Repeat DUI Offender Sentenced to 15 Years to Life for Fatal Crash

Published on July 28, 2025

Today, July 28, 2025, Gilberto Santiago-Castro (30, of Mendota) was sentenced to a term of fifteen years to life in state prison for the crime of second-degree murder. The sentence follows the defendant’s guilty plea on May 21, 2025, and was handed down by the Honorable Brian Alvarez of the Fresno County Superior Court.

On October 3, 2022, at approximately 3:00 a.m., Santiago-Castro was driving his Chevy Equinox southbound on State Route 33, north of the City of Mendota. At the same time, Benedo Alfaro-Vasquez (22, of Mendota) was driving his Toyota Corolla northbound. Santiago-Castro entered the northbound lanes, striking Alfaro-Vasquez’s vehicle head-on and killing him.

Officers from the Los Banos office of the California Highway Patrol responded to the scene and evaluated Santiago-Castro for driving under the influence. Their investigation revealed that he had a blood alcohol concentration of 0.14%, nearly twice the legal limit for operating a vehicle.

A further investigation by the CHP’s Multidisciplinary Accident Investigation Team (MAIT) determined that Santiago-Castro’s vehicle was traveling at approximately 86 miles per hour at the time of impact. Investigators also recovered footage from a privately owned, dash-mounted camera inside Santiago-Castro’s vehicle. The video showed him driving in the opposing lane for nearly a minute before the crash.

Santiago-Castro had previously been convicted of two separate driving under the influence offenses in 2018 and 2021. Both convictions occurred in June of 2022. At the time of the fatal crash, he was on two separate grants of probation for DUI offenses.

As a result of those prior convictions, Santiago-Castro received what is known as the “Watson Advisement.” He was warned by a judge that driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs significantly impaired his ability to safely operate a motor vehicle, and that if he continued to do so and someone was killed as a result, he could be charged with murder.

The Fresno County District Attorney’s Office would like to thank the California Highway Patrol for their investigative work, dedication to the case, and ongoing efforts to keep our roadways safe from impaired drivers.

This case was successfully prosecuted by Senior Deputy District Attorney Steven Ueltzen, with assistance from Senior District Attorney Investigator Ronnie Sims. It was prosecuted as part of the Alcohol and Drug Impaired Driver Vertical Prosecution Program, which is funded by a grant from the California Office of Traffic Safety through the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

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