Mother's murder staged as suicide by ex-husband in multi-million dollar home

In this episode of Crime Watch Daily Updates: Michelle and Braulio Castillo and their five children lived in a multimillion-dollar Colonial-style home in Virginia not far from the nation’s capital. But behind those brick walls and the palatial exterior lived a broken marriage and a wife fearing for her life.

On March 19, 2014, Michelle and Braulio finalized their divorce terms, though Braulio wasn’t exactly ecstatic about some of the proposals. Michelle filed an order of protection against him and requested between $14,000 and $17,000 in child support each month.

That same night, Michelle picked up her kids from Braulio’s home and went out to celebrate with friends after qualifying for the Boston Marathon. However, she would never even have a chance to run those 26 miles…

On March 20, 2014, Michelle and Braulio’s kids called Braulio to say their mom was missing. Braulio had a neighbor check the house because he wasn’t allowed to go inside, and the neighbor called the police.

Officers arrived and discovered Michelle hanged herself from a shower head with an electric cord. Or did she?

Detectives noticed injuries on her body that didn’t exactly align with suicide, including bruising on her shins and all over her body, signaling a possible staging.

Braulio became a prime suspect, and cadaver dogs helped lock him down when they were alerted to his scent in Michelle’s home. He was arrested for murder, and, in 2016, convicted thanks to powerful testimony from their children. Michelle had been suffocated and strangled, and her body was staged to appear like a self-inflicted hanging.

A judge sentenced him to life in prison, plus 16 years. He appealed his conviction, but in June 2019, an appeals court in Virginia affirmed the lower court’s ruling.

Let’s take a look back at the tragic case of a loving mother killed in what she believed to be the safety of her own home.