Cynthia Palacio and Linda Carbajal Murders: Is Andy Castillo Dead or Alive? – Linda Trevino Carbajal’s body was discovered on a rural dirt road in northern Lubbock County, Texas, on Monday, April 19, 2004. Carbajal had been strangled and had received blunt-force injuries. Carbajal was 21 years old at the time of her death and lived in Lubbock, Texas. Linda Carbajal’s death was linked to Cynthia Palacio’s murder on July 15, 2003.
Andy Castillo was arrested on September 3, 2020, for the murders of Linda Carbajal and Cynthia Palacio. Castillo was arrested in Waco, Texas, in 2020 for an unrelated offence, and his DNA was taken and uploaded into the state CODIS database, resulting in a match to the Carbajal and Palacio murders.
Castillo died in a Lubbock hospital on August 27, 2021. Castillo, who was still in detention at the time of his death, was awaiting trial for the two murders.
Cynthia Palacio and Linda Carbajal, roommates, were murdered in disturbingly identical circumstances, barely months apart in the early 2000s. However, it took more than a decade and a half to solve those cases. ‘Devil in the Web: Cyber-Stalker,’ a show on Investigation Discovery, focuses on how Andy Castillo’s arrest for stalking led to the police linking him to the two slayings. So if you’re interested in learning more, we’ve got you covered.
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Cynthia Palacio and Linda Carbajal: How Did They Die?
Linda Trevino Carbajal and Cynthia Joann Palacio were born in the same month of the same year. Both girls had small daughters at the time of their deaths, and they were housemates and best friends. While it was unclear when Cynthia was last seen, her body was recovered in a ditch near Slaton in Lubbock County, Texas, by a runner on July 15, 2003. Cynthia’s body was partially nude, and an examination revealed that she was strangled to death at the age of 21.
Linda Trevino Carbajal was just 11 years old when her mother was sentenced to prison, according to the show. Her body was discovered on a lonely road near New Deal in Lubbock County on April 19, 2004. Linda was sexually abused, according to the show. The 21-year-old young mother suffered blunt force trauma in addition to being strangled to death.
Who Killed Cynthia Palacio and Linda Carbajal and Why?
In the aftermath of the murders, the authorities worked the cases and followed up on various leads. However, they ran into a brick wall and were unable to identify a suspect, leaving the murders unexplained for many years. Then, in January 2020, Lubbock cops raided Andy Castillo’s apartment and arrested him. The authorities were looking into complaints that someone was pestering real estate agents in Texas at the time.
The person would phone and text multiple times, requesting sex. Six ladies in Waco, Texas, received sexually graphic photographs as well as pictures of their children from an unknown cellphone number. The sender also went into explicit detail about what he planned to do sexually to the children. This individual utilised an app to hide his phone number, but the IP address was finally traced to a Lubbock apartment complex.
Andy, who resided in one of the units, was discovered during the investigation. He had previously been accused of grabbing women in public and sexually abusing a family member with physical limitations, according to the show.
Andy made similar calls to roughly 100 real estate brokers in 20 different cities across ten states, according to the investigators. The police took his DNA sample after his arrest in January 2020, which led to his connection to the long-unsolved murders.
Cynthia’s thigh, under her fingernails, clothing, and a necklace she was wearing were all examined for biological evidence in 2003. Andy’s DNA matched the evidence from Cynthia’s case when it was analysed through CODIS.
After Cynthia and Linda died, biological evidence discovered at the murder scenes proved that Cynthia and Linda’s deaths were linked. Andy was now officially charged with both murders.
How Did Killer ‘Andy Castillo’ Die?
Andy Castillo was charged with one count of cyber-stalking and two counts of criminal solicitation-aggravated sexual assault of a juvenile after his arrest in 2020. When he was indicted for capital murder in the deaths of Cynthia and Palacio in December 2020, the charges were dismissed.
Andy, on the other hand, died before he could be tried for the killings. The 58-year-old died on August 27, 2021, at the University Medical Center in Lubbock. He died as a result of COVID-19, according to the authorities.
