Two Children’s Worst Fears Come True Murdered Mother’s Body Lay In Bedroom Nearly Two Weeks

For nearly two weeks, the young boy and his sister mostly huddled at home, alone and terrified of what lay behind the master bedroom door.

The facts known to them were these, police said: Their parents had argued and their father - wielding a butcher knife - had emerged from the room with stern warnings. Say nothing and do not look behind the door, he told them.

Sunday night, the boy finally went for help. Fearful of defying his father, he walked to a local supermarket and shoplifted, hoping police would catch him, take him home and unravel the mystery.

It worked. On the bedroom floor inside the family’s tidy white house, officers found the decomposing body of the children’s mother, Janice Castorena, 38.

Monday, police were searching for the children’s father, schoolteacher Robert Castorena, who last had been seen driving the family’s blue Volvo sedan and was believed to have been heading for Los Angeles, where he has family and friends.

Investigators suspect Janice Castorena was killed Oct. 1 and her husband fled two days later.

The victim was a physical therapist who worked for Theramerica, a company that dispatches physical therapists to hospitals and nursing homes. She had worked as recently as two weeks ago.

The children - a 14-year-old girl and her 8-year-old brother - were in protective custody Monday. Police said they are in shock and received counseling from volunteer chaplains Sunday night.

Robert Castorena, 38, taught social studies at C.K. McClatchy High School in Sacramento until Sept. 16, when he abruptly and inexplicably quit.

The Castorenas’ daughter was a freshman at the high school until late September, when her mother removed the girl from classes and said she would be schooled at home.