Man Says God Told Him To Sacrifice Father (WRAL.com; Aug 12)

HILLSBOROUGH, North Carolina: An Orange County man charged with killing his father and shooting at his former high school three years ago asked forgiveness for his father’s death, his mother testified Wednesday.

Alvaro Castillo, 22, is charged with fatally shooting his father, Rafael Huezo Castillo, on Aug. 30, 2006, and then driving to Orange High School with a cache of weapons and opening fire. Two students were injured in the shooting, which ended when school personnel tackled him.

Castillo has pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity to all charges.

In a statement Vicky Castillo made to investigators a week after the shootings, she said her only son told her he had asked for God’s forgiveness for killing his father.

“Alvaro held and kissed his dad’s hand and asked forgiveness of his dad and God,” Orange County District Attorney Jim Woodall read from Vicky Castillo’s statement.

“Alvaro said, ‘I killed Dad, Mommy, because God told me to. I sacrificed him,’” Vicky Castillo told investigators in relating a conversation with her son, according to her statement.

Castillo compared his father’s death to God sacrificing Jesus and told his mother that she was free to live her life, his mother told investigators.

He said that his father appeared to be suffering after he was shot, so he shot him several more times to put him out of his misery, according to her statement.

“(I fired the shots) not with anger but with peace,” he told his mother, according to her statement.

A medical examiner testified Monday that Rafael Castillo had been shot seven times, including five times in the face….

Deborah Grey, a licensed clinical social worker who examined Alvaro Castillo’s family history, interviewed him in jail and reviewed the evidence collected in the criminal case….

Woodall questioned Grey for much of the afternoon on Castillo’s extensive planning of the Orange High shooting and his desire to be recognized as someone associated with a school shooting. She acknowledged Castillo’s need for recognition was an important factor but said she thought his concept of “sacrificing” students to save them from worldly pain and suffering was central to his thinking.

An Aug 21 follow-up story from CNN adds these details:

A man who was obsessed with the Columbine High School massacre was found guilty of murder Friday and sentenced to life without parole for gunning down his father before opening fire at a North Carolina high school three years ago.

Alvaro Castillo, 21, has been medicated during the trial and showed little reaction as the first verdict was read — guilty of the first-degree murder of his father.

He also was convicted of multiple assault and weapons offenses in the school shooting. No one was killed at the school, but two students were wounded.

The jury deliberated seven hours before rejecting Castillo’s insanity defense.

At his sentencing, Castillo thanked “the Lord our God for all his blessings” and thanked his family for being in court.

“I thank my father in heaven for watching down on me” he said.

Later, Castillo apologized to the victims, adding, “I know by my actions I shocked and hurt a lot of people. It wasn’t my intention. I simply wanted to help. Now I know I was wrong.”…

Experts for the defense testified that Castillo believed God wanted him to sacrifice his father and the students….

Man Tries To Kill Neighbor Because “God Told Me To” (KIRO-TV; Sept 11)

SEATTLE : A Snohomish County teenager is in jail Friday after allegedly trying to kill his neighbor because “God told him to.”

Chad Patterson, 19, is accused of going after his neighbor with a six inch kitchen knife Thursday.

According to deputies, the 57-year-old victim was inside in his home on 120th Place Southeast near Mill Creek, sitting on his couch, when Patterson broke in.

Patterson allegedly rushed toward the victim, with the knife, saying God told him to kill, deputies said.

The victim managed to disarm Patterson, but both were cut in the process, police said. Neither of them was seriously injured; the victim was treated at the scene.

Jennifer Monteleone said the victim is well liked in their neighborhood.

“He’s just a guy that no matter what you need, whenever you need it, he’s always there. So it was really difficult to see that this involved him but also difficult to see that it was something you never expect to happen in your own neighborhood,” Monteleone said.

Patterson appeared in court Friday after he was arrested on charges of first-degree attempted murder and burglary.

A Snohomish County prosecutor asked the judge to set bail at $750,000 but Patterson’s attorney said he has mental issues.

The judge sided with the prosecution.

Jewel Stalker Was “Following God” (The BBC; Sept 23)

A man accused of stalking US singer-songwriter Jewel Kilcher at her home in Texas said he was on a mission from God, US authorities have said.

Michael Lawrance Kozelka of Wisconsin was arrested last week after he was seen outside Jewel’s ranch two days in a row.

Police said he had a pocket knife on him, but did not resist arrest.

The 50-year-old has been charged with stalking. If found guilty, he faces a maximum of 10 years in jail.

Jewel’s husband, rodeo champion Ty Murray, warned Mr Kozelka not to return after discovering him at the 2,000-acre ranch on 14 September, but he returned a day later.

He had a pocket knife in his clothing [and] was accompanied by a dog, Erath County Sheriff Tommy Bryant told news agency The Associated Press.

“He was not aggressive and was not mad,” Bryant added. “He just said he was on a mission from God, that God told him to come to Stephenville and led him to this ranch.”

Mr Kozelka has been jailed in Stephenville, about 75 miles southwest of Fort Worth, on a $30,000 (£18,000) bond since his arrest.

Jewel, who has received three Grammy nominations, is best known for hits such as You Were Meant for Me and Foolish Games.

“God” Tells Tennessee Man To Build World’s Largest Treehouse (Bridgette Meinhold/Inhabitat.com; Oct 29)

When God told Horace Burgess to build a treehouse, he promised that Burgess would never run out of materials. So far he hasn’t. Using tons of reclaimed wood, Burgess has built a 10 story treehouse in Crossville, Tennessee. Burgess claims it is the world’s largest treehouse and since no one has disputed him yet, his fantastic 100 foot tall structure continues its reign. Known as the Minister’s Treehouse, it should not be confused with the world’s tallest wooden building soon to be built, because its foundation is an 80-foot-tall white oak tree.

The enormous treehouse has 10 floors averaging from 9 to 11 feet high, and although Burgess has never measured it, he estimates the treehouse to be between 8,000 to 10,000 square feet. Built entirely from wood that has been donated or salvaged from from sheds, barns and garages, the structure has taken on it’s own organic feel. Burgess, who is a landscape architect and an ordained minister, has put about $12,000 of his own money into it, spent partially on nails, of which there are approximately 258,000. Other recycled materials like license plates, furniture, roofing material, and plexiglass skylights have also helped fill out the structure.

Inside there are spiral staircases, a sanctuary, a choir loft, a basketball court, and countless rooms, walkways and balconies. For his 11th wedding anniversary, Burgess built his wife a belfry tower, or what he likes to call “the only penthouse in Cumberland County.” Inside the tower are chimes handmade from 10 oxygen acetylene bottles weighing 5,700 pounds. Outside is a garden that Burgess has designed with daffodils, irises, narcissus, gladiolas and wild daisies, which spells out J-E-S-U-S. As Burgess says, “The whole message of the thing is if you come to see the site and climb to the top, you’ll see Jesus in the garden, and the preacher didn’t have to say a word.” He’s still building, though.

Beating Suspect Says “God Made Me Hate Gay People” (Matthew Chayes/Newsday; Nov 5)

Shouting an anti-gay slur, three assailants beat a man and his cross-dressing friend before stealing $7 from one of them, Nassau County police said Thursday.

One of the assailants has been charged with hate crimes, police said. Robert Bellamy Jr., 23, was charged with robbery and assault.

At his arraignment at First District Court in Hempstead Thursday, Judge Robert A. Bruno ordered the Lakeview man jailed on $100,000 bond or $50,000 cash bail.

The attack occurred in Lakeview in the early hours of Sunday and police said it was possible the man in drag was dressed in women’s clothes for Halloween.

Bellamy told police, “God made me hate gay people,” court records show. He was represented in court by Legal Aid Society lawyer Taryn Shechter, who said Bellamy attends a trade school in Wyandanch and lives with his mother.

Bellamy’s accomplices are still at large, Nassau Police Commissioner Lawrence Mulvey, said at a news conference at the department’s Mineola headquarters.

County Executive Thomas Suozzi, who stood with Mulvey, called combating hate crime a “priority of our administration.”

“If you commit a hate crime in Nassau County, we’re going to do everything we can to arrest you, put you in jail and make your life miserable,” Suozzi said.

Police said the same attackers had earlier approached one of the victims at a Sunoco gas station in Lakeview.

The attackers went into the station’s convenience store, where they “focused in” on the first victim, Mulvey said. They then “began to harass . . . verbally and physically by pushing him” and calling him the anti-gay slur.

“They perceived him to be homosexual,” Mulvey said.

Suozzi noted that a victim’s actual sexual orientation is “irrelevant” to prosecute under hate crimes law. Officials did not disclose the victims’ orientation.

The attack against both men occurred a short time later, on Woodfield Road near Janos Lane, when the same trio spotted the first man walking with his friend. They then began calling out the anti-gay slur, and punched and kicked both men. “They were beaten by fists,” Mulvey said.

The attack left the victims with bruises, black eyes, and bloody lips, Mulvey said.

Detectives later tracked down the green Nissan in which the men had been traveling.