this is Joseph castorena and he shouldn't be at this house in the middle of the night there's actually a protective order against him to keep him away from his ex-girlfriend and her family's home it doesn't stop him in any way from entering the house and laying in wait for the family to come home from a party what would happen next would leave a community in Terror and lead to an international Manhunt join us as we look into that horrible night and what led us up to [Music] it before we begin we would like to extend
our deepest sympathies to the family and loved ones of the Serrano green and Perez families it's just after 2: a.m. on the day before Halloween when a call comes in to the arapo county 911 Center a young woman named Jessica Serrano says that she's just come home to find her boyfriend's car keys and his jacket in her bedroom and she fears that he is somewhere in the house what is your first and last name Jessica tell me exactly what happened Jessica um my exboyfriend has water and you're not supposed to be here around me with
this house and I just found his um jacket here his jeans and his keys here okay in my closet hiding I believe he's in the house hiding somewhere he would to leave his H te and Away in my house okay any one second okay is there anybody that saw him in the house at all that what sorry you're did anybody see him inside the house no but his stuff is here okay got it did you like look around did you see him at all or anything no okay okay stay with me one second okay so
we believe he's hiding somewhere okay how many people are in the house with you right now that you know of four okay Patrol officers are dispatched to the Serrano home Sergeant Paul Davis will be one of the first to arrive and he will play a pivotal role in the night's events do you have cameras around your house yes we do okay did you see anything on the cameras I don't not at the moment I dver cuz my sister's the one that has the cameras but I told her to check so she do that now all
right is anyone there experiencing any flu symptoms that been asked for self quarantine no ma' all righty I do have that in here okay we're going to go ahead and put them out there if you do end up seeing him on camera anything else the call back but I have it in [Music] okay what's going on Jessica oh my god there shots fired in my house okay what's going on I don't know I can't Lo myself the restroom help now stay on the phone with [Music] me stay on the okay don't hang up do you
know who shot at the house no we don't have to downstairs okay okay how many shots did you hear was that another one oh my God stay away from the doors and the windows okay okay where is everybody else Jessica take a deep breath I have this in okay we're getting them out there on theone hry up please hurry up who's that in the background is there anybody with you I no one's with me right now do you know who's that yelling in the background okay on my phone okay which room are you in are
you in the bedroom or the basement the first room okay I need you to get down on the ground okay get on your stomach for me officers and emergency responders have been alerted to the shots fired at the location more Personnel are swarming to the scene they are just minutes away okay I need to I need you to say it a little bit louder if you can ma'am can you say your address a little bit louder hello ma'am ma'am hello [Music] hello hello the massacre is coming into its final moments trapped in a bathroom Jessica
and Joseph will have their last confrontation but would anyone survive what are you fing why did you do this what do you want to do what you do who K is doing no come out me come me [Music] now noop no noop [Music] no as Joseph kicked the bathroom door open Jessica was able to grab him and throw him into the bathtub she bolted from the room and out of the house just seconds behind her Joseph chased her first into the home's backyard and then back through the house into the street Jessica would first attempt
to flag down a car that decided to drive past while Joseph turned and ran in the other direction to the north Sergeant Davis would arrive just as Jessica came running South come back here all right I'm in contact with what's what's wrong he sh my family what do you mean he shot your family stay right here all right she's telling me he's just shot her family stay right there thank you where's he at he's over there over where he's over there where he's running he's running she's saying he's running Northbound I'm trying to get more
information yeah that car just comes southbound right there sh Street inside is a nightmare scene three members of the extended Serrano family lay dead Jessica's twin sister Maria Anna green lays dead from two gunshot wounds Maria Anna's husband Ken green is at the foot of the basement stairs dead from a single gunshot presumably the first person killed ambushed by castorena back upstairs Jessica's father Jesus Sano lays dead in a hallway shot twice minutes later when checking to see if the gunman was in the backyard a fourth body was found that of Rudolfo Perez a family
friend who had been renting a camper from the family I've got one down gunshot wound in the kitchen [Applause] [Music] [Applause] get the F Bell out of here get out of here ma'am come on you need to get out of here H come on H go out there go out the side go outside you stay outside come on puy [Applause] puy I'm trying to get one what's he look like what's he wearing he's wearing a gray a gray sweater I I don't know I don't know he wanted to kill me too late and I know
we bullets okay you got to come back over here I want you to sit right here sit right here I want to my dad the girls the girls what girls they're in the bo the room I don't know I don't know okay stay here I need you to stay here the girls the girls the girls I might have some girls inside some taller females I want you stay here I'm sorry I just got it I can't believe it as other officers and EMTs arrive on the scene Sergeant Davis leads Jessica back outside away from the
Carnage and to protect the crime scene he tries to console her as best he can my my I know I know I know I know I want you take I can't fre this Serv rolling please I know I know I know I what am I going to do I need my mom I need to call my I need you just relax for me okay I know I need you to relax for me [Music] okay I was I was telling them hurry up I'm telling her hurry up I know I know I know I know I
know swe I know I know I know I know myad I'm my dad my sister know I know we always called you guys always called you guys about him always he's coming here doing this and that you guys don't arrest them the dad I'm just the dad and the mom always baells him out it's always the same the same [ __ ] I just going I know I [Music] know I know I know I know I know I know why why me I I know why I know I know why [Music] why told you guys
hurry up hurry up you guys want listen to me you guys want list why why once she is settled just a bit and others are able to assist her Sergeant Davis leaves Jessica behind and re-enters the crime scene he was the first on scene and one of the most senior officers there at the time so he takes an active leadership role in the efforts [Music] how many do we have in there children good untouch okay so kids don't need anything kids don't need anything I don't I'm here s mom of these two little ones I
think those are her sister's kids oh there you are yeah I think those are her sister's kids so well there's the sister she's dead so can we get those kids out we need to work on get those kids out that lady we're going to get them out a different will take care of those okay we need to do it want us leave have we where we at for have we done a backyard we have not done a backyard no she came in after I came in here and I had to get her out of here
so I did not do a backyard search um how many do how many fire is there any way to get them out of here without having them see let's wrap them up in blankets yeah we'll we'll uh we'll probably just go out this way cover eyes and head we'll take your children's um well right now have to tell they okay they're green um I'm grabbing a blanket I'm going to hold it okay do you both transported yeah I'm just going to hold the blanket here you're taking them to the hospital right yes okay the two
young children and Jessica are taken to a local hospital for treatment while none would show any physical wounds at the time they were each undoubtedly traumatized by the event each would also be placed under protective custody in the hospitals as Joseph was still at large there was still the question of where Joseph had gone he was on foot barefooted and it was cold that night and many of the Yards in the neighborhood like the sanos were fenced in there could only be so many options and one of the most likely was where he lived just
a few blocks away from his parents' house police cordoned off the entire neighborhood hopefully before Joseph had a chance to escape and a group including a can9 Handler descended on the castorena household Sergeant Davis headed over to the castorena house to lead the efforts here's the deal be straight up been honest with you we want to get in contact with your brother before somebody else some other agency does okay I would rather your brother be alive and and under arrest than to be dead or shot because he does something stupid okay is there any way
that you can help us out to find out where he's at I already tried calling him my sister tried calling him he won't answer okay does he have any social media that he might be on right now why why would his phone be hidden why would we be seeing stuff around here what do you mean as far as where he was last located for his phone yeah like his phone here yeah I don't know is there anything is there anybody that he would be living or going to someone's house around here or anything like that
I don't know I just got home um I noticed my dad and mom were gone and they were over here I called them that had happened with Joseph okay so are you cold right now you feeling okay oh I'm I'm scared I'm nervous okay don't be nervous around us we're here to make sure that things are good so there's nobody that's in danger inside your house okay just my mom and sister I no I seen him earlier before I left to work okay what do you mean and what how how was that contact how was
that I just seen him walk out the door that's it okay was he mad was he angry no no I think he said something about a haircut okay all right so here's the deal um if you're cold I I I here's the deal I I don't want you going back in the house cuz I don't know if he's in there somewhere right and obviously well I'm not going to arrest you or anything like that I that's I just don't want you going back in the house and I'd like you to be compliant with us okay
cuz the situation is well you see I've never been sitation like this I'm like I I don't have my dad my dad's the one that us you know well I mean my deal is is Preservation of life right so if you're if you come out maybe we can have you call the other females that are in there and have them come out of the house if you would everybody that's in the house everyone that's in the house in the meantime police have been getting ping results from Joseph's cell phone he is somewhere within a 900
met radius around the Serrano home a distance within which is his parents' home Joseph's burgundy H2 Hummer is also found parked along a street somewhere between the two residences Sergeant Davis is able to talk to all of the people from inside the house including Joseph's sister and his mother they through a bilingual officer give him some insight into the relationship between Jessica and Joseph eventually after repeated calls for Joseph to come out the time has come to go in and see if he's there Sergeant Davis leads the way again making sure to advise the officers
that the family has two dogs in the house and every effort must be made to ensure they aren't harmed okay CL door is open come on buddy one Dog's Out come here come here come on come on here let me grab the dog just yeah take that and just hold that door all right Bobby bring him up stay right there boys just hold that door got the other dog hey I got your other dog than you're welcome the K9 unit was released into the household but turned up nothing there was no sign that Joseph was
home officers filed in behind the dogs searching room to room for the armed man during the search for one singular moment we get a look at Sergeant Davis his face reflected in a mirror it has been a horrific tragic night but he has worked hard to console and care for both the victims of the crime and the family of the perpetrator while trying to address the issue of an armed murderer at large in Community he has embodied the pledge to Serve and Protect on this terrible night somehow Joseph made it out of the Cordon throughout
the early part of the incident police in the area reported hearing a loud truck roaring around the cordoned off neighborhoods and gunshots rang out could someone have been attempting to provide a distraction to give Joseph a chance to slip out could he have had an accomplice could he still be in the area his phone was still pinging in the 900 m radius between the two houses Joseph's phone was eventually found in the backyard of the Serrano home apparently dropped or discarded at some point evidence also suggests that he had returned back through the house hopped
the rear fence of the property and made his Escape in that direction police dogs were sent throughout the neighborhood and police went door Todo asking permission to search backyards and asking if anyone had seen or heard anything a reverse 911 call was also sent out to every everyone in the immediate vicinity to alert them that there is an armed dangerous man on the loose and that all individuals should shelter in place inside the home the murder weapon and nine shell casings were found fingerprints on the 9mm Kimber handgun would later be found to match those
of Joseph castorena the shell casings would also later turn out to be a match of casings found months before in a stolen vehicle the gun itself appears to have been stolen at some point in its history as well having originally been purchased by a man in Iowa in 2016 we have just begun a daylight search of the neighborhood uh we even had drones up in the air at first light and we're now doing a thorough search of the immediate neighborhood because we are concerned and and want to find the subject his name is Joseph Mario
castorena he's 21 years old um we have to assume he is armed and we are very concerned and want to do everything we can to find him and take him into custody as soon as possible his photo has been released on APD social media if you look at it closely you will see that he has a very distinctive lion tattoo on the left side of his neck uh we're obviously requesting the Public's assistance and the media's assistance to find him if anyone sees him or has any information about his whereabouts we ask that 911 be
called immed immediately he he has a history uh involving domestic violence and uh I don't have all the details I'd rather not go into that but but this was an accumulation of events here that led to this so um so yes did this have anything to do with the custody dispute because that's what some relatives have told us well the children the children of of of the suspect and his domestic partner are not even in state they are they are elsewhere with family and safe interim police chief Daniel John Oats explained that there had been
a longtime volatile relationship between Joseph and Jessica it might be worth it to take a moment to look at that relationship the couple never married shared two children together and over the last 2 years before the event their relationship had degraded into one of jealousy anger and breakups followed by short-lived reconciliations during this time Joseph would often create Facebook accounts under false names and try to chat up Jessica Jessica would agree to meet up with the new man and Joseph would then announce that it was really him and proceeded to start the next round of
fighting eventually the fights would get so contentious that child protective services would be called in for the sake of their shared children just a week before the killings Jessica and her father Jesus had asked for and received an individual protective order against Joseph after he busted out out her car windows dragged her from the car and held her at gunpoint in his vehicle for a period of time Jessica's mother spoke with local news station Fox 31 in Denver about the relationship between Jessica and Joseph this has been going on for two years already and even
the cops know that how many times I've called and my daughter has called I I'm trying to get answers I haven't received any phone calls from anybody I haven't heard from my daughters I don't know anything about my granddaughters I don't know why nobody has contact me the only thing I know is that I want Justice and I want everybody to please find Joseph Cina reports state that the children shared by Joseph and Jessica had been removed by Child Protective Services just a day before the killings could this have been the triggering mechanism that ignited
the situation so where had Joseph gone he headed north away from the scene of the crime but could be headed south much further south perhaps to Texas to grab his children could he be headed to Mexico where he had family and had just been the prior year before to attend his grandfather's funeral both seemed like a long shot for a man who had not just left behind his vehicle but also his shoes inside the Hummer was also found his wallet with his ID debit card and two credit credit cards Joseph had few resources to run
on as news stories and Word of Mouth went through the Aurora and Denver Metro areas tips started coming in to the Aurora Police Department one of the first and best leads was from a cousin of Joseph's named Joel he told police that early in the morning of the killings Joseph had knocked on his bedroom window asking for help Joel said he knew something was wrong and after seeing the man at the home's front door he refused to let let him in after being asked if he could stay there for a while Joel said he provided
Joseph with a pair of green sneakers and Joseph left saying that Joseph just kept saying that he had effed up and that he seemed high on some kind of drug Joseph had traveled miles away on a night when temperatures were at freezing with no shoes completely undetected he had to have an accomplice giving him a ride the investigation turned to Joseph's two brothers while his older brother had an alibi for that night Joseph's younger brother Juan Angel castorena was avoiding contact with the police eventually he was brought in for questioning onean as it turns out
had given Joseph not just a ride away from the crime area but also to Jesus's house and then to neighboring Denver where he passed the man off as his cousin Carlos Flores Juan would be arrested and charged with accessory after the fact with four murders FBI and other law enforcement officers would then descend on flores's place of work after receiving a tip that the man had been talking about how his cousin had just killed four people Flores was arrested and would tell investigators that he had attempted to pass Joseph off to other family members but
they wanted no part of it he had finally dropped the man off in the middle of the night near a school with a couple of blankets and a handful of cash whatever onean had available at the time he had no idea where Joseph was headed or how he would get there Flores would also be charged with accessory after the fact for assisting in the getaway it would be nearly a month and a half before the work between the FBI and Mexican immigration service and the federal police began turning up Clues and putting together a trail
for Joseph rumors placed him in zakas state in the center North of Mexico it is very likely that he tried to make contact with family members in the area who then not only turned him away but also alerted local police at the family funeral for his grandfather a year earlier it is said that Joseph not just alienated himself from his cousins and more distant family members but outraged many of them he was not a liked man and he was finding no Safe Harbor Joseph then moved even further south into an even more rural part of
Mexico entering the state of Aqua calentes the 5'4 slightly built man with a large lion's head tattoo on the side of his neck stuck at out like a sore thumb and he caught the attention of local police in no time and they caught him on December 10th 2022 the chase was over Joseph was in custody soon he may be extradited back to the United States to Phoenix Arizona and turned over to the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office to be held until he could be extradited again to Colorado investigators from the Aurora Police Department would fly down
from Colorado in the meantime in an effort to interview Joseph I know it's been a long day probably for you as it as us are you cool with talking to us um I I am but I feel more comfortable attorney okay oh do you have an attorney no I would like to get one um yeah I get that's I'm trying to figure out so right now you're here you have a federal hold the hold would be here to go toor or you back there y so I don't know if you would I don't honestly know
really how that works um you'd have to get I don't know if it's a federal attorney and then you get a state public depender okay so okay um yeah I mean obviously we came from Colorado really like to hear you know your side of the story we' talked to quite a few of your family members yeah man uh from what I seen in the news it's totally different right right okay and you don't want to it's my understanding you already have been have been talking about what's going on um somewhat you just don't want to
tell us or what um well I honestly I just I would feel more comfortable with turning to be honest Joseph would alleg the Mexican police had treated him roughly something the Colorado Police guaranteed would not happen still I guess we were told that you were talking to the Mexican authorities not really no um they're a little more brutal all um well you're shaking like a leaf here yeah you know nobody's going to beat the [ __ ] out of you in Phoenix Arizona so I don't know what he said nobody's going to beat you up
here oh no I know just shook up out there so honestly two hours of sleep I haven't slept since um say Saturday that I woke up in the morning and slept a Mexican Poli didn't R me up in bit so they're not very nice understand all right well like I said nobody's going to beat you up here so if you don't want to talk that's kind of where we're at it would take nearly 2 years before Joseph would come before a jury and be found guilty of four counts of first-degree murder and one count of
attempted murder in September of 2024 he would be senten to four life sentences for his crimes four lives lost four children's lives shattered irreparably and two families broken by these events it's easy to argue that the protective order that had been granted was as flimsy as the paper it was printed on but the law in cases of domestic violence often leaves the hands of police officers and judges tied in these complicated and contentious cases
