Man Arrested Near Location of Floating Body Parts

A man splattered with blood who was discovered by a sheriff’s deputy early Thursday as he hiked up a coastal bluff in Ventura was taken into custody after officers found body parts in the ocean.

Alfonso Castillo, 37, of Panorama City is suspected in the slaying of an unidentified woman whose dismembered body was found near Mugu Rock.

Sheriff’s spokesman Eric Nishimoto said a deputy on overnight patrol first came upon Castillo’s blue and white Ford Ranger about 1:45 a.m. on Pacific Coast Highway. The truck was illegally parked along a dirt shoulder next to the cliff.

As the deputy got out of his car to investigate, Castillo appeared, after apparently scaling the rocky cliff, Nishimoto said.

Castillo had blood on his hands and clothing and did not object when the deputy asked to search the truck, Nishimoto said.

Castillo spoke briefly with the deputy and two other deputies who had been called for backup. But when the officers noticed blood in his truck, Castillo ran back down the cliff, Nishimoto said. The deputies caught him.

Then, shining searchlights on the water, deputies saw limbs and other body parts.

Coroners investigators determined they were those of a woman; her head reportedly was missing.

A Coast Guard crew and four divers from the sheriff’s search and rescue team searched from Mugu Rock to half a mile south. Rescue workers combed the slippery boulders; the divers were dropped from a helicopter into the light surf. Shortly after 11 a.m., additional body parts were discovered in the water directly below where the truck was parked.

No weapon was found at the scene.

Officials said they will rely on fingerprints to identify the woman. An autopsy is scheduled for today.

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Times staff writers Jenifer Ragland, Tina Dirmann and Michael Krikorian contributed to this report.