Samurai sword killer sentenced to prison for beheading ex-girlfriend Karina Castro

REDWOOD CITY, Calif. (KRON) — The killer who used a samurai sword to decapitate his ex-girlfriend, Karina Castro, in the middle of a San Carlos street was sentenced on Tuesday to serve 25 years to life in prison with possibility of parole.

Jose “Rafa” Solano Landaeta, 34, of Hayward, was sentenced by San Mateo County Superior Court Judge Lisa Novak. The judge told a packed courtroom that she wished she could make the sentence more severe, but legally could not under California law.

Several of Castro’s family members made emotional victim impact statements while Landaeta sat silently, shackled with handcuffs, and guarded by eight sheriff’s deputies.

Castro, 27, was beheaded on September 8, 2022. Horrified witnesses testified watching the woman run for her life down Laurel Street while Landaeta chased her with the sword. Castro’s two young daughters were inside their mother’s Laurel Street apartment at the time.

Inside the courtroom, Castro’s grandmother, Danielle Gannon of Vallejo, told Landaeta that he is a “monster,” “the worst kind of evil,” and deserved a life sentence without possibility of parole.

Gannon said Castro’s daughters “are safe. Her oldest still has nightmares and cries for her mom. Karina lived for her daughters and she died protecting them. If she let Rafa in the apartment that day he would have killed the girls. He literally butchered her in broad daylight … a public execution, and tried to use mental illness as an excuse. I am glad the jury saw through the lies.”

Landaeta is the father of Castro’s youngest daughter. His defense attorney said his client is a paranoid schizophrenic, and he attacked his ex because she threatened him over social media.

Gannon told the judge, “Please punish this monster to the fullest extent that the law allows. Protect her daughters and any other female who comes into contact with this purely evil man.”

Judge Novak told the convicted killer that his manipulation, lies, and faking a mental illness in front of jurors during his trial did not work.

The judge made Landaeta stand up before she told him, “I want to be very clear, untreated mental illness had nothing to do with your execution of Karina. You tried every avenue imaginable … trying to deflect your own responsibility and somehow assign responsibility on the fact that you have suffered from mental illness. It’s simply not rooted in fact at all.”

Novak said the 2023 murder trial was “by far the most difficult trial I have ever presided over because of the true horror of the crime you committed butchering Karina.”

Only one person requested to speak in defense of Landaeta at his sentencing — his mother. The judge, however, denied the mother’s request.

The victim’s father, Martin Castro, went to all of Landaeta’s court appearances over the past two years. Each time, the father sat in the courtroom gallery “stoic, brave, and unflinching,” a prosecutor told the court. At Tuesday’s sentencing, Martin Castro cried without making a sound when the prosecutor said, “Karina had no way to defend herself, she died a horrible death.”

The victim’s younger sister, Mya Castro, said Landaeta should never be freed from a prison cell. “Every day I am overwhelmed by rage at the fact that my sister should be here. Karina was strong, brave, outspoken, and beautiful inside and out,” Mya Castro said.

The judge ordered Landaeta to report to prison immediately.

During the trial, eye-witnesses testified that the killer continued swinging the sword into Karina Castro’s head and neck even after she died. A sheriff’s deputy testified that Landaeta returned to the crime scene and made a murder confession. The jury found Landaeta guilty on November 20, 2023 of first-degree murder in a manner that was egregiously vicious and cruel.

Prosecutor Josh Stauffer said Castro had a restraining order against her killer because of prior domestic violence. Landaeta was also convicted a decade ago of raping an unconscious 15-year-old girl.

In the hours leading up to the sword attack, Castro told Landaeta through social media messages that she was going to expose him as a rapist. “It was the shame of that act that caused the defendant so much fear that it would become public. It was one of the reasons why he murdered Karina,” Stauffer said.

On Tuesday, Stauffer said Landaeta has never shown any remorse. In his most recent probation report, Landaeta continued claiming that someone else killed his ex-girlfriend, Stauffer said.

Gannon said California’s laws need to change so that murderers are punished with stiffer sentences. Karina Castro’s memory will live on through her daughters, the grandmother said. “I see her in both of her daughters,” she said.