Rachael Castillo was killed by her estranged husband, Zarbab Ali, before their divorce was finalized

Zarbab Ali.Credit : Ventura County District Attorney’s Office

A California man has been sentenced for the brutal killing of his wife amid their divorce, authorities said.

On Monday, Jan. 12, Ventura County District Attorney Erik Nasarenko announced in a press release that Zarbab Ali of Hawthorne was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole for the murder of Rachael Castillo.

Ali previously pleaded guilty to unlawful mutilation, disinterment, or act of sexual contact with human remains and was convicted of murder, per the Ventura County D.A.

Castillo, who shared two children with Ali, had filed for divorce. It was nearly finalized when Ali, 29, fatally attacked her while she was alone at her sister’s apartment, where she and her sons had been staying.

The incident occurred on Nov. 10, 2022, and Ali was convicted on Nov. 21, 2025.

Rachel Castillo.Rachel Lynn Castillo/Facebook

On the day of her death, Ali picked up the former couple’s two sons and took them to his parents’ home in Victorville before returning to the Simi Valley apartment.

“Knowing Ms. Castillo would be alone, he found the front door unlocked, went inside, turned off the lights, and waited for her to exit a bedroom. He then confronted her in a dark, confined hallway and stabbed her 11 times in the neck and chest,” the Ventura County District Attorney said.

Ali wrapped Castillo’s body in a blanket and tried to clean up the mess before he left the apartment and placed her body in the trunk of his vehicle, which investigators said he left had “left open in advance.”

Ali took Castillo’s body to Littlerock, Calif., and used a “newly purchased” shovel to dig a shallow grave and placed her inside. Afterwards, he went back to his parents’ house where the children were.

Castillo’s sister eventually returned to the apartment, where she saw signs of a struggle and contacted the police after noticing Castillo’s phone and car were left at the residence.

Responding officers found bloody items in a nearby dumpster and spoke with neighbors who recalled seeing Ali before the police arrived.

At approximately 2:00 a.m. local time the following day, Ali waited until everyone was asleep in the home and drove from his parents’ house in Victorville back to where Castillo was buried, the Ventura County D.A. said. He then engaged in sexual conduct with her remains and buried her again, an act prosecutors say he confessed to. (During his trial, prosecutors also showed video of Ali’s police interrogation, during which he confessed to digging up his wife’s body the morning after burying her to sexually assault her.)

Simi Valley Police Department detectives and FBI agents were conducting a search for Castillo’s body on Nov. 13, 2022, when they found her remains in a remote location in the desert near Littlerock.

“Investigators located vehicle tracks for approximately 70 yards, ending at disturbed soil,” the D.A. said. “About 20 yards southeast of the dirt piles, investigators found a metal shovel. Beneath one of the disturbed areas of earth, law enforcement recovered Ms. Castillo’s body.

Ali was arrested that same day after leaving his parents’ home.

“Rachel was more than a victim,” her relatives and loved ones said during victim impact statements at his sentencing.

She was remembered as “a devoted mother, loving sister, a daughter, and a friend,” who had “a silly, soft-spoken voice that would make anyone smile.”

Castillo recently began her master’s program at Pepperdine University and “had dreams for her and her boys’ future,” the statement continued, adding, “She deserved to watch them grow.”

Her loved ones also addressed Ali directly Monday, calling him “a coward,” while speaking on behalf of “two innocent children whose lives were forever changed.”

“Where any human being should feel shame, disgust, and loathing for what he has done, the defendant has shown no remorse,” Senior Deputy District Attorney David Russell of the Ventura County District Attorney’s Office Major Crimes Homicides Unit said.

“His actions place him among the very worst offenders this court will ever see. He deserved no leniency, and today’s sentence ensures he will never again be free to endanger another person or inflict further harm on society,” Russell continued.