Prosecutors Seek Life Sentence For Woman In Child's Murder

Prosecutors plan to seek a life sentence without parole for a northwest Indiaan woman charged with the beating death of a toddler, the Post-Tribune is reporting.

Engelica Elisa Castillo, 18, of the 3900 block of Missouri Street in Hobart, Ind., was charged June 26 with murder, two counts of neglect of a dependent and battery in the death of 2-year-old Jada Justice.
Lake County prosecutors on Thursday filed an amended information seeking a sentence of life in prison without parole if Castillo is convicted. The request is based on an aggravating circumstance that prosecutors would have to prove -- that Castillo killed the girl, who was less than 12 years old.

Jada, who was the daughter of Castillo's cousin Melissa Swiontek of Portage, would have turned 3 in August. She was killed between June 12 and June 16, according to the charging information.

Castillo and her boyfriend and co-defendant Timothy Tkachik, 23, also of Hobart, have pleaded not guilty. She initialy told police the girl was taken from her car outside a Gary gas station.

Tkachik, who was charged with the same offenses, led investigators to Jada's body, which was encased in concrete in a plastic bin and left in a swampy area in Otis, five miles south of Michigan City.

Tkachik told police Castillo beat the girl to death on June 13 and tried to dispose of her body the following day by burning her with gasoline and lighter fluid in a hole in the ground. Instead, the fire burned Tkachik and the garbage bags in which they'd placed the girl's body, court records state.

Tkachik told police he and Castillo drove back June 15 to where they'd left the body, loaded her into his red Chevrolet Tahoe and took her inside their Hobart rental home.

Afterward, he purchased cement mix and a plastic bin, mixed the cement in their basement, then returned to the same area north of Westville where they left the body. Tkachik said he cut away most of the bin with a saw he purchased to avoid having fingerprints found at the scene.

Castillo is scheduled for trial Dec. 7. Tkachik was scheduled for an omnibus hearing Friday.