Long Island music school teacher allegedly raped, strangled his sister-in-law in "planned, twisted attack"
A school music teacher allegedly raped and strangled his sister-in-law in a "planned, twisted attack" last month on Long Island, prosecutors said Wednesday.
Joseph Horner, 27, practiced carrying out the attack by performing a chokehold on a stuffed animal, with the practice session caught on video, according to prosecutors.
What's more, he even took a call from his wife while attacking her sister, prosecutors said.
Horner faces life in prison if convicted on first-degree murder and rape charges.
Horner is accused of raping and killing Victoria Castle, 25. The two lived in a two-family home in North Massapequa – Horner and his wife upstairs, Castle downstairs.
On social media, Castle once called Horner "one of the most wonderful people in the world," prosecutors said.
In court Wednesday, prosecutors claimed Horner harbored a deadly fixation on Castle, and on June 29, when his wife was away, he asked Castle to help him move a keyboard piano.
"It was cover for the defendant to finally act on his decade-long, chilling lust for his sister-in-law," Nassau County DA Anne Donnelly said.
He then put her in a chokehold until her body went limp, and then raped and strangled her, prosecutors said in court.
His practice session on the stuffed animal was recorded on his own surveillance camera, according to prosecutors.
"Practicing a chokehold on a stuffed animal 15 minutes before he carried out the vile act against his sister-in-law, which used the same method of a chokehold," Donnelly said.
Horner took a FaceTime call from his wife during the crime, according to prosecutors.
"During that call, the defendant acted as if nothing was wrong, as if he hadn't just violently attacked her sister," Donnelly said. "He's a cold, calculated, vicious killer."
After the attack, Horner allegedly called 911 and calmly waited for police outside the house and confessed to a decade-long obsession, including sneaking into Castle's apartment in search of explicit photos of her.
"A truly twisted, sickening behavior pattern," Donnelly said.
The unfathomable crime is made even worse because Horner worked for years as a choral teacher in an Oceanside elementary school, Donnelly said.
"As a parent, I am horrified that this person had access to children, someone who could commit such a vile and monstrous act," she said.
The school district is terminating Horner, and called the allegations deeply disturbing.
Horner pleaded not guilty in court Wednesday. His wife sobbed. His attorney declined to comment, as did other relatives who attended court.
He's due back in court Aug. 19.
