One Murder, Two Rapes: Man Arrested More Than 20 Years Later Could Have More Victims | Crime Alert 10AM 04.30.25

A man in California is arrested for a 2004 murder after a DNA match links him to the cold case and at least two rapes, with more possible victims still unknown. A father in Kentucky wakes up to find a naked man on his 13-year-old daughter’s bedroom floor. Drew Nelson reports.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Crime Alert hourly update, breaking crime news Now.

Speaker 2 (00:03):
I'm Drew Nelson.

Speaker 1 (00:04):
A man in California is arrested for a two thousand
and four murder after a DNA match links him to
the cold case and at least two rapes, with more
possible victims still unknown. Robert Castillo was taken into custody
by the Fresno County Violent Criminal Apprehension Team.

Speaker 2 (00:20):
He's now charged with the murder and.

Speaker 1 (00:21):
Sexual assault of Barbara Lee, a forty three year old
woman found dead in a field near California and Paulk
Avenues in Fresno on Halloween morning, two thousand and four.

Speaker 2 (00:31):
Her case had gone cold for over twenty years.

Speaker 1 (00:33):
Fresno County Sheriff John Sononi spoke at a news conference
and pointed to a display of five booking photos. Each
showed Castillo aging across four decades. It served time in
the mid nineteen eighties, the late nineties, and mid two
thousands for felony property crimes.

Speaker 3 (00:49):
We are concerned that Robert Castillo may have other victims
out there who never made a police report. If you
recognize him as committing a crime against you, please call
the Fresno County Sheriff's.

Speaker 1 (01:00):
Office DNA collected from the crime scene, and Lee's case
was re examined last year. The Sheriff's Cold Case Unit,
which launched that year with help from the District Attorney's office,
found a match. The same DNA tied Castio to two
other cases, a rape in October two thousand and three,
a second rape in September twenty twenty four. A third

(01:21):
rape case is still under review as investigators wait for
lab results. Fresno County District Attorney Lisa smith Camp says
Castillo will face three new charges on top of Lee's murder,
two counts of rape, one count of sexual assault, as
Baylist said at two point one million dollars. If convicted,
he would face life in prison or the death penalty.
Anyone who believes they may have been harmed by Castillo

(01:43):
called Valley Crime Stoppers at five point five nine, four nine,
eight seventy eight sixty seven. Callers can remain anonymous and
there is a reward. More Crime and Justice news after this,
A father in Kentucky wakes up to find a naked
man on his thirteen year old daughter's bedroom floor, firing

(02:06):
three warning shots after chasing him from the house. Just
after midnight on Sunday, deputies responded to a home on
Britney Trail in Florence. The man who called nine one
one said he had heard noises coming from his daughter's bedroom.
When he opened the door, he found a naked adult
male on the floor. He told the man he was
calling police, then went downstairs to get his gun. The

(02:26):
nude suspect ran past the father and out the front door.
The father chased him and fired three shots into the
ground near his front porch. Deputies arrived and found a
car parked nearby with no one inside. Inside the girl's bedroom,
they also found a pair of sweatpants and a set
of car.

Speaker 2 (02:42):
Keys that matched the vehicle.

Speaker 1 (02:44):
Officers ran that vehicle registration and showed the father a
photo of the owner. He confirmed it was the man
he saw in his daughter's bedroom. A drone team later
spotted the suspects hiding near Mount Zion Road and I
seventy five. He was arrested around two thirty am. The
man was identical fight as twenty year old Parker Kramer
from Louisville. During questioning, Kramer admitted that he had driven

(03:05):
about ninety miles to meet the girl at her home.
He told detectives they had met in person weeks earlier,
exchanging numbers keeping in touch through a messaging app. The
girl told investigators she believed Kramer was fifteen and went
to a nearby school. She also said she told him
she was thirteen. Boom County Sheriff's Major Philip Ridgeld said, quote,
this wasn't a guessing game where he was tritt It

(03:27):
was apparent the girl was thirteen years old. Kramer is
now charged with one count of second degree burglary, two
counts of second degree rape, and one count of second
degree sodomy. He is being held at the Boone County
Jail on a quarter million dollar cash only bond. A
preliminary hearing is set for May fifth. Robert Gene Weams
was last seen around nine pm June fifth, of nineteen

(03:50):
ninety seven. He left his house on Julia Street in
the Petersville area of Florence, Alabama. He did not take
any cash, id, eyeglasses, or the medicaid he needed for
bipolar disorder. Friends and family said he had walked off
before when he was upset, but had always come back.

Speaker 2 (04:07):
Three days later.

Speaker 1 (04:08):
A possible sighting someone may have seen him walking along
Cox Creek Parkway between Northwood Avenue and Jackson Road, though
that siding was never confirmed.

Speaker 2 (04:17):
He was known to frequent that area. On June twenty.

Speaker 1 (04:20):
Third, search crews combed the woods nearby. The next day
they searched Cypress Creek. No trace of him was found.
Later reports placed him in Mississippi or Tennessee, but those
sidings also went nowhere. Jean had attended a Christian boarding
school in North Carolina. His old roommate said Jean had
a strong interest in religion, but suffered a breakdown in
his final year at the school. He returned to Alabama

(04:42):
and lived with his father. That's where he was when
he vanished in two thousand and six. His father had
him declared legally dead. The dad died four years later.
Jean was twenty nine Caucasian, brown hair, brown eyes, six
four two twelve. He was last seen wearing dark blue pants,
a light colored shirt, and black walking shoes. Today he
would be fifty seven. Anyone with information should call Lauderdale

(05:03):
County Sheriffs at two five six seven six zero fifty
seven fifty seven. For the latest crime and justice news.
Follow crime alerts hourly update on your favorite podcast app
with this crime alert.

Speaker 2 (05:14):
I'm Drean Nelson. How could a beautiful, young first grade
teacher be stabbed twenty times, including in the back, allegedly
die of suicide?

Speaker 1 (05:32):
Yes, that was the medical examiner's official ruling after a
closed door meeting.

Speaker 2 (05:37):
He first named it a homicide.

Speaker 1 (05:39):
Why what Happened to Ellen Greenberg a huge American miscarriage
of justice.

Speaker 2 (05:47):
For an in depth look at the facts, see What
Happened to Ellen on Amazon. All proceeds to the National
Center for Missing Unexploited Children.