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Eyewitness reveals horrific details of woman’s death involving a machete, ax, on the witness stand

Rafael Castillo on trial for 2020 murder of Nicole Perry

SAN ANTONIO**Warning details in this story are graphic

A jury on Thursday heard horrific details of the moments a woman was killed with a machete and ax.

Rafael Castillo is on trial for murder in the death of Nicole Perry.

The jury was shown images of the murder weapons and the bins she was disposed in before Perry’s boyfriend, Randall Fulghum, took the stand.

Fulghum, an admitted drug user with a lengthy criminal record, spoke about his relationship with Perry and how they ended up at a friend’s home when they became homeless.

When they got to the home, a known drug house, in the 300 block of West Harlan Avenue, he said they stayed in a detached room in the back of the property with a man called “Gizmo,” his girlfriend and Castillo.

Fulghum said Perry started mouthing off to Castillo one day, and after Castillo warned her to stop, he attacked her.

“He started taping up her hands and then he grabbed a machete,” Fulghum said.

Fulghum told the jury that Castillo then swung the machete three times severing Perry’s hands and after Castillo told her to stop moving on the ground, he grabbed an ax.

“He grabbed a black ax, swung it and buried it in her skull,” Fulghum said.

During the attack, Fulghum said he was frozen and scared and that afterward Castillo ordered him and Gizmo’s girlfriend to clean up or they would end up dead as well.

Fulgham testified that he removed the ax from Perry’s body, put her in a bin, put her hands in a crockpot and cleaned up the blood.

When Fulgham was first arrested he admitted to living in fear of his life because Castillo told him “he had eyes” watching him, but said that he eventually told the truth.

“I had nothing to live for without Nicole,” Fulgham said.

Thursday was the second day of Castillo’s trial, if he is found guilty he is facing up to life in prison.

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About the Authors
Erica Hernandez headshot

Erica Hernandez is an Emmy award-winning journalist with 15 years of experience in the broadcast news business. Erica has covered a wide array of stories all over Central and South Texas. She's currently the court reporter and cohost of the podcast Texas Crime Stories.

Misael Gomez headshot

Misael started at KSAT-TV as a photojournalist in 1987.

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