He confessed, then confessed more, in the horrifying murder and necrophilic rape of his ex

"In November 2022, 25-year-old social worker Rachel Castillo was watching her two young sons at her Simi Valley apartment when her husband, Zarbab Ali, picked them up, left them with his parents, and returned with a knife and the intent to kill, prosecutors said. In a recorded confession reported by KTLA, Ali described to detectives how, after returning from dropping off their 2- and 5-year-old sons, he left his trunk open and approached Castillo's door, which he found unlocked."

"After only three hours of deliberation, the jury convicted Ali on the first-degree murder charge Friday along with use of a deadly weapon and murder by means of lying in wait, which means a sentence of life without the possibility of parole. His sentencing date is set for Jan. 12, 2026. Shortly after Simi Valley police discovered Castillo's body in a remote part of the Antelope Valley, Ali, now 28, told investigators that he had thought about killing her since their separation nine months earlier."

""Everything in my body was telling me not to do it," he said in the recording. Yet, Ali continued inside and turned out the apartment lights. He later confessed to waiting in the dark for Castillo to leave her bedroom. "I thought something in my life would change," Ali told detectives of his motivation according to the Ventura County Star. "I kind of blamed her for all my problems.""

A Hawthorne man, Zarbab Ali, was found guilty of first-degree murder after confessing to stabbing and desecrating his estranged wife, Rachel Castillo. Castillo, a 25-year-old social worker, was killed in November 2022 while watching her two young sons at her Simi Valley apartment. Ali picked up the children, left them with his parents, then returned armed with a knife and entered the unlocked apartment. Jurors convicted Ali after three hours of deliberation on charges including use of a deadly weapon and murder by lying in wait, a conviction that carries life without parole. Ali gave recorded confessions with differing accounts and expressed blaming Castillo for his problems.

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