The four people shot to death in a domestic violence incident in Aurora on Sunday included three family members and a renter, according to the Arapahoe County Coroner’s Office.
Two of the victims had filed for protection orders against the man suspected of killing them six days before they were fatally shot, court records show.
On Tuesday, the coroner’s office identified the victims as Jesus Serrano, 51; Maria Anita Serrano, 22; Kenneth Eugene Green Luque, 20; and 49-year-old Rudolfo Salgado Perez. Their deaths have been ruled homicides.
Jesus Serrano was the father of victim Maria Serrano, police said, and Kenneth Luque was Maria’s husband. Rudolfo Perez was renting space in the home.
Two “very young” children and Maria Serrano’s sister were inside the home at the time of the shootings but were unharmed, police said.
Joseph Mario Castorena, 21, has been identified by police as the suspect. He is the ex-boyfriend of Maria Serrano’s sister, according to police officials and court records.
Both Jesus and Maria Serrano filed applications for protection orders against Castorena on Oct. 24, citing ongoing abuse Castorena inflicted on their family member. Maria Serrano’s sister also applied for a protection order the same day and a judge granted her request as well as that of Jesus Serrano.
Maria Serrano’s case was closed before a judge made a decision on a protection order, court records show.
“My family and I have been going through this for three years straight,” Maria Serrano wrote in her application for a protection order. “And we are getting tired of it.”
Castorena’s criminal history includes several abuse cases, including a 2020 charge of felony child abuse and a 2020 domestic violence assault charge. In 2021, he was arrested for violating a protection order but the charge was dismissed.
He was arrested again on Oct. 10 on a warrant connected to a 2020 domestic violence charge after police were called to investigate a violation of a protection order, Aurora police spokesman Sgt. Faith Goodrich said in an email.
The shooting happened at about 2 a.m. Sunday at a home near East 10th Avenue and Geneva Street, police said.
Castorena remained at large Tuesday and Metro Denver Crime Stoppers announced an , now $15,000, regarding Castorena’s whereabouts. Tips can be made to crime stoppers at 720-913-7867 (STOP). If anyone sees Castorena, they are urged to call 911 immediately.
