In the quiet town of Calhoun, Georgia, a tragedy unfolded on the evening of February 10, 2017, forever altering the lives of a family and a community. Valerie Castillo, a young woman of 18, found her life cut tragically short in a violent act that concluded as a murder-suicide. The devastating events took place at the Calhoun Tobacco and Food Mart on South Highway 41.
That evening, police were called to the scene following reports of a domestic disturbance. Upon their arrival, they discovered a female employee with gunshot wounds to her arm and side. Inside the store, behind the counter, lay Valerie Castillo, who was unresponsive and pronounced dead at the scene from a gunshot wound. According to a fundraising page established by her mother, Valerie had recently learned that she was pregnant.
The perpetrator was identified as 20-year-old Victor Andres Pacheco. After shooting Valerie and her coworker, Pacheco was seen fleeing the area. Law enforcement officers searching the vicinity shortly thereafter heard a single gunshot. Their search led them to a nearby location where they found Pacheco, who had died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. The Calhoun Police Department investigated the incident as a murder-suicide, with Pacheco as the sole suspect in the death of Valerie Castillo.
