14-yr-old Raul Renato Castro Confessed to Slaying Alex Mercado
Court documents obtained by KMJ News on Wednesday revealed chilling new details about the slaying of a 4-year-old Mendota boy.
A court affidavit shows that Raul Castro, 14, confessed he killed Alex Mercado because the toddler was going to tell his mother that Castro had molested him.
That molestation took place in the bathroom of Castro's home in Mendota.
Castro told authorities he had lured Mercado into his house last Friday afternoon by telling him he had something to show him.
Castro said he led the boy to the bathroom, then sodomized him.
When Alex began crying, Castro said he decided to kill him.
He held Alex underwater for two to four minutes, then got into the tub to hold the boy down until he died.
Then, Castro told authorities, he checked the boy's pulse to make sure he was dead -- put the boy over his shoulder -- and carried him to a clothes dryer.
Then, Castro said, he took a shower and changed clothes.
Authorities found Alex Mercado's body inside the dryer last Saturday.
The district attorney's office has charged Castro with first-degree murder and four special circumstances -- charges that could put him in prison for life.
Castro was scheduled to appear in court Wednesday afternoon.
Outside court on Wednesday morning, Castro's grandmother told KMJ News that "he's a nice kid. I don't know what happened. We are so sorry for the other family. We know how they feel, because I am a mother, too."
www.kmjnow.com/pages/landing_news?Mendot...86864&feedID=806Affidavit: Raul Renato Castro confesses to killing Alex Mercado
11:56 a.m.: A 14-year-old Mendota boy has confessed to killing a 4-year-old neighbor because the toddler was going to tell his mother the teen had molested him, according to a court affidavit made public this morning.
Raul Renato Castro molested Alex Christopher Mercado in the bathroom of the Castro’s home on Tuft Street in Mendota, the affidavit said. When Alex started crying and threatened to tell his mother, Castro said he decided to kill him, the affidavit said.
Castro held the boy under water for two to four minutes. He then got into the tub to hold the boy down until he died, the affidavit said.
After checking the boy’s pulse to make sure he was dead, Castro said he slung the boy over his shoulder and carried him to a clothes dryer. He put the body in the dryer to conceal the victim’s whereabouts, the affidavit said. He then took a shower and changed his clothing.
The chilling new details are contained in Castro’s court file. The affidavit by sheriff’s detective Sergio Toscano was written in support of getting a warrant to arrest Castro.
The new details elaborate on the information that Sheriff Margaret Mims has already released to the public.
Mims has said Alex was playing outside his Tuft Street home in northwest Mendota on Friday when the 14-year-old lured him into his home next door, Mims said.
The next day, officials from the FBI and the Sheriff's Office searched the teen's home and discovered Alex's body in the dryer, Mims said. Sheriff’s detectives Toscano and Hector Palma interviewed the teenage suspect at 2:30 p.m. Saturday.
According to Toscano’s affidavit, Castro was read his Miranda rights against self incrimination. Castro, however, said he understood his rights and agreed to talk to the detectives, the affidavit said.
Castro said he saw Alex outside his home Friday, but initially said he had nothing to do with the child’s disappearance.
The detectives then asked Castro how the boy ended up dead in his clothes dryer.
Castro said, “Maybe someone broke into his home and put the victim in the clothes dryer,” according to the affidavit.
The detectives said they knew Castro was being untruthful and encouraged him to be honest.
Castro then admitted to killing the boy. He then went into detail about how he lured Alex into his home by telling the toddler he had something to show him.
Once inside the home, Castro led the boy to the bathroom, where he molested him and sodomized him, the affidavit said. Soon after Alex started to cry, and saying he was going to tell his mother, Castro killed him. The affidavit doesn’t specify when that happened.
Castro is being held in the Juvenile Justice Campus south of Fresno. His bail is more than $2 million. He will be arraigned this afternoon on murder charges.
10:11 a.m.: The arraignment of a 14-year-old Mendota boy in the slaying of a 4-year-old neighbor was delayed until this afternoon in Fresno County Superior Court.
Raul Renato Castro was expected to enter a plea of not guilty this morning in the killing of Alex Christopher Mercado, but Judge Jon Nick Kapetan delayed the proceedings to give the victim’s family and friends time to make it to court.
Castro’s family and friends, including his mother, Elsa Castro, 39, were in the courtroom this morning with hopes of seeing her son. But he was not brought into the courtroom.
During the wait, Elsa Castro left the courtroom and cried. She declined to comment, but Raul Castro’s grandmother, Desidora Hernandez, told reporters that Raul Castro “is a nice kid.”
“We don’t know what happened,” said Hernandez, 68, of Mendota.
A criminal complaint charges Castro with first-degree murder and four special allegations associated with that charge -- that it was committed along with child molestation, sodomy, and kidnapping, and in order to silence a witness. Castro also faces separate felony charges of kidnapping, sodomy and child molestation.
He is being held at the county Juvenile Justice Campus south of Fresno.
According to Sheriff Margaret Mims, Alex was playing outside his Tuft Street home in northwest Mendota on Friday when the 14-year-old lured him into his home next door. The next day, officials from the FBI and the Sheriff's Office searched the teen's home and discovered Alex's body in the dryer, Mims said. The body was put in the dryer after he was drowned, Mims said. The sheriff has not specified how or where Alex was drowned or why he was killed.
In a statement released Tuesday, District Attorney Elizabeth A. Egan announced that her department was charging Castro as an adult, using a California law that gives prosecutors the discretion to try offenders as young as 14 as adults.
Under the law, a youth offender cannot face the death penalty or life in prison without parole, said Egan's spokeswoman, Sonia De La Rosa. If convicted, Castro could face up to 47 years to life in prison, De La Rosa said.
Prosecutors will charge a 14-year-old boy as an adult today in Fresno County Superior Court in the slaying of 4-year-old Alex Christopher Mercado of Mendota.
But Raul Renato Castro's mother said justice won't be served by prosecuting him as an adult.
"I'll never understand why he did it," Elsa Castro said in a telephone interview Tuesday evening. "He's a good boy who has never been in trouble."
Elsa Castro said she hasn't slept or eaten well since Alex was discovered dead in the dryer of her home Saturday. "It's like one big nightmare," she said.
She said it also hurts her to know that the Mendota community has turned against her and her son, painting him as weird.
"He's never hurt anyone," she said. "He's a good, intelligent boy who was raised right. All I can say is that I did my best."
She said her son was doing well in eighth grade, earnings B's and C's.
Today, Raul Castro faces charges of first-degree murder and four special allegations associated with that charge -- that it was committed along with child molestation, sodomy, kidnapping and in order to silence a witness. Castro also faces separate felony charges of kidnapping, sodomy and child molestation.
He is being held at the county Juvenile Justice Campus south of Fresno.
Elsa Castro, a single mother, said she plans to be at her son's arraignment. She said she feels sorry for Alex's family, "but I lost a son, too."
In a statement released Tuesday afternoon, District Attorney Elizabeth A. Egan announced that her department was charging Castro as an adult, using a California law that gives prosecutors the discretion to try offenders as young as 14 as adults.
Egan's office used the law in the case of 15-year-old Bethany Clark of Fresno. Prosecutors say she lured her friend to a remote area, where he was carjacked and killed.
Clark was charged with murder in connection with Carlos Gonzalez's death in February 2007. In July this year, Clark was sentenced to nine years in prison after she pleaded guilty to carjacking and testified against the two men who killed Gonzalez. The two men were convicted.
Under the law, a youth offender cannot face the death penalty or life in prison without parole, said Egan's spokeswoman, Sonia De La Rosa.
If convicted, Castro could face up to 47 years to life in prison, De La Rosa said.
Alex was playing outside his Tuft Street home in northwest Mendota on Friday when the 14-year-old lured him into his home next door, Sheriff Margaret Mims has said.
The next day, officials from the FBI and the Sheriff's Office searched the teen's home and discovered Alex's body in the dryer, Mims said. The body was put in the dryer after he was drowned, Mims said. But the sheriff has not specified how or where Alex was drowned or why he was killed.
Elsa Castro said she was home when detectives arrived. She said she didn't know how or where Alex was killed. She declined to say whether she saw Alex's body because she didn't want to relive the experience.
But she said, "I just screamed at what I saw. No one will ever understand how I feel about what happened."
SPECIAL TO THE BEE
Alex Christopher Mercado, above, was playing outside his Mendota home Friday when Raul Renato Castro, 14, allegedly lured the 4-year-old into his home next door, Sheriff Margaret Mims has said.
HOW TO HELP
A fund in memory of Alex Mercado has been set up at Westamerica Bank in Kerman. Contributions can be made through any Westamerica bank. Checks should be made to the Alex Mercado Memorial Fund, account No. 0261977268.
Sheriff: Mendota boy was drowned, put in dryer
She said she and her son have cooperated with the investigation and talked to detectives separately.
Mims has said the mother apparently was not involved in the crime and doesn't face charges.
Elsa Castro said she is depending on her only other child -- whom she identified as "an adult teen" son -- to support her through the ordeal.
Matt Flood, a friend who is acting as spokesman for Alex's family, said news of the charges put the family in "a state of shock." But the family is coping with the child's death by thinking "positive thoughts," because dwelling on the crime breeds hatred, he said.
"The detectives and prosecutors are all seasoned veterans who know what they are doing," Flood said. "The family is depending on them to carry out justice."
www.fresnobee.com/832/story/1697404-p2.html