Jail arraignment reshuffled again for man charged in killing

Jail arraignment for a 28-year-old Vacaville man suspected of killing a Vallejo woman in mid-August has been rescheduled again in Solano County Superior Court in Fairfield.

Victor Serriteno was scheduled to appear in Department 11 Tuesday but court records indicate Judge William J. Pendergast ordered him to return to the Justice Center at 8:30 a.m. Monday for further arraignment and to enter a plea.

Court records also indicate that the judge appointed an attorney to represent Serriteno but the lawyer’s name was not listed.

The Solano County District Attorney’s Office filed its complaint against Serriteno on Sept. 15, charging him with killing Priscilla Castro last month.

Police records indicate that, on the night of the Aug. 18, Vacaville police officers responded to a call of an abandoned vehicle in the 100 block of Bush Street, near Andrews Park.

The vehicle was linked to Castro and was reported missing hours earlier to the Oakland Police Department by concerned family members who had been unable to reach her for two days, according to a Vacaville Police Department statement.

“With her cell phone off and no activity on her social media account, her disappearance spurred the deployment of detectives that began an intense investigation in search of answers,” Lt. Mark Donaldson said in the release.

Over the course of the investigation, detectives learned that Castro allegedly met with Serriteno online and had arranged to meet in Vacaville for a date on Aug. 16.

According to Donaldson, Serriteno lived on Vine Street, and through interviews with the suspect, detectives learned that Castro and Serriteno met at his home.

Donaldson also said that traffic cameras in the area captured Castro alone in her vehicle turning off Depot Street, then westbound onto Monte Vista Avenue, heading in the direction of Vine Street at 5:49 p.m. on Aug. 16. It also was the last time she would be seen alive.

“What we believe is, that they met online and agreed to a pre-arranged date,” said Donaldson during an interview with The Reporter earlier this month. “She went to his home on Vine Street, and sometime later that evening that vehicle pulls onto Bush Street, parks and a short time later, a male gets out of it and walks away in the direction of Vine Street.”

Detectives interviewed Serriteno once before his arrest after they obtained records for Castro’s cell phone and learned that the suspect was the last person with whom she had phone contact with and determined he was a person of interest in the disappearance.

“We just know that the last person was with her alive was Serriteno,” Donaldson added during the interview.

Using cell phone data and analytic software, detectives were able to put the suspect in the area of the Homestead Trail at the base of the Monticello Dam near Lake Berryessa on Aug. 16, the same area where the LNU Lightning Complex Fire burned on Aug. 19, according to the police statement.

Once detectives received the information obtained through search warrants, it led them to that area on Sept. 2 and a grid search was conducted and investigators found a badly burned body.

Using DNA and analysis of evidence collected from scene, the Solano County Coroner’s Office was able to get a positive identification and ruled it a homicide, according to the department’s prepared statement.

Because of the location of where the body was discovered, police are working to determine when the body received the burns.