Man faces 16 years on amended charges for murder after accepting plea deal
A man at the center of a 2020 murder on Alexandria Drive has pleaded guilty as part of a plea deal for amended charges following a mediation.
Kevin Velasco-Gomez, 27, has pleaded guilty to charges of first-degree manslaughter and tampering with physical evidence for his involvement in the death of his girlfriend, 33-year-old Elaine Castillo, according to court documents.
He was originally charged with murder and tampering with physical evidence in February 2020.
The mediation took place on Wednesday with Judge Kimberly Bunnell, according to online court records.
Police found the body of Castillo in a home at the 2200 block of Alexandria Drive in Lexington with the direction of her juvenile son who said his mother was “covered in blood.”
She was found with lacerations to her hands and major blunt force trauma to her skull, police previously said.
Castillo and Velasco-Gomez began arguing hours before she was found, according to previous police testimony. The two were reportedly fighting because she caught Velasco-Gomez with another woman and kicked him out of the house.
At the time of his arrest, Velasco-Gomez said Castillo pulled a knife on him.
He told police he remembered Castillo being covered in blood and “knew she was dead.”
Velasco-Gomez was alleged to have fled the scene in Castillo’s green Ford Expedition, which was pulled over in Jeffersonville, Indiana. Police allowed the car to go, but later found it abandoned.
Witnesses later saw Velasco-Gomez in a white van in Simpson County where they stopped at a restaurant. Kentucky State Police identified and arrested Velasco-Gomez.
Velasco-Gomez is scheduled to be sentenced at 1:45 p.m. March 30. He faces 15 years in prison for the manslaughter charge, and one year for the tampering with physical evidence charge.
