Puerto Rico’s Department of Justice filed a first-degree murder charge Wednesday against Carlos Manuel Estefano Pino, 67, in the killing of nurse Jennifer Marie Torres Castro, 36, whose body was found June 24 in her home in the Quebrada Arenas sector of Río Cañas barrio, Caguas. Judge Karina Díaz Pérez of the Caguas Court of First Instance found probable cause for arrest, set bail at $3 million, and ordered him returned to prison.
The case resulted from an investigation by agent Reimundo Quiñonez Castro of the Caguas Criminal Investigations Corps (CIC) Homicide Division, under Sergeant David Correa, in consultation with prosecutor Liza Morales Jusino. An autopsy by forensic pathologist Paola Luna García found the victim was severely beaten on the head, face and body, showed bite marks, and died of mechanical asphyxia.
Her mother, Keila Castro, told police she last saw her daughter June 21 at 7 p.m. and later found her home locked on June 23; municipal emergency management staff opened the door and found the body covered with a purple sheet. Estefano Pino, reportedly the last person seen with her after she helped him through their church, was previously sentenced to 167 years for a 1980 murder but was paroled in 1989.