DNA leads to arrest 27 years after Pasco middle schooler found shot on roadside

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In a stunning development in a heart-breaking murder case that went unsolved for 27 years, Franklin County Sheriff's deputies this week arrested a susect in the murder of 13-year-old Anna Pelayo.

Sheriff Jim Raymond announced Tuesday the arrest of Jesse Lee Castillo, 51, thanks, in part, to advancements in DNA technology.

He was taken into custody without incident at 11:30 a.m., Monday, July 28, in Union Gap, near Yakima.

Castillo would have been 24 at the time Anna Pelayo was shot and killed. He is being held in the Franklin County jail on suspicion of second-degree murder.

Anna Pelayo

The arrest comes 27 years after the Pasco middle school student was found shot in the head on a rural roadside in north Pasco.

She was taken to Kadlec Regional Medical Center in Richland, where she later died in surgery.

In 1998, a cross memorializing Anna Pelayo, 13, was at the site on Taylor Flats Road in Franklin County where the teen was found Dec. 29, 1997.

The sheriff's office said in the past year modern DNA tests confirmed two suspects, Castillo and Jose Luis Silva.

DNA recovered from Anna's clothing, her body and an object found near her body connected both men to the crime, say investigators. Both were described as acquaintances of Anna Pelayo and were identified as persons of interest at the time she died, said a sheriff's office release.

Franklin County Sheriff Jim Raymond announces the arrrest of the arrest of Jesse Lee Castillo, 51, in the 27 year old murder case of 13-year-old Anna Pelayo during a press conference Tuesday morning in Pasco.

Jose Luis Silva, 50, was found dead near a garbage container outside a Yakima convenience store on Aug. 5, 2018. His death was ruled an overdose, the sheriff's office said.

Officials had been looking for Castillo and located him recently through traffic camera systems in the Yakima area, said a sheriff's office release.

Teen's death in 1997

Anna Pelayo was last seen walking through the parking lot of her Pasco apartment complex at night on Dec. 28, 1997, after she'd called her father for a ride. But the teen became angry and left the area before he arrived, according to what her mother, Christine, told the Tri-City Herald at the time.

She was found barely alive about 1:21 a.m. the next morning along Taylor Flats Road north of the then-Douglas Fruits Packing plant, according to sheriff's statements at the time.

Investigators believed she was left there after being shot.

Christine Pelayo posted fliers in 2005 around Pasco asking people to contact police with clues or tips about the murder of her daughter, Anna.

In the days after the murder, her mother told the Tri-City Herald that Anna had begun associating with gang members and running away from home after the family moved to Pasco from Richland a few months earlier.

She said her daughter had been a good student but felt the need for protection after she was assaulted at Stevens Middle School.

School officials confirmed the assault at the time. The sheriff's office confirmed she was listed as a runaway.

Anna Pelayo was born in Prosser to Christine Pelayo and Jose Pelayo.

Christine Pelayo, right, and her friend Noe Rodriguez pause for a quiet moment in 2005 at the roadside memorial for Pelayo's daughter, Anna, on Taylor Flats Road north of Interstate 182 in Franklin County.

She attended school in Prosser before moving to Richland, where she attended fifth-, sixth- and part of seventh-grade. Her former principal at Chief Joseph Middle school told the Tri-City Herald she was a good student with good attendance history and no discipline problems.

In a statement announcing the arrest, Sheriff Raymond said the young teen's murder weighed heavily on the community for many years.

"I want to thank our dedicated detectives and partner agencies who worked tirelessly to see justice served. Their persistence, combined with the evolution of forensic technology, allowed us to finally take this critical step forward. We hope this arrest brings some measure of peace to Anna's family and loved ones, who have waited far too long for answers."

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