Raul Castro was a fourteen year old living in California when he would murder four year old Alex Mercado
According to court documents Raul Castro would sexually assault his four year old neighbor Alex Mercado. In order to cover up the assault Raul would murder the young boy and stuff his body into a dryer
Raul Castro would be arrested, convicted and sentenced to thirty three years to life in prison
Raul Castro would later get a sentence reduction to twenty five years to life. He is eligible for parole in 2030
Raul Castro Current Information
Name
CASTRO, RAUL RENATO
CDCR Number
AH0674
Age
30
Current Location
Admission Date
Oct 05 2011
Commitment County
Fresno
Raul Castro Case
In April, a judge convicted 15 year old Raul Castro for the 2009 murder and sexual assault of Alex Mercado. The boy’s body was found inside a clothes dryer after a long search for the missing child.
Raul Castro showed no emotion while several members of the victim’s family cried as they spoke about their heartache.
Alex’s mother says even happy moments aren’t the same since her son was murdered and left cold and lifeless in a dryer. “I hug his clothes, i smell his shoes, and i hold his little toys. Then I do know that there are no words to describe the longing I feel for my precious little child.”
Mindy Betancourt Mercado says on many days she struggles to even get up. “I have spent countless nights that I lay in bed and shed my tears for him. I will never be the person I was before. I find it hard at times to enjoy life like I used to only now I wear a smile of disguise.”
Ten days before his murder, Alex wrote his name for the first time and made a self-portrait, complete with spiked hair. Alex’s teenage brother told the court Alex loved to horse around and play games.
“He is the brightest boy who loved everybody,” said James Betancourt. “We used to wrestle in my bedroom and I can remember him telling me that he wanted big muscles like mine.”
Outside court, Castro’s mother says she feels sympathy for Alex’s family, but she too is devastated.
“I do feel for the family because their son’s not coming home ever,” said Elsa Castro. “He was a special kid. Their son is special and so is mine. And i don’t have any regrets of anything. But i do have a broken heart for them, because i do have a feeling for them.”
Alex’s mother had harsh words for the boy who ended her son’s life. She called him a monster and took note of his lack of remorse. “As for Raul, I didn’t need to see him cry or even shed a tear during the trial. He will have to live with what he did. His mother will have to carry the guilt of knowing she could have prevented all this had she rewarded him differently.”
Alex’s brother, James said, “If i could have one more day with Alex, i would make it the best day of his life. It is sometimes too hard to say goodbye.”
The judge said that if the words of family members haven’t hit Castro, then maybe his words would not, either. But he warned him some day the impact of what he has done will dawn on him.
After his lengthy sentence, when Castro is released, he will have to register as a sex offender for the rest of his life.
Raul Castro Sentence Reduction
A state appeals court has reduced the prison sentence of a Central California teenager convicted of molesting and drowning his 4-year-old neighbor and then hiding the boy’s body in a clothes dryer.
The 5th District Court of Appeal ruled that the trial judge erred in adding eight years to Raul Castro’s sentence for his sex-crime convictions. The Mendota teen was convicted of forcible sodomy on a child and a forcible lewd act on a child in addition to first-degree murder in the 2009 slaying of Alex Mercado.
Authorities say Castro, then 14, drowned the preschooler in a bathtub after Mercado said he would tell his mother about the sexual assault.
The Fresno Bee reports that the appeals court reduced Castro’s sentence last week from 33 years- to-life to 25 years-to-life in prison.
