Overview
- Ventura County prosecutors said the Nov. 21 verdict found Ali guilty of first-degree murder, with special circumstances for lying in wait and use of a knife.
- Investigators testified that Ali hid inside Castillo’s Simi Valley apartment, ambushed and stabbed her, then wrapped her body and buried it in a shallow grave.
- Prosecutors presented Ali’s recorded interrogation in which he admitted digging up the grave and sexually assaulting the corpse before reburying it.
- Castillo’s phone, keys, and car were found in her apartment; her body was located Nov. 13 near Littlerock, leading to Ali’s arrest soon after.
- Ali previously pleaded guilty to sexual contact with remains and now faces mandatory life without parole, with sentencing scheduled for Jan. 12, 2026; relatives disputed his claim that alleged infidelity motivated the killing.