San Carlos woman Karina Castro beheaded by Jose Solano Landaeta with samurai sword amid domestic violence incident along North California street.
A man has been arrested for murder after he allegedly cut off a woman’s head with a sword, North California authorities announced on Thursday.
Deputies from the San Mateo County Sheriff’s Office found the victim dead at around 11:50 a.m. in San Carlos after being flagged down by a witness, law enforcement sources told KNTV.
Her head had been chopped off by a sword, the sources told the local outlet. The victim’s family would identify the deceased woman as 27 year old, Karina Castro.
The incident is alleged to have occurred after a fight broke out between the victim and suspect inside an apartment unit, and spilled out into the street with the man beheading the woman in broad daylight to the horror of witnesses.
Authorities identified the suspect as Jose Raphael Solano Landaeta, an individual with an extensive and violent criminal past along with mental illness. Reports told of the the woman being a mother to seven year and a one year old girls- with the youngest daughter being the product of an ‘off and on’ relationship between the victim and suspect.
‘They seemed like they loved each other.’
Landaeta, more commonly known as Rafa Solano, initially fled before returning to the scene and was taken into custody by police.
The episode is alleged to have taken place with the mother’s two children inside the apartment.
The pair are thought to have been romantically involved and living together in an apartment unit directly in front of where the beheading took place on the street.
A neighbor speaking to KNTV, said the man and woman, who he described as a couple had moved into the area about 3 years ago.
Told Chapele Thorborne: ‘It’s kind of shocking. This is a nice neighborhood.’
Adding, ‘They seemed like they loved each other.’
Of note, the victim had a temporary restraining order against Jose Solano Landaeta, obtained in April, KGO reported.
BREAKING: On Thursday, Jose Rafael Solano Landaeta, 33, beheaded Karina Castro, a 25-year-old female young woman, in front of witnesses in the middle of the street in San Mateo, California. pic.twitter.com/iIm7YYeeIk
— BNN Newsroom (@BNNBreaking) September 10, 2022
A small memorial outside the apartment complex where a woman was gruesomely beheaded yesterday in San Carlos by someone she knew.
A suspect, Jose Landaeta Solano, has been arrested.@nbcbayarea pic.twitter.com/6ID99l3R8H
— Ginger Conejero Saab (@gingerconejero) September 9, 2022
History of ongoing domestic violence
Sources say there was a history of domestic violence at the address where the woman was killed.
Offered the victim’s grandmother, Danielle Gannon: ‘He is a diagnosed schizophrenic on meds. And he would use that as an excuse for his behavior. He drank excessively and you’re not supposed to do that on those kind of medications.’
The grandmother told of Rafa being ‘constantly unemployed’, while her granddaughter worked as a Door Dash driver to make ends meet.
The victim’s mother told ABC7 that he implored his daughter to leave Rafa, saying: ‘Every time I saw her, I would beg her. Don’t talk to him. Leave him and it seemed like the more I did that, the more she would see him.’
In the day before the murder, Snapchat messages between the couple became very contentious and profanity laden according to the relative.
San Mateo County Sheriff’s Office Lt. Eamonn Allen said during an afternoon media briefing that a ‘stabbing instrument’ had been used, without specifying what kind as authorities continued to seek its whereabouts. Latest reports indicate the murder weapon being a samurai sword.
Authorities said the suspect suffered a medical emergency of some sort without relaying further details.
Authorities said the incident was isolated and that no threat to the community existed. No known motive was immediately known.
‘Anytime someone loses their life it’s certainly a tragedy,’ Lt. Allen said. ‘As far as the shocking nature of it, I do know that the deputies that first arrived on scene were a little beset by the scene. We are providing peer support, we are also providing support for the witnesses that were on scene as well, because there were several civilian witnesses.’
Rafa Solano is scheduled to be arraigned on Monday.
San Carlos is about halfway between San Francisco and San Jose.
