DOTHAN, Ala. (WDHN) — After nearly four years behind bars, Rolando Castillo Jr. has been given a 20-year sentence after confessing in a Houston County courtroom Tuesday morning he murdered his three-month-old son Desmond Karl Castillo.
Karen Nolen, the grandmother of Desmond Castillo believes the sentencing for her grandson is a little lenient for the crime.
“I’m glad that he admitted that he had done it the sentence was shocking he should have at least got life Desmond got the death penalty at three months old,” Nolen said.
Just two days into the year 2018, DPD officers and emergency personnel responded to a home on Coral Lane where there was a report of a child not breathing.
After arriving at the scene, they found Rolando Castillo and the mother of Desmond performing CPR to try to save him before being transported to Flowers hospital.
“The time I got to the hospital he was gone. I saw Desmond come into this world and I saw Desmond leave the world,” His grandmother said.
The autopsy came back from medical examiners that Desmond Castillo died from blunt trauma to the head and torso.
During exclusive interviews four years after 2018 in march, WDHN spoke to both the grandmother and her daughter, Carla the mother of Desmond Castillo.
Although the father, Rolando, was arrested in April of that year, the family was still unsure about who killed Desmond.
“This is not about my daughter, or me, or about Roland this is about Desmond we need to know what happened to that baby and now the truth has come out,” She said.
Nolen says overall it’s a tragedy for their family and it’s not a day goes by that she doesn’t think about her grandson and she will continue to remember him by passing out stickers and signs as she has done for the past four years.
