A ruthless man has been sent to prison, thanks to the brave actions of his 9-year-old child, who saw horror unfolding and heroically decided to record it. What was seen in the 6-minute video that was captured by the courageous kid landed the man behind bars and potentially saved innocent lives.
Miguel Lazaro-Castillo, a 38-year-old California man, won’t be winning any husband- or father-of-the-year awards anytime soon. However, he did earn himself the maximum prison sentence allowed under the law after pleading no contest to serious charges. Thanks to the brave actions of his 9-year-old child, Lazaro-Castillo had no other choice but to accept the consequences of his actions after he was caught on video committing a horrific crime.
Miguel Lazaro-Castillo’s downfall began in the early morning hours of October 9, 2023, when the Yuba County Sheriff’s Office received a 911 call at about 2 a.m. from one of his children, WSAZ reported. According to the call, a harrowing incident was unfolding involving Lazaro-Castillo and his wife as his three children—ages 9, 14, and 15—witnessed their dad horrifically beating their mother bloody.
After receiving the report of the assault, deputies responded, racing to the home and arriving at the residence just six minutes after the call. There, they found Lazaro-Castillo sitting on top of his wife. She was lying face-down on the floor, which was littered with blood-soaked napkins, the New York Post reported. Things already weren’t looking good for Lazaro-Castillo, who, along with his wife and one of their underage children, was intoxicated, but they were about to get a whole lot worse.
During the investigation, deputies learned that Lazaro-Castillo’s youngest child—his 9-year-old son—had recorded his dad brutally beating his mother. Authorities also learned that the 9-year-old boy wasn’t the only child who showed courage in the face of danger. According to the DA’s office, one of Lazaro-Castillo’s daughters also tried to protect her mother from her dad’s blows by shielding the woman with her hands. Unfortunately, Lazaro-Castillo reportedly slapped the girl before continuing the assault on his wife.
After flipping his wife over onto her stomach, Lazaro-Castillo pressed the woman’s face into the carpet “for an extended amount of time.” The assault only came to an end when officers arrived, but even then, Lazaro-Castillo tried to deny the abuse, claiming “he had no idea where all the blood [at the scene] had come from.”
Thankfully, the video captured by the brave 9-year-old boy provided the answers investigators needed, sealing the California man’s fate. A deputy placed the three children into protective custody and arrested Miguel Lazaro-Castillo. With the merciless assault captured on video that was more than 6 minutes long and showed Lazaro-Castillo repeatedly hitting his wife violently in the face and head, Lazaro-Castillo pleaded no contest to felony domestic violence, false imprisonment, and misdemeanor child abuse.
Although he likely hoped he’d be shown leniency with the plea since he had no priors, Miguel Lazaro-Castillo didn’t seem to get any sympathy or mercy when it came time for sentencing. Instead, he was handed the maximum term allowed under the law, which was four years in prison after being caught on video beating his wife in front of their three children, AOL reported.
“Despite Lazaro-Castillo not having a prior criminal record, he received the maximum sentence for felony domestic violence based on the brutality of his actions and his utter disregard for his children,” the DA’s office said.
Domestic violence, sometimes called Intimate Partner Violence (IVP), is sadly common, affecting millions of people in the United States each year. While those statistics alone are troubling, the serious consequences of IVP are all the more horrific. As the CDC reports, “Data from U.S. crime reports suggest that about 1 in 5 homicide victims are killed by an intimate partner. The reports also found that over half of female homicide victims in the United States are killed by a current or former male intimate partner.”
This brave child potentially saved a life, ending a cycle of violence that could have easily resulted in the death of his mother. Knowing that his father wasn’t above turning violent with his children, who were courageous enough to intervene in an attempt to protect their mother, makes this boy’s actions all the more heroic. We can only hope that the four years this monster spends behind bars is enough time for his family to heal from the violence they endured and move on with their lives.
If you or someone you know is a victim of domestic violence, help is available: “The National Domestic Violence Hotline (NDVH) is a 24-hour confidential service for survivors, victims, and those affected by domestic violence, intimate partner violence, and relationship abuse. Advocates are available at 1-800-799-SAFE (7233) and through online chatting at www.TheHotline.org. All calls are free and confidential.” Please don’t hesitate to call today. A life might depend on it.
