A New York doctoral student called her brother-in-law “one of the most wonderful people in the world” on the day he married her sister. Now he is charged with raping and murdering his sister-in-law.
“My sister, my person, my partner in chaos, is now married to one of the most wonderful people in the world,” reads victim Victoria Castle’s Instagram message with a photo of her accused killer Joseph Horner at the couple’s wedding venue in 2023, several New York news outlets are reporting.
“I love you both forever!” the message concluded.
That sentiment changed dramatically on Monday, say authorities.
The Long Island music teacher is now charged with killing Castle — who he’d reportedly been lusting after for more than a decade — while his wife was away on a bachelorette trip, police and prosecutors say.
Horner, 27, was arraigned this week on a charge that he murdered Castle, his wife Allie’s 25-year-old sister, at their shared North Oak Street home in the Long Island town of North Massapequa. Prosecutors say further charges may be forthcoming.
The Nassau County Police Department said Horner called police himself around 8:45 a.m. on Monday. First responders arrived and transported Castle to the hospital where she died less than an hour later, according to authorities.
“Horner had a twisted fascination with his sister-in-law, whom he’d met at the same time he met his wife in 2016, the DA’s office said,” according to the New York Post.
A reportedly “much loved” music teacher in the Oceanside School District, Horner lived in the upstairs apartment of the multi-family house with his wife, while Castle lived in the ground-floor unit, according to the Nassau County District Attorney’s Office.
Police and prosecutors say the attack unfolded as Horner asked his sister-in-law, a PhD student at Stony Brook University, to help him move a piano, according to local news outlets.
He then assaulted her from behind, placing her in a chokehold until she passed out, then disrobed and raped her, according to the district attorney’s office.
“After the brutal attack, Horner called 911 and waited for the cops to show up, immediately admitting to detectives that he had choked his sister-in-law and had sex with her, prosecutors said,” the Post reported.
He was arrested at the scene.
His defense attorney Gregory Grizopoulos told Long Island’s New 12 that the alleged attack is totally out of character for his client.
“He’s tenured,” he said. “He’s very well loved by his students and his colleagues. This seems to be allegations that are not very much in line with what the community, his friends, and his colleagues would believe.”
The attorney said his client “looked like he was in shock” after his arraignment where he was charged with second-degree murder.
He pled not guilty and is being held without bail.
Breitbart contributor Lowell Cauffiel is the author of the New York Times true crime best seller House of Secrets and nine other crime novels and nonfiction titles. See lowellcauffiel.com for more.