Joseph Horner, a 27-year-old music teacher from Long Island, pleaded not guilty Wednesday to charges of raping and murdering his sister-in-law, Victoria Castle, 25. Prosecutors allege Horner had harbored a decade-long obsession with Castle and committed a "planned, twisted attack" on her in June.
During Horner's arraignment in Nassau County District Court, prosecutors presented evidence, including a screenshot from security footage, that they claim shows Horner practicing a chokehold on a pink stuffed rabbit approximately 15 minutes before Castle's death. District Attorney Anne T. Donnelly stated that the method used on the stuffed animal was the same as the one allegedly used to kill Castle.
Investigators said Horner had been fixated on Castle since meeting her in 2017, when he was dating her older sister. Donnelly noted that this obsession persisted even after Horner married Castle's sister in 2023. The district attorney's office alleges that Horner waited until his wife left for a bachelorette trip before luring Castle upstairs to his residence on the pretense of helping him move a piano.
Prosecutors claim Horner ambushed Castle from behind, applied a chokehold until she became unresponsive, then removed her clothes, placed her in her bed, and raped her. The medical examiner ruled Castle's official cause of death to be manual strangulation.
Horner allegedly took a FaceTime call from his wife during the attack and acted as though nothing was amiss. He then changed his clothes and calmly waited on the porch for police to arrive, reportedly telling the first officers on the scene, "I did it, she's downstairs. I'll wait here." He confessed to detectives that he had long-standing erotic feelings for Castle and admitted to carrying out the attack while his wife was away. He also allegedly told detectives he would occasionally sneak into Castle's apartment hoping to find explicit pictures of her.
Castle, a doctoral student at Stony Brook University, was remembered by colleagues as a dedicated and brilliant scientist. In a Facebook post from three years prior, she had publicly expressed affection for Horner after he married her sister, writing, "My sister, my person, my partner in chaos, is now married to one of the most wonderful people in the world. I love you both forever."
Horner's wife was reportedly present in court and visibly distressed during his arraignment. The district attorney's office stated, "This vicious attack was the act of a deranged individual suffering from an unrequited love and sick lust dating back more than a decade." Horner is due back in court on August 19 and faces up to life in prison without the possibility of parole if convicted. The Oceanside Union Free School District, where Horner worked as a chorus teacher, has stated it is moving to terminate his employment. Community members have expressed shock and concern regarding the allegations and a teacher's access to children.
