By Redacción
Redaccion@latinocc.com
Ventura County District Attorney Erik Nasarenko announced that Zarbab Ali, 28, of Hawthorne, was convicted by a jury of the first-degree murder of his estranged wife, Rachel Castillo, the mother of their children. Castillo was in the final stages of divorcing Ali when he killed her. The jury also found true the special circumstance of lying in wait and determined that Ali used a knife in the murder.
Prior to trial, Ali pleaded guilty to the felony crime of sexual contact with the victim’s remains after her death. He faces a mandatory sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Prosecutor Praises Law Enforcement’s Work
The case was prosecuted by Senior Deputy District Attorney David Russell of the Ventura County District Attorney’s Office Major Crimes Homicides Unit.
“Our thoughts are with Rachel’s family, who have endured unimaginable pain since the day she was taken from them,” Russell said. “I am thankful for the outstanding efforts of law enforcement, whose investigation made this verdict possible. While nothing can restore what her loved ones have lost, this conviction ensures the defendant will spend the rest of his life in prison and that the community will be protected from him forever.”
Body Located in Desert Before Arrest
On November 13, 2022, detectives from the Simi Valley Police Department and the FBI located Castillo’s body in a remote desert area near Littlerock. Ali was arrested later that day after leaving his parents’ home in Victorville.
Ali is scheduled to be sentenced on January 12, 2026, at 9 a.m. in courtroom 24 of the Ventura County Superior Court.
