Tag: Bucks County

Hours after authorities discovered three of his relatives dead in a Bucks County home, Kevin Castiglia confessed Monday to killing his parents in their sleep and then fatally stabbing his sister when she discovered their bodies, authorities said.

Castiglia, 55, is charged with three counts of criminal homicide, abuse of a corpse, and related crimes in the deaths of his father, Frederick, 90, his mother, Judith, 84, and his sister, Deborah, 53.

Northampton Township police arrested him Monday after he barricaded himself inside his parents’ home on Heather Road for more than five hours with their bodies inside. He was armed with bloody knives as officers surrounded the house and attempted to persuade him to surrender, authorities said.

After his arrest, Castiglia was taken to a local hospital, where, according to the affidavit of probable cause for his arrest, he told a doctor, “I killed my parents in their sleep.” He also said he killed his sister “when she found them,” the affidavit said.

Later at police headquarters, investigators said, Castiglia told officers he had stabbed all three relatives to death.

Castiglia was being held without bail at the Bucks County Correctional Facility.

At a news conference Wednesday afternoon, Bucks County prosecutors declined to discuss a possible motive for the slayings. Deputy District Attorney Monica Furber, who is prosecuting the case, said investigators believe Castiglia killed his parents on Friday and his sister on Saturday.

Deborah Castiglia was a longtime teacher in the Centennial School District. She joined the district in 1999, teaching math at Klinger Middle School, according to an email school officials sent to students, parents, staff, and community members. In 2018, she joined the teaching staff of William Tennent High School.

She taught math students with “dedication, care, and compassion,” Superintendent Abram Lucabaugh wrote in the email. “Her loss is profoundly felt across our school community.”

The district is offering counseling and support services for students and staff, Lucabaugh added.

Castiglia’s parents, who had lived in the two-story redbrick home since 1970 and shared it with their son, had recently celebrated a wedding anniversary, Furber said.

Police were called to the home after Deborah Castiglia’s boyfriend reported that Kevin Castiglia had threatened him when he went to the house looking for her, authorities said. He grew concerned after he saw her vehicle parked in the driveway, but could find no footprints in the snow, District Attorney Joe Khan said at Wednesday’s news conference.

When officers arrived, Castiglia greeted them at the front door holding two knives, authorities said.

They used a Taser to try to subdue him — to no avail, according to the affidavit: He pulled the probes from his body and retreated into the house.

Authorities established a perimeter around the home as negotiators worked to bring the situation to a peaceful end. During the standoff, officers repeatedly attempted to communicate with Castiglia, urging him to come out of the house, police said. But he would not engage, the affidavit said.

A tactical team eventually broke into the house through the front door, as snipers positioned themselves in a nearby house to give on-the-ground officers cover.

“I had no idea what was happening,” said neighbor Erica Titlow, 35. Snipers used the second story of her home during the standoff, she said, calling them “polite” and “grateful.”

The standoff ended when officers took Castiglia into custody, authorities said. No officers were injured.

Police found Deborah Castiglia’s body in the kitchen. The bodies of Frederick and Judith Castiglia were discovered in their bedroom, according to the affidavit, not in the basement as police previously reported.

Furber said one weapon used in the killings was recovered inside the house. Investigators “don’t believe there was any kind of struggle” during the attacks, she said.

Khan praised law enforcement’s efforts to take Castiglia into custody. “Bringing him in alive, despite being faced with an armed and eventually barricaded individual, is truly remarkable,” he said.

Staff writer Jesse Bunch contributed to this article.

A Bucks County man was charged with homicide and related crimes late Tuesday after prosecutors said he killed his father, mother, and sister inside their parents’ Northampton Township home.

The charges came a day after authorities arrested Kevin Castiglia following an hourslong standoff at the home where his relatives were found dead.

Castiglia, 55, was taken into custody after he barricaded himself inside the two-story brick house at 26 Heather Road, where police later discovered the bodies of his 53-year-old sister, Deborah, in the kitchen and his parents, Frederick, 90, and Judith, 84, in the basement.

Authorities have not said how they died.

Castiglia is charged with three counts each of criminal homicide and abuse of a corpse, as well as making terroristic threats, and related crimes.

Police were dispatched to the house about 2:15 p.m. Monday after Deborah Castiglia’s boyfriend called 911 to report that Kevin Castiglia had threatened him with a large chef’s knife when he arrived at the home looking for his girlfriend, authorities said. The boyfriend told police Deborah Castiglia had been missing for several days, according to the affidavit of probable cause for her brother’s arrest.

After officers arrived, the affidavit said, Kevin Castiglia came to the front door armed with two knives, one of which an officer believed had blood on it.

According to the affidavit, Castiglia spoke incoherently and did not respond when officers asked about his family. He pointed the knives at the officers, who deployed Tasers to try to subdue him — without success, the document said.

Castiglia pulled the probes from his body before slamming the door shut and locking it, the affidavit said.

Officers called for a tactical team to break into the house. As police secured the area, neighbors were ordered to shelter in place.

David Deleo, 41, was shoveling snow from his driveway when Northampton Township police arrived, he said in a phone interview Tuesday. Within minutes, he said, officers blocked off Heather Road. Police vehicles and emergency crews from neighboring towns and counties soon lined the street, surrounding the house and establishing a perimeter, he said.

From inside her home next door, Erica Titlow, 35, said she looked out a window and saw the man standing at the front door of the house, which has French doors with large glass panes. He was in his underwear, she said, with blood on his chest and stomach. Deleo said that he also saw the man and that he was holding a knife with blood on the blade.

“I had no idea what was happening,” Titlow said. “I thought maybe he was having some kind of mental breakdown and had hurt himself.”

After the man retreated from the doorway, police used a bullhorn to call out to him, Titlow said, urging him to come outside. He did not, and the standoff continued for several hours.

Officers surrounded the house but were unable to enter, Titlow said. Shortly before a SWAT team forced its way through the front door Monday evening, officers went door to door, asking Deleo and Titlow if snipers could use their second-floor windows to provide cover to officers on the ground. They agreed, they said.

Titlow said she spent more than an hour hiding in her basement with her 2-year-old daughter while snipers were positioned inside her home. “I didn’t want her to see any of it,” she said.

Even after officers entered the house, the man was not immediately removed, Deleo said. He watched as police deployed gas canisters inside the home and heard them detonate. Firefighters later connected a hose to a nearby hydrant and sprayed water into the house, according to Deleo and Titlow.

Sometime after nightfall — the exact moment was difficult to recall, Titlow said — officers pulled the man from the house. He was restrained on a stretcher as authorities wheeled him away, she said.

By Tuesday morning, police were still at the scene, Titlow said, though the activity had slowed. “It’s a lot quieter now,” she said.

Staff writer Robert Moran contributed to this article.

Three people were found dead Monday at a Bucks County home where a man barricaded himself for hours before being taken into custody, police said.

Police in Northampton Township said they responded around 2:15 p.m. to a home on the unit block of Heather Road for a well-being check and were confronted by a man armed with a knife.

The South Central Emergency Response Team responded to the scene and later took the suspect into custody, police said, adding that there was no danger to the community.

Police released no other details about the victims or the man who was in custody.

A neighbor who asked not to be named said that earlier in the day, police several times tried to communicate over a loud speaker or megaphone with a man inside the house.

“We just want to talk to you. Come out. We just want to talk,” the neighbor recalled the police saying to the man. “But nobody came out.”

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The neighbor said a couple possibly in their 80s have lived in the home for decades and had a son and a daughter. The son, possibly in his 50s, has moved in and out of the home several times over the years, the neighbor said.

At 3:17 p.m., the Northampton Township Police Department posted an alert on Facebook asking the public to avoid the area of Heather Road and Second Street Pike because of police activity.

The neighbor said officers from several other police agencies responded to the scene. There were two armored vehicles and several ambulances included as part of the response.

“It seems like they kept coming and coming and coming,” the neighbor said.

Around 7:35 p.m., the neighbor said some police officers had left, but many were still at the scene.