CARLSBAD: Fugitive arrested in 2003 slaying of Escondido woman
CARLSBAD: Fugitive arrested in 2003 slaying of Escondido woman
By TERI FIGUEROA tfigueroa@nctimes.com | Posted: Sunday, April 1, 2012 10:00 pm
For more than seven years, Gilberto Mendoza Castillo was a fugitive wanted on a murder charge. This weekend, the hunt ended and Castillo was behind bars, arrested on suspicion of murder in the 2003 slaying of a Carlsbad mother of three who reportedly had rejected his advances.
Castillo was found and arrested in Tijuana on Saturday, then handed over to Carlsbad police and other U.S. authorities at the San Ysidro border crossing, Carlsbad police Sgt. Mickey Williams said Sunday.
Castillo, now 38, has long been suspected as the triggerman in the slaying of Maria Munoz, who was 31 when she was gunned down Dec. 7, 2003, behind the taco shop where she sometimes worked.
Her cousin was also shot and nearly died in the 8 p.m. ambush in the parking lot behind Cessy's Taco Shop, on Carlsbad Boulevard near Carlsbad Village Drive.
The gunman got out of a car carrying a semiautomatic gun and shot Munoz through the driver's window of her Ford Expedition, the North County Times reported in 2003. He then shot her cousin Miguel Silva as he walked toward the SUV. Silva was hospitalized in critical condition, but survived, the paper reported.
Castillo quickly emerged as a suspect; there were a number of witnesses to the shooting. An arrest warrant was issued for him 12 days after the shooting, but by then authorities believed he had fled to Mexico, Williams said.
In an interview not long after the shooting, Munoz's sister told the North County Times that Castillo had been fired from the taco shop a few weeks prior to the deadly ambush.
She and other Munoz family members said at the time that Castillo had pined for a romantic relationship with Munoz, who was at the shop that night to pick up Silva.
Munoz had at times worked at the cash register at Cessy's, her family told the paper in 2003. She had befriended Castillo and tried to help him with a number of personal problems, her family said.
When she died, Munoz was the doting mother of three children ---- sons ages 5 and 13, and a 14-year-old daughter.
Aside from her work at the Carlsbad eatery, Munoz also worked at a San Marcos factory and Escondido auto parts store.
Castillo remained jailed at the Vista Detention Facility on Sunday night in lieu of $2 million bail. He was also placed on an immigration hold, according to the jail website.
He may be arraigned on Tuesday, according to the jail website.
Call staff writer Teri Figueroa at 760-740-5442 or follow her on Twitter at @TeriFigueroaNCT
CARLSBAD: Fugitive arrested in 2003 slaying of Escondido woman
