell much?

That seems to be the thing to do in the Ashburn area, AKA divorce alley. Off your wife you get ready to shack up with the mistress.

Does it seem odd that a guy with the same name works for aftermath? A company specializing in crime scene cleanup? Coincidence or someone being funny?

https://www.linkedin.com/in/braulio-castillo-0873b323

Here's what's on tap for 2016 -- Murders Loudoun Co.

http://loudounnow.com/2015/12/22/two-more-murder-trials-scheduled-for-juries/

c77Ej

I think his trial starts today. Man I wonder what it felt like when he woke up this morning (assuming he was able to get to sleep).

Wouldn't want to be in his shoes. If he's guilty, I bet he would have rather kept paying her than kill her.

FCnhu

http://www.loudountimes.com/news/article/medical_examiner_testifies_in_ashburn_murder_trial898

Does this mean he's pretty much done? The son testified that he saw his dad in the house the night of the murder.

Seems like odd testimony though, wouldn't he have said this a long time ago? Is it possible he's just saying this because he thinks his dad did it, but doesn't think he'll be convicted based on the evidence they have?

The father cried when the son began testifying against him.

GUILTY verdict. Sentencing tomorrow