Man convicted of killing 4 people at ex-girlfriend’s home near Denver

DENVER (AP) — A man was convicted Thursday of killing four people at his ex-girlfriend’s home in suburban Denver in 2022 a week after she was granted a court order to keep him away from her.

Joseph Mario Castorena, 22, was convicted 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 Aurora on Oct. 30, 2022, prosecutors said. He was also convicted of one count of attempted murder.

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 was arrested over a month after the shooting in Mexico and extradited back to Colorado.

Prosecutors alleged that Castorena broke into the home and waited 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. Shots were fired 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 claimed he held her in his car and would not let her go home.

Castorena faces a mandatory life sentence for each of his four first-degree murder convictions when he is sentenced on Sept. 3.

Colleen Slevin, The Associated Press