bvelliquette@heraldsun.com; 918-1042
HILLSBOROUGH -- Even as Alvaro Castillo was buying weapons and taking a trip to see Columbine High School in Colorado, he was telling his therapists that he was feeling better, was thinking less about Columbine and had no plans for suicide or homicide.
Karen Graham, a UNC psychiatrist who testified Monday for the prosecution, told the jurors that she determined that Castillo was suffering from several mental health problems, including depression and anxiety but was not psychotic.
Castillo is standing trial for first-degree murder for killing his father, Rafael Castillo, 65, and for assault and weapons charges for shooting at students at Orange High School.
Graham was working at UNC Hospitals when Castillo was committed to UNC Hospitals following a suicide attempt on April 20, 2006. She evaluated and treated him while he was a patient at the hospital, and further treated him as an outpatient at UNC's Oasis program.
Her testimony gave a different picture of the mental health treatment Castillo received following his suicide attempt on April 30. A previous witness told the jury that the Oasis, a program for young adults who may be experiencing their first episode of psychosis, put Castillo out of the program and that she attempted in vain to get him back in the program.
Graham testified, however, that it was Castillo who didn't want to continue at Oasis because of the cost and because it was a long drive from his home in northern Orange County to Chapel Hill, Graham said.
At his request, the program referred him to a program closer to his home, the Caring Family Network, formerly known as OPC.
Based on various testimony, it appeared that communications broke down between Castillo, Oasis and OPC, with the result that Castillo did not receive any treatment in the month before he shot and killed his father and shot at students at Orange High School on Aug. 30, 2006.
Graham testified that she, as well as nurses and other professionals, saw and monitored Castillo for six days while he was committed at UNC Hospitals and then by coincidence, she was transferred to the Oasis program just as Castillo began receiving treatment in the program, so she also saw him there.
One of the reasons Castillo gave for attempting suicide is that he did not want to return to the National Guard, and once it became clear that he would not have to return, some of his anxiety disappeared, Graham said.
Initially, Castillo's diagnosis was depression and anxiety.
"It was my best judgment that he did not have psychotic symptoms," Graham said.
Nevertheless, he did mention that sometimes he felt like he was being watched, so to be sure, he was referred to the Oasis program so they could continue to monitor him.
"We wanted to be absolutely sure he was not in the beginning stages of a psychotic illness," she said.
Graham also said that when Castillo was released from the hospital, treatment providers met with his family, and one of the first instructions they gave the family was that there should be no guns in the house.
In fact, Castillo bought a firearm at Wal-Mart just a day or two after being released from the hospital, and when his mother and father became aware that he had two firearms, they allowed him to keep them and even sleep with them.
If his family had told her the trip to Littleton, Co., to see Columbine High School and that he had purchased weapons, Graham said she could have had him involuntarily committed to the hospital.
Also testifying Monday was Nicole Wolfe, a forensic psychiatrist at Dorothea Dix who evaluates patients for competency to stand trial and for insanity issues.
Late Monday, Wolfe gave background about what she does and her initial meeting with Castillo.
She is scheduled to continue her testimony at 9 a.m. today at the Orange County Courthouse.
