A Northern California mother of two who was beheaded with a sword last week has been identified and the father of one of her children has been accused of committing the brutal murder.
The family of 27-year-old Karina Castro has confirmed that she was beheaded on the street outside her home in broad daylight on Thursday by a man with a sword, KGO-TV reported.
The man who police say killed her is 33-year-old Jose Raphael Solano Landaeta, the father of Castro's 1-year-old daughter.
The attack took place Thursday at 11:50 a.m. at Laurel Street and Magnolia Avenue in San Carlos – located about 25 miles south of San Francisco, according to the San Mateo County Sheriff's Department.
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"The head was underneath the car, and she was laying in the back of the car — just severed," neighbor Chapel Thorborne told local radio station KGO. "And they covered her up."
The victim's children, 7-year-old and 1-year-old girls, were inside the house and did not witness the brutal beheading, ABC 7 News reported. They were taken into the custody of Child Protective Services.
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"[Law-enforcement] arrived within minutes and found an obviously deceased female in the street in that area," said Lt. Eamonn Allen during a press conference Thursday. "They began to work the scene and shortly thereafter, the male suspect arrived back at the scene and was quickly detained by sheriff's deputies. He was later placed under arrest for homicide."
Solano has reportedly been violent with Castro in the past and her family says she got a restraining order against him earlier this year but continued to see him.
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"Every time I saw her, I would beg her," Martin Castro, Karina's father, told WGO-TV. "Don't talk to him. Leave him and it seemed like the more I did that, the more she would see him."
Solano is currently being held for murder in San Carlos.
On a GoFundMe page that has raised almost $50,000, Martin Castro wrote that he is "devastated" and "more hurt than I ever thought I could be by the situation."
"Thank you all for helping us and the worst time of our lives," the post said.
Fox News' Rebecca Rosenberg contributed to this report.
