Man Killed Estranged Wife and Buried Body — Then Dug Up Remains and Did the Unthinkable: 'I Am a Monster' By Sean Neumann

A Southern California man was convicted of murdering his estranged wife after telling police he felt like “a monster” for killing and burying her — then returning to her gravesite the next morning, digging up her body, sexually assaulting her and burying her again.

The gruesome murder happened on the night of Nov. 10, 2022, when, according to the Ventura County Star, KTLA, and the local Simi Valley Acorn, Zarbab Ali told police he killed his estranged wife, Rachel Castillo. He said he waited outside her apartment, snuck inside, hid and then stabbed her multiple times in the chest when she came out of the bathroom.

Ali, 28, confessed to killing Castillo, the 25-year-old mother of his two children, during a police interrogation days after his wife’s body was discovered buried in a remote area in Littlerock, Calif., on Nov. 13, KTLA reported at the time.

Ali was convicted of first-degree murder on Friday, Nov. 21, the Ventura County District Attorney’s Office announced, noting that the jury also “found true” a number of special circumstances in the case, including that Ali murdered his estranged wife “by means of lying in wait” and with the use of a knife.

The father of two previously pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting Castillo’s body after he had already buried her, the district attorney’s office said.

In court, prosecutors reportedly showed video of Ali’s police interrogation, during which he confessed to digging up his wife’s body the morning after burying her in order to sexually assault her. Then, he buried her a second time in the same spot.

“Just to confirm that I am a monster, I raped her,” Ali could be heard saying in the video of his police interrogation, according to KTLA. “If I didn’t commit to being a monster, then she would have died for no reason.”

The Ventura County District Attorney’s Office said that Ali now “faces a mandatory sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole.”

“Our thoughts are with Rachel’s family, who have endured unimaginable pain since the day she was taken from them,” Senior Deputy District Attorney David Russell said in a statement.

Castillo’s family also spoke out after Ali’s sentencing, saying they hoped for an even stricter punishment.

“He called himself a monster at the stand, and that’s exactly what he is,” Castillo’s father, Chris Castillo, said, according to the Ventura County Star. “She didn’t even have defensive wounds on her arms because he stabbed her immediately to death, and that is so evil and egregious.”

Other family members took issue with the fact Ali claimed on the witness stand that he had perhaps killed his estranged wife because of her alleged infidelity, the newspaper reported.

“She was a straight-A student in her master’s program, not a drug addict and sex fiend,” Castillo’s aunt, Renee Redding, said, according to the Ventura County Star. “Rachel was a good mother, and her kids will miss her.”

Ali is scheduled to be sentenced on Jan. 12, 2026, according to the Ventura County District Attorney’s Office.

If you or someone you know has been sexually assaulted, please contact the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673) or go to rainn.org.

If you are experiencing domestic violence, call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233, or go to thehotline.org. All calls are toll-free and confidential. The hotline is available 24/7 in more than 170 languages.