Opening statements in the trial for the man alleged to have murdered his pregnant girlfriend in San Mateo began Monday, with the prosecution painting a picture of a relationship that ended in the death of 37-year-old Kirsten Castle and her unborn baby and the defense asking jurors not to rush to judgement until the breadth of evidence had been presented.
Andrew Coleman, 34, is charged with two counts of murder for Castle’s death and the death of her child, with whom she was eight months pregnant. She was found lifeless in her San Mateo apartment Aug. 4, 2024, by her 11-year-old daughter, Ryan McLaughlin, San Mateo County deputy district attorney, said.
“Kirsten Castle was a … San Mateo resident carrying what was supposed to be her fifth child, who was to be named Indigo,” McLaughlin said.
In the day leading up to Castle’s death, she and Coleman were fighting, he said, and both “[believed] their relationship to be collapsing.”
Coleman had allegedly gotten physically aggressive with Castle in the hours before her death, throwing a purse at her and punching the window of her Tesla.
McDougall broadened the scope of the pairs’ allegedly dysfunctional relationship, sharing text messages that showed Castle and Coleman were regularly fighting each day, making up and then repeating the pattern.
Despite this, Coleman was extremely excited to be a father, McDougall said, checking in on Castle throughout her pregnancy and regularly attending doctor’s appointments. According to McDougall, Coleman was not aware Castle or the baby had died.
“He absolutely did not know Kirsten and Indigo had died,” he said.
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After Castle’s body was discovered by her daughter, 911 was called and she was eventually pronounced dead with symptoms consistent with asphyxiation or strangulation, McLaughlin said.
In that time, Coleman drove to Southern California in possession of a safe assumed to be Castle’s containing $30,000 and her children’s passports, McLaughlin said, allegedly calling his uncle and asking for help getting to China. He was arrested in West Covina, a city in eastern Los Angeles, that same night.
The uncle testified after opening statements concluded, affirming Coleman called him on Aug. 4, saying the police were trying to kill him and he needed to get out of town. Coleman’s uncle thought that he was on drugs or mentally unwell based on how he was speaking on the phone, he said.
McDougall also broached Coleman’s drinking as a pattern that had gotten worse throughout Castle’s pregnancy, noting he was arrested with a blood-alcohol content three times the legal level and positing a potential alcohol-induced psychosis or blackout.
“It’s going to be an emotional time,” McDougall said of the trial. “Wait until you hear all the evidence. Don’t rush to judgment.”
McLaughlin ended his opening statement to the jury by referencing Coleman’s words on a phone call to his mother after his arrest.
“I can’t believe I did this s—,” Coleman allegedly said on the phone call.
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