Man walks into jail, admits murder, gets turned away

Rob Quinn | Newser

(NEWSER) — One cannot simply walk into the Santa Clara County jail, apparently.

Hugo Ernesto Castro tried to surrender at the facility in San Jose on Monday, but he was told to go elsewhere even after he had confessed to stabbing his ex-girlfriend and handed over a note revealing where her body was, reports the San Jose Mercury News. A deputy at the prison told the 28-year-old that he was in the wrong place and instructed him to walk two blocks to police headquarters, which he obligingly did. Police found the body of Castro's former girlfriend at the address he gave, and he was arrested, reports the San Francisco Chronicle.

The sheriff's office is trying to find out why the deputy didn't follow standard procedure and detain Castro or at least escort him to the police station.

"Once they leave, who knows what's going to happen next," a retired San Francisco police captain tells the Mercury News. "Maybe they go the two blocks and turn themselves in. Or maybe they have second thoughts, or go home and destroy evidence."

The deputy has been reassigned, the Mercury News reports, and Castro is now being held at the jail he went to in the first place. (An inmate who escaped from a federal prison tried to sue the government over the prison's poor security.)

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