Bay Area deputy turned away man with location of ex's dead body
SAN JOSE -- A man directing authorities to the dead body of his ex-girlfriend -- who he allegedly killed -- was turned away by a Bay Area jail employee on Monday, CBS SF Bay Area reports, and told to walk around the corner to the the police department.
On Monday morning, Hugo Castro, 28, went to the Santa Clara County jail with a note in his hand, saying he had information about the whereabouts of the body of Alessandra Barlas inside a San Jose condo where Barlas was later found.
When he walked into the main jail lobby, he spoke with a civilian worker, who reportedly checked for warrants and turned things over to a correctional deputy when none were found.
The deputy, upon learning of the note, directed Castro to walk around the corner to the San Jose Police Department. Castro followed instructions and reported the body.
When police went to the location Castro gave, Barlas was pronounced dead at the scene, with several stab wounds visible on her front torso, according to The San Jose Mercury news.
The deputy who initially turned him away has been reassigned pending an investigation.
Once with police, Castro is said to have confessed that he and the victim agreed to meet Friday at a condo in downtown San Jose, where neither one lived. At some point over the weekend, he allegedly said he strangled Barlas and stabbed her, according to the paper.
A San Jose police spokesman said the procedure at his department would be different.
"Here, we would find out what this person was talking about, detain that person, notify the investigative unit," said Sgt. Enrique Garcia of the San Jose police department. "If it's within our jurisdiction then we would handle the follow-up investigation."
The incident comes amid increased scrutiny of the county jail system. The FBI is helping the Santa Clara sheriff's office investigate nearly 100 jail complaints since the August arrest of three deputies accused of beating an inmate to death. Two other county deputies were also arrested earlier this month and accused of misconduct.
The San Jose Mercury News reports that Castro, who has a prior conviction for assaulting another ex-girlfriend in Nevada, was arraigned on a murder charge Wednesday.
A Go Fund Me page to cover the costs of Barlas' funeral arrangements calls the San Jose State University alumna "a beautiful person inside and out."