An Arapahoe County jury on Thursday found 22-year-old Joseph Mario Castorena guilty of first-degree murder in a 2022 domestic violence shooting that claimed the lives of three family members and a fourth man at an Aurora home.
Jurors convicted Castorena of four counts of first-degree murder and one count of attempted first-degree murder, the 18th Judicial District Attorney’s Office announced.
The jury also found that prosecutors proved six sentence-enhancing charges related to violent crime, according to court records. Castorena was acquitted of one count of attempted first-degree murder.
Castorena broke into his ex-girlfriend’s house in the 900 block of Geneva Street with a gun in the early hours of Oct. 30, 2022, and waited for her to come home, according to the district attorney’s office.
The woman called 911 after seeing Castorena’s keys, and while she was on the phone he fatally shot Jesus Serrano, 51; Maria Anita Serrano, 22; Kenneth Eugene Green Luque, 20; and Rudolfo Salgado Perez, 49.
Maria Serrano was the woman’s sister, according to previous reporting. Jesus Serrano was Maria’s father and Kenneth Luque was Maria’s husband. Perez was renting an RV on the property and was killed when he came outside during the shooting.
The woman and two young children in the home were not injured in the shooting.
Castorena fled the country after the killings and was arrested in Mexico in December 2022 and extradited to the U.S.
“In the blink of an eye, Mr. Castorena destroyed many lives,” Deputy District Attorney Lauren Raible said in a statement Thursday. “This guilty verdict ensures the defendant will never be able to victimize anyone else.”
Castorena will be sentenced to life in prison on Sept. 3.
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