SAN JOSE — Homicide detectives are investigating the stabbing death of a woman found in a downtown condo Monday that led to the arrest of a man she once dated, according to San Jose police.
Hugo Ernesto Castro, 28, of San Jose, was booked late Monday into the Santa Clara County jail on suspicion of murder, and is being held without bail. No one else is suspected in the killing.
The victim, described only as a woman in her 20s, was discovered at 10:21 a.m. by officers performing a welfare check at a unit in The Globe condominium complex on South Third Street.
She had at least one stab wound, police said. Her identity has not been publicly released pending notification of her relatives.
It was not immediately clear who called police to the condo, which belonged to neither the victim nor the suspect. Police said the two had a “prior dating relationship.”
In the wake of the discovery, detectives culled information that led them to identify Castro as a person of interest in the death. He was detained and interviewed at police headquarters, at the end of which he was arrested, police spokesman Sgt. Enrique Garcia said.
The killing was the city’s 25th homicide of the year. At this time last year, there were 29 homicides.
According to Nevada state records, in 2009 Castro was sentenced to three years at a Carson City work camp after a conviction for battery with a deadly weapon. Just over a month after that sentence ended, in June 2012, he was arrested in San Jose and later convicted of misdemeanor driving under the influence after he crashed a car against the barrier walls of the freeway overcrossing from southbound Interstate 680 to southbound Highway 101.
The car he was driving at the time of the DUI belonged to his father, Hugo Salvador Castro, who is a registered sex offender after being convicted of three counts of sex acts with children.
Monday’s killing was the city’s second homicide in three days after 34-year-old San Francisco resident Michael Arcega was fatally shot early Saturday outside the Lu Beer Club and Restaurant on Monterey Highway south of Alma Avenue. No suspects have been identified, and police continue imploring the public for tips in that case.
Anyone with information about either of these killings can contact Detective Sgt. Rick Yu or Detective Wayne Smith of the SJPD homicide unit at 408-277-5283 or leave a tip with Silicon Valley Crime Stoppers at 408-947-STOP (7867) or with svcrimestoppers.org.
Check back later for updates to this story.
Contact Robert Salonga at 408-920-5002. Follow him at Twitter.com/robertsalonga.
