Zarbab Ali convicted for the November 2022 murder of his estranged wife Rachel Castillo

VENTURA COUNTY, Calif. (KEYT) – Zarbab Ali of Hawthorne was convicted of the November 2022 first-degree murder of his estranged wife and mother of his children Rachel Castillo.

The jury also found true the special circumstance that the murder was committed by means of lying in wait and that Ali used a knife stated the Ventura County District Attorney's Office in a press release Friday.

Before his murder trial, Ali pled guilty to felony sexual contact with the victim's remains after her death added the Ventura County District Attorney's Office.

Ali is currently scheduled for a sentencing hearing on Jan. 12, 2026, where he faces a mandatory sentence of life in prison without parole noted the Ventura County District Attorney's Office.

According to the Ventura County District Attorney's Office, Castillo and Ali were nearly finished finalizing their divorce before Ali murdered the mother of his children.

"Our thoughts are with Rachel’s family, who have endured unimaginable pain since the day she was taken from them," said Senior Deputy District Attorney David Russell who prosecuted the case. "I am thankful for the outstanding efforts of law enforcement, whose investigation made this verdict possible. While nothing can restore what her loved ones have lost, this conviction ensures the defendant will spend the rest of his life in prison and that the community will be protected from him forever."

On Nov. 13, 2022, detectives with the Simi Valley Police Department and agents with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) located Castillo's body in a remote desert area near Littlerock, California in Los Angeles County detailed the Ventura County District Attorney's Office.

Ali was arrested later the same day after leaving his parent's home in Victorville shared the Ventura County District Attorney's Office.