AURORA | A man was convicted of killing four people at his ex-girlfriend’s home in Aurora in 2022, a week after she was granted a court order to keep him away from her, was sentenced Wednesday to four, consecutive life terms in prison.
Joseph Mario Castorena, 22, was convicted in May of four counts of first-degree murder after deliberation for killing three of Jessica Serrano’s relatives as well as a man who rented an RV on the family’s property in northwest Aurora on Oct. 30, 2022, prosecutors said. He was also convicted in an Arapahoe County district court of one count of attempted murder.
“This coward executed an entire family and innocent tenant,” Senior Chief Deputy District Attorney Darcy Kofol said in a statement. “This defendant couldn’t accept the fact that his ex-girlfriend wanted to move on with her life. Instead, he decided to viciously murder everyone she loved.”
Judge David Karpel agreed with prosecutors’ request for four consecutive sentences despite defense lawyers’ argument that the sentencing was unwarranted.
Castorena and Serrano, who was not injured, have two children together. Their children were out-of-state with family at the time of the shooting, police have said.
Castorena fled the city after the shooting and was arrested more than a month later in Mexico and extradited to Colorado.
Prosecutors said Castorena broke into the home and hid inside with a gun until family members returned home.
’When Serrano arrived at about 2 a.m., she noticed Castorena’s keys in her bedroom and called police to report that she thought her ex-boyfriend was in the house and that he was not supposed to be there.
Dispatchers said they could hear gunfire as she spoke to dispatchers, prosecutors said.
A week before the shooting, Serrano sought a court protective order, saying that Castorena had held a gun at her and threatened to kill her. She also said he held her in his car and would not let her go home.
Slain victims in the shooting were 51-year-old Jesus Serrano, 22-year-old Maria Anita Serrano, 20-year-old Kenneth Eugene Green Luque and 49-year-old Rudolfo Salgado Perez.
“This defendant committed a series of heinous crimes and then tried to avoid facing accountability by fleeing to Mexico,” Deputy District Attorney Lauren Raible said. “The Aurora Police Department deserves tremendous credit in helping us track him down and bring him to justice.”