SAN JOSE – New evidence retrieved from a drug dealer’s broken cell phone has led to a stunning development in one of San Jose’s most tragic deaths: The father of 3-month-old Phoenix Castro, who died of a fentanyl overdose in May 2023, and the dealer police say sold him the killer drug the night before, were charged with murder, according to new court filings from the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office.
The case is now the county’s second-ever murder prosecution over a child’s deadly fentanyl overdose and a reputed San Jose drug dealer is charged in both — for Baby Phoenix’s death and for 19-month-old Winter Rayo’s death three months later when her parents left fentanyl within reach. The two accused men were expected to answer to the new charges at a Friday afternoon court hearing.
Baby Phoenix’s death two years ago had already upended the county’s child welfare system, leading to major reforms and a new director, after investigations by the Bay Area News Group found that agency leaders ignored a social worker’s dire warnings that the newborn would be in perilous danger if sent home with her drug-abusing father.
Now that father, David Castro, who had been in jail on lesser felony child endangerment charges, becomes the county’s third parent to face a murder charge and life in prison over the fentanyl death of a child. The other two are Baby Winter’s parents, Derek Rayo and Kelly Gene Richardson of San Jose.
The cases are connected by the same alleged drug dealer, Phillip Ortega. Authorities say he first sold fentanyl to Castro that wound up on Baby Phoenix’s pink-flowered onesie, then continued to supply the same drugs to Baby Winter’s parents – Ortega’s housemates — until the toddler somehow consumed enough to kill an adult.
It was Ortega’s broken cell phone, an investigator’s affidavit states, that was finally repaired enough for authorities to recover key text messages and location data showing he went to Castro’s South San Jose apartment with fentanyl for sale the night of May 12, 2023. Castro had lied to police about using drugs that night, the statement says.
Both men “knew the dangers of overdose and death due to drugs and fentanyl, especially the dangers to a baby,” reads the affidavit filed by District Attorney Investigator Sheena Woodland, in her explanation for recommending murder charges.
Investigators had earlier alleged that Castro also lied about when he discovered his daughter’s death. Instead of calling 911 right away, the affidavit asserts, he called someone else to obtain synthetic urine from a smoke shop that didn’t open until 10 a.m. He wanted to pass a drug test, which he ultimately did.
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Only then did he call 911 and tell the dispatcher he fell asleep on the couch the night before with the baby swaddled in his arms and awoke mid-morning to find her face down on the couch, not breathing.
Castro was held over for trial on the lesser child endangerment charges after a preliminary examination. He has since sought to avoid trial and potential prison time by asking a court to divert him to a mental health program, claiming his troubled childhood and health problems made him turn to drugs.
Prosecutors vehemently fought that request, saying if Castro needed help, he could have sought out prescription drugs. He had already lost custody of his two older children because of severely neglecting them and did little to improve his life to have them returned. Their mother, who was in a drug treatment program when Baby Phoenix died, also died of a fentanyl overdose months later.
Fentanyl has claimed the lives of at least five Bay Area infants or toddlers since 2020. Parents in three cases, in Brentwood, Livermore and San Jose, have been charged with murder. One mother in Fremont is facing an involuntary manslaughter charge for the fentanyl death of her 23-month-old son.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.