Content warning: This article contains graphic descriptions of murder and sexual abuse. Please take care while reading.
In November 2025, a jury convicted Zarbab Ali of Hawthorne, California, of first-degree murder after brutally killing his estranged wife in 2022 and later digging her up and sexually assaulting her, an act he admitted he did “just to confirm” how monstrous he believed himself to be.
What happened to Rachel Castillo?
Jury today convicts Hawthorne resident Zarbab Ali of first degree murder of his estranged wife and mother of his children Rachel Castillo of Simi Valley. (Ventura County District Attorney’s Office photo) #breakingnews #crime #courtnews #acornnewspaper pic.twitter.com/5a5rz8jctE
— Scott Steepleton (@ScottSteepleton) November 21, 2025
According to KTLA, the crime occurred on the night of November 10, 2022, when Ali, now 28, waited outside the apartment of 25-year-old Rachel Castillo in Simi Valley, California, as she prepared to finalize their divorce. Investigators said Ali slipped inside, ambushed Castillo, and stabbed her repeatedly in the chest as she emerged from the bathroom.
According to police and prosecutors, Castillo and Ali had two young sons, ages 5 and 2, at the time of the killing. On the day of the crime, Ali picked up both children from their mother’s Simi Valley apartment in the morning and drove them to his parents’ home in Victorville. Reports say the boys are now in the care of Castillo’s family.
After murdering her, Ali wrapped Castillo’s body in a blanket, attempted to clean up the blood, then transported her to a remote area of the Antelope Valley desert, where he buried her in a shallow grave.
Three days later, on November 13, 2022, searchers recovered Castillo’s remains, prompted by her family’s growing concern. Investigators traced the crime back to Ali, who was arrested that same day at his parents’ home in Victorville.
The shocking confession
Zarbab Ali confessed to murdering his estranged wife, Rachel Castillo, and then further desecrating the body by burying it in a shallow grave before later digging it up to rape her corpse. https://t.co/UKf8BMYWMT
— KTVU (@KTVU) November 26, 2025
During his trial, prosecutors played a recorded interrogation in which Ali confessed to the killing and the subsequent desecration of the body. In that recording, he said: “I found Rachel, she was alone and I killed her.” When asked why, he responded: “There was no reason.”
He admitted that after burying her, he returned the next morning, exhumed her body, and sexually assaulted it. In his own chilling words: “Just to confirm that I am a monster, I raped her.” He added, “If I didn’t commit to being a monster, then she would have died for no reason.”
The jury returned a verdict of first-degree murder and sexual assault on a corpse on November 21, 2025, and also found that the killing involved lying in wait and the use of a deadly weapon, a knife. The court will sentence Ali on January 10, 2026. He’ll likely spend the rest of his life in prison with no chance for parole.
Family members of Castillo, as well as prosecutors, described the crime as a senseless and depraved act of violence. Senior Deputy District Attorney David Russell said in a statement that there was “no reason” for what happened and that the murder was “senseless and brutal.”
Castillo was a young mother of two and had been working toward a graduate degree, with aspirations of becoming a marriage and family therapist. Her family expressed profound grief and outrage at the verdict, calling Ali’s actions “evil and egregious.”
