Michael Alejandro Castillo Murga, a 27-year-old Beaumont resident and dual U.S.-Salvadoran citizen, was surrendered to Salvadoran authorities on Wednesday to face charges of aggravated feminicide and imperfect homicide, according to the U.S. Department of Justice. He had been held in U.S. custody since October 2024, following his arrest by the U.S. Marshals Service after years as a fugitive. Authorities accuse him of killing 23-year-old Melvi Fernanda Nájera in front of their toddler son in El Salvador in early 2019 and abandoning the child at the scene.
According to the KESQ report, the killing is believed to have occurred on January 31, 2019. Salvadoran authorities say Castillo Murga picked up Nájera and their son from her mother's house that day, telling her he was taking them to a rented house where the family was supposed to live together. Instead, according to law enforcement, he killed her and left their child, who was younger than two years old, at the scene.
Salvadoran investigators say they discovered a woman's body near a highway on February 1, 2019, according to the extradition request cited by KESQ. An autopsy attributed her death to a massive hemorrhage caused by cuts to veins in her neck and other wounds. A plastic knife was recovered at the crime scene. Separate Salvadoran reporting places the discovery of her body a day later, on February 2, 2019, according to ElSalvador.com.
A Toddler Found Starving in a Coffee Field
Three days after the body was found, farmworkers discovered the boy near the location where his mother had been killed, per the extradition request detailed by KESQ. He was found severely dehydrated and starving, with signs of child abuse, cuts on his face, dry lips and nose, and insect bites. Authorities concluded that the rugged conditions where he was found had put his life at risk. ElSalvador.com separately reported that farmers alerted police to the abandoned, dying infant in a coffee plantation in the municipality of Ataco on February 4, 2019.
Investigators say Castillo Murga's cellphone was located in the area of the murder at the time of Nájera's death. Two witnesses reportedly told authorities they saw a tall, thin person attacking a woman in the back seat of a gray vehicle on the highway, with the woman kicking and screaming during the attack, according to the KESQ account of the extradition filing.
Girlfriend's Unanswered Calls, a Bloodied Photo
During this period, Castillo Murga allegedly ignored phone calls and messages from his girlfriend, then later sent her a photograph of himself with blood stains on his face and neck, according to the extradition record reported by KESQ. Salvadoran authorities say Castillo Murga and others then worked to conceal the death and the abandonment of his son. His grandmother and a lawyer allegedly instructed two individuals to wash his car, which had blood on both its interior and exterior; the pair reportedly used water, car shampoo, and vinegar but were unable to remove all of the blood.
Authorities allege Castillo Murga fled El Salvador on foot for Guatemala on February 2, 2019, allegedly with help from his grandmother and the lawyer. He reportedly used his U.S. passport at a Guatemalan border checkpoint that same day. The case remained open for years: a preliminary hearing against him was suspended in January 2023 because he was not present, according to ElSalvador.com's reporting on the proceedings.
Interpol Tip Led to a California Arrest
Interpol informed Salvadoran authorities in December 2022 that Castillo Murga had been located in the United States, ElSalvador.com reported in its coverage of his eventual capture. He was arrested in California in October 2024 by the U.S. Marshals Service for the Central District of California, after the United States acted on El Salvador's extradition request.
The legal fight over his extradition played out over the following year. U.S. Magistrate Judge Sheri Pym certified Castillo Murga's extradition to El Salvador on July 28, 2025, according to the KESQ account. He then filed a petition for a writ of habeas corpus, which U.S. District Judge John W. Holcomb denied on November 5, 2025. The Secretary of State had issued a warrant ordering his surrender to Salvadoran authorities before Holcomb denied Castillo Murga's request for a stay of extradition on September 24, 2026.
A Pattern of Violence Against Women
The case unfolds against a backdrop of sustained gender violence in El Salvador. The World Bank has reported that in 2018, one woman was the victim of femicide every 24 hours in the country, and that in 2015 El Salvador had the world's highest rate of intentional female homicides, at 13.8 per 100,000 women. Reported femicides fell 17% between 2017 and 2018 and another 40% between 2018 and 2019, the same year Nájera was killed, though the World Bank later recorded 131 reported homicides against women in 2020, including 73 classified as feminicides, and 102 violent deaths of women in 2021, of which 72 were classified as femicides.
Castillo Murga is accused of aggravated feminicide against Nájera and, according to ElSalvador.com's earlier report on the case's judicial history, attempted homicide involving their child. His surrender was confirmed by the U.S. Embassy in El Salvador, which said he faces criminal charges of aggravated feminicide and imperfect homicide now that he has been handed over to Salvadoran authorities.
