Who murdered Aryndel Castro? In the early autumn of 2013, a 24-year-old Caucasian male named Aryndel Castro vanished from Bridgeport, Connecticut. For eight long years, his disappearance remained a painful mystery for his family, a cold case that offered no solace or closure. Castro, who was transient and often moved between apartments in the city, was reported missing by his mother in September of that year.
The initial missing person investigation struggled to trace his last movements.
The silence in the case was finally broken in December 2021, when a grim discovery brought the agonizing wait to an end. Following a confession, police unearthed Castro's remains buried five to six feet under the detached garage of a home on Noble Avenue in Bridgeport. The investigation led to the arrests of two men: Shawn Gibson, a Hamden man who owned a rooming house in Bridgeport, and Terrance Boyd of South Carolina.
Investigators pieced together the final horrific moments of Castro's life. On September 22, 2013, at a rooming house owned by Gibson, both he and Boyd allegedly beat and choked Castro to death. The motive for this brutal act was reportedly the theft of some tools. In the days that followed, the two men engaged in an elaborate cover-up. They purchased cleaning supplies and rented vans on separate occasions to transport Castro's body, which they had placed in a large plastic bag, moving it multiple times before its final burial.
The break in the long-stalled case came when the investigation was taken on by the Bridgeport police department's homicide unit. In 2021, Shawn Gibson, after his arrest, confessed to his role in the murder and, as part of a deal for a lower bond, led detectives to the location of Castro's hidden grave. Terrance Boyd, who had a prior conviction for a homicide in the 1980s, was arrested in South Carolina and also admitted to his involvement. Both men were initially charged with murder. Shawn Gibson later pleaded guilty to first-degree manslaughter and hindering prosecution, receiving a sentence of 12 years in prison followed by five years of probation. Terrance Boyd pleaded guilty to accessory to first-degree manslaughter and hindering prosecution and was sentenced to 10 years in prison followed by five years of probation.
