GILLETTE, Wyo. — A man accused of kidnapping his ex-girlfriend and leading multiple law enforcement agencies on a high-speed pursuit will appear for a preliminary hearing on Feb. 7, Campbell County court records say.
Ruben A. Castro, 21, is charged with felony kidnapping and strangulation of a household member. He is also charged with hit-and-run, misdemeanor domestic assault and attempting to elude, with prosecutors alleging he strangled, domestically assaulted and kidnapped a 20-year-old woman and evaded capture by law enforcement on Jan. 27.
According to affidavits of probable cause filed in the case, Gillette police officers were alerted to the incident around 2:08 p.m. when a resident called to report seeing a woman fighting with a man in a vehicle traveling near South Burma Avenue and Westover Road.
The resident said a man, Castro, grabbed the woman by her arms and screamed in her face. She was crying, was banging on the windows and appeared to be trying to get help. The resident followed the vehicle, noting erratic driving and high rates of speed until losing it near the Foothills subdivision, an affidavit states.
Officers located the vehicle near Ventura Drive and Foothills Boulevard driving at a high rate of speed. Castro allegedly failed to stop when he encountered an approaching officer in a marked police unit with activated lights and sirens on Goldenrod Avenue. The suspect fled back toward Foothills Boulevard, where officers lost sight of it.
While fleeing, Castro allegedly struck an unoccupied 2020 Hyundai Santa Fe before continuing his flight, court documents say.
At 4:51 p.m., Johnson County Sheriff’s Office deputies responded to reports of a rolling domestic on Highway 14-16. The vehicle was believed to be the same one that evaded capture in Gillette earlier that day and the driver, Castro, was threatening suicide by cop, according to an affidavit.
A Johnson County deputy attempted to stop the vehicle on East Highway 16 outside of Buffalo but it continued to flee at a high rate of speed. After two attempts, Johnson County deputies managed to spike the vehicle’s tires near the Healy Reservoir Dam, an affidavit states.
Castro reportedly ditched the vehicle violently and fled on foot. Johnson County Sheriff Rod Odenbach and Buffalo Police Chief Sean Bissett joined the pursuit. The 20-year-old woman was found in the vehicle. She was shaken but otherwise unharmed from the pursuit and was cared for by a Buffalo police officer.
Soon after the woman was found in the vehicle, a deputy and Bisset reported spotting Castro and engaging in a foot pursuit. Several minutes later, Odenbach reported he had Castro in custody.
The woman was interviewed by Johnson County deputies, during which she reported Castro threatened to kill them both by crashing the vehicle and that she was taken against her will after ending their romantic relationship, according to an affidavit.
Court documents state the woman was transported back to Gillette, where she told local police Castro suspected her of being unfaithful and became violent while questioning her about potential romantic partners the night before.
He reportedly found messages to other men on her phone and slammed her onto a bed when she tried to leave the room. While questioning her about the other potential relationships, Castro would strike the woman’s mouth and place his hands around her throat whenever he thought she lied. At one point, he covered her mouth and plugged her nose with his fingers, restricting her breathing, an affidavit says.
The next morning, the woman dropped him off at work but he returned to her residence a short while later. He screamed at her while striking her vehicle window before entering her home. Inside, he allegedly armed himself with a kitchen knife and dragged the woman into a closet, seeking her phone to delete evidence. Per court documents, he stabbed the woman’s phone when she didn’t unlock it and dragged her out of the residence.
The woman fought back, leaving signs of a struggle, but was forced into a 2013 Chevrolet Cruz. As they drove, Castro allegedly made plans to take the woman to Las Vegas, Nevada. He called his mother multiple times, and she tried to get him to take the woman home as her son attributed his actions to a mental breakdown, according to an affidavit.
Castro’s mother told police that she could hear the 20-year-old woman in the background during the phone calls. She reportedly screamed that Castro had kidnapped her and asked his mother to call law enforcement, which she did.
Gillette police noted the 20-year-old woman sustained significant bruises and red marks from her encounters with Castro, both from the incident the prior night and being forced into the vehicle the following day.
Castro will appear in Circuit Court on Feb. 7 for a preliminary hearing, where a judge will decide if there is sufficient probable cause to send the case to District Court. Additional court proceedings have been scheduled to take place in Johnson County.