Fiancé charged in 2012 fatal shooting of 20-year-old Erie woman at West 24th St. apartment

Lexie Castile's young life was filled with promise.

The 20-year-old Erie resident had a young son and was engaged to be married.

She worked as a personal care aide and wanted to become a nurse.

But Castile's life ended on the early morning of Sept. 16, 2012. She died of a gunshot that struck her near her right ear while she was in the garage apartment she shared with her fiancé in the 1100 block of West 24th Street.

The Erie County Coroner's Office did not initially rule on the manner of Castile's death. The office waited on more information, and the case sat in limbo for more than a decade as Erie police and the Erie County District Attorney's Office continued their investigation.

Authorities have now accused Castile's fiancé, the only other adult believed to be in the apartment at the time of the shooting, of killing her.

Erie police on Friday filed charges of criminal homicide, first-degree murder and aggravated assault against Anthony S. D'Onofrio, 35, in Castile's death.

D'Onofrio, lives in Tumwater, Washington, southwest of Tacoma. according to information in his criminal complaint. He also faces misdemeanor counts of possession of a weapon and recklessly endangering another person.

D'Onofrio, who was 24 at the time of Castile's death, is in custody in Washington and is awaiting extradition back to Pennsylvania to face the charges, Erie County District Attorney Elizabeth Hirz said Tuesday.

The charges against him were filed on Friday before Erie 6th Ward District Judge Timothy Beveridge by Erie police Detective Sgt. Craig Stoker, the city police bureau's cold case investigator, and Pennsylvania State Police Master Trooper Todd Giliberto. It is the latest case to result in criminal charges in a recent push by city police and the District Attorney's Office to resolve a number of old cases, including killings and missing persons, in the county.

An unusual death in a garage apartment

D'Onofrio told police at the time of the shooting that he was on the other side of the garage when he heard a "pop." He said he ran over to Castile near the bed, grabbed the gun, removed the clip and counted the rounds. He said he noticed one round missing, according to police documents.

Police officers responded to the West 24th Street apartment where Castile and D'Onofrio lived after D'Onofrio called Erie County 911 shortly after 12:30 a.m. on Sept. 16, 2012. He stated that Castile had shot herself in the head, investigators wrote in D'Onofrio's criminal complaint. The overhead garage door of the apartment was open when officers arrived, and the officers saw D'Onofrio cradling Castile's head as she was on the floor, according to the complaint.

Investigators wrote that Castile was alive, but critically injured. She was taken by EmergyCare to UPMC Hamot, where she was later pronounced dead.

D'Onofrio told police that he, Castile, and Castile's 3-year-old son were the only people present when the shooting happened. He directed officers to a Glock 17 9 mm pistol on the bed, where officers found the weapon, an empty magazine and several live 9 mm bullets, according to information in the affidavit of probable cause filed with the criminal complaint.

Police determined that there were 16 live bullets on the bed, and they found a spent 9 mm casing in a brown paper bag in the northwest corner of the apartment, near the bed, investigators wrote in the affidavit.

A member of the Erie Bureau of Police Identification Unit determined the bullet traveled at an upward trajectory, and the projectile was located in a rafter in the garage, according to the affidavit. Testing determined the spent shell casing recovered from the apartment was fired from the Glock 17 pistol, investigators wrote.

An argument and a breakup

Investigators wrote that they learned through interviews that Castile and D'Onofrio had been at the residence of D'Onofrio's cousin on Sept. 15, 2012. One witness told police that Castile was excited about going to school and moving to Millcreek Township with D'Onofrio, according to information in the affidavit. None of the witnesses reported seeing Castile and D'Onofrio arguing.

In January, Stoker interviewed two neighbors of Castile and D'Onofrio. One neighbor reported hearing arguing on the night of the incident, then a "blood-curdling female scream," according to the affidavit. The neighbor told police she and her husband immediately drove around the block to see where the scream came from, but they found no one around outside.

The second neighbor told Stoker the neighbor remembered hearing loud noises, and had never heard voices coming from the garage apartment until the night of the incident, according to the affidavit.

D'Onofrio's mother, whom investigators said lived in the apartment above the garage apartment, told the original investigators in the case that D'Onofrio and Castile arrived home about 20 minutes before the shooting. She said she heard a pop sound, then heard something fall. She said she then heard D'Onofrio yell, " Mom, Lexie shot herself," investigators wrote in the affidavit.

An Erie police officer took D'Onofrio to the Erie police station after the shooting. According to the affidavit, D'Onofrio told the officer that he and Castile had a small verbal argument, and he told Castile to pack her belongings and move out from his mother's residence the next day. He said Castile said she could not live without him, investigators wrote in the affidavit.

Castile and D'Onofrio were engaged to be married, according to an announcement that appeared in the April 8, 2012, Erie Times-News.

D'Onofrio told the officer he assumed Castile was gathering her belongings to leave, so he went to the couch on the east side of the garage. He said he then heard a pop, and he grabbed the gun and removed the clip. He said he counted the rounds and noticed one missing, and he did not see any visible injuries to Castile when he went over to her, according to information in the affidavit.

Investigators wrote that D'Onofrio consented to gunshot residue testing. The testing was positive for residue on both of D'Onofrio's hands, and resdue was also found on the left shoulder of a T-shirt D'Onofrio was wearing at the time of the incident, investigators wrote in the affidavit.

Autopsy and further review

An autopsy performed on Castile on Sept. 17, 2012, determined that Castile was shot above the right ear, and that the gunshot wound was a contact wound. The exit wound was on the top left side of the rear of Castile's head, and the trajectory of the bullet was backward, leftward and slightly upward, investigators wrote in the affidavit.

The autopsy also found evidence of recent trauma, including a contusion on Castile's right thigh, an abrasion on her forehead, a contusion on a finger of her right hand and a contusion on her left wrist, according to the affidavit.

According to the affidavit, D'Onofrio had told police that he and Castile did not engage in a physical altercation when they returned home before the shooting. He was adamant the two did not have an argument that night, but he told Castile to pack her things and leave in the morning, investigators wrote.

In October, Stoker and a member of the city police Identification Unit met with Erie County forensic pathologist Eric Vey, M.D., to go over the case, including reviewing autopsy photographs. Based on the position of the muzzle against Castile's head and the trajectory of the bullet, Castile would have had to significantly contort her arm and hand to fire the gun, investigators wrote in the affidavit.

Erie County Coroner Lyell Cook said he ruled Castile's death a homicide last week after conferring with Vey.

Latest cold case resolved with an arrest

The Lexie Castile death investigation was one of a number of cold cases that police and the District Attorney's Office have been working, and the second that has recently led to the filing of criminal charges.

Authorities announced in July 2022 that they filed criminal homicide and other charges against Texas resident Jeremy C. Brock in the July 1988 killing of his 76-year-old grandmother, Helen Vogt, at her Erie residence.

Investigators said they connected Brock to the crime through DNA evidence.

Brock, now 55, is awaiting trial.

Stoker and Giliberto also continue to investigate the disappearance of Sabrina Kahler, a young Erie woman who never returned home after going swimming with an acquaintance in western Erie County on June 24, 2002.

More: Cold case resolved as grandson charged in 34-year-old murder of Erie's Helen Vogt

More: Police redouble efforts to solve Erie resident Sabrina Kahler's 21-year-old disappearance

Contact Tim Hahn at thahn@timesnews.com. Follow him on Twitter @ETNhahn.

This article originally appeared on Erie Times-News: Fiancé charged in 2012 fatal shooting of 20-year-old Erie woman