Former boyfriend of slain Lexington mother sentenced to 16 years in prison for her death
A man who pleaded guilty to killing a Lexington mother was sentenced to 16 years in prison Thursday.
Kevin Velasco-Gomez, 28, accepted a plea deal in February for charges of first-degree manslaughter and evidence tampering in relation to the death of his girlfriend, 33-year-old Elaine Castillo, according to court documents. Velasco-Gomez had originally been charged with murder.
Thursday afternoon, Fayette Circuit Judge Kimberly Bunnell ordered a sentence of 15 years for manslaughter and one year for evidence tampering.
Two of Castillo’s sisters and her daughter gave victim impact statements at the sentencing hearing. Her sisters confronted Velasco-Gomez about the pain he caused.
“I will never understand how you could do such a thing to someone that you had only known a few months and with a child in the next room,” said Olivia Morales, Castillo’s sister. “A child you spent time with, laughed with, watched movies with. ... I guess that says a lot about who you are as a person.”
Louisa Boone said the day before her sister’s murder, she and Castillo were sharing their excitement about Boone’s pregnancy by rubbing her belly.
“I knew your intentions were evil the first time I met you but I didn’t know you would take her life,” Boone said. “Was it worth it, taking a mother from her children? An aunt from her nieces and nephews? Are you sorry for what you did? Or are you just evil? How could you brutally murder my sister?
“You are sick — this wasn’t an accident. You knew what you were doing and you did it because you wanted to.”
Lexington police found the body of Castillo in a home in the 2200 block of Alexandria Drive with the direction of her juvenile son who said his mother was “covered in blood.”
She was found with lacerations to her hands and major blunt force trauma to her skull, police previously said.
Castillo and Velasco-Gomez began arguing hours before she was found, according to previous police testimony. The two were reportedly fighting because she caught Velasco-Gomez with another woman and kicked him out of the house.
At the time of his arrest, Velasco-Gomez said Castillo pulled a knife on him. He told police he remembered Castillo being covered in blood and “knew she was dead.”
Velasco-Gomez was alleged to have fled the scene in Castillo’s green Ford Expedition, which was pulled over in Jeffersonville, Indiana. Police allowed the car to go, but later found it abandoned.
Witnesses later saw Velasco-Gomez in a white van in Simpson County stopped at a restaurant. Kentucky State Police identified and arrested Velasco-Gomez.
