A disturbing image appears to show a Long Island music teacher squeezing the neck of a pink stuffed animal shortly before prosecutors say he allegedly strangled his wife’s sister using the same technique.
Joseph Horner, 27, pleaded not guilty Wednesday to charges that he raped and murdered his sister-in-law, 25-year-old Victoria Castle, inside a Long Island multi-family home last month. Prosecutors alleged in court that Horner had been fixated on Castle for nearly 10 years.
The arraignment brought a series of unsettling new allegations, including what prosecutors described as evidence that Horner rehearsed a chokehold only minutes before the fatal attack.
In court, prosecutors displayed a screenshot taken from security footage inside the home that they said showed Horner gripping the neck of a pink stuffed rabbit while staring forward with a blank expression.
‘Practicing a chokehold on a stuffed animal 15 minutes before he carried out the vile act against his sister-in-law, which used the same method of a chokehold,’ District Attorney Anne T Donnelly said, according to CBS News.
The image was presented Wednesday during Horner’s arraignment on grand jury indictment charges before Judge Howard Sturim in Nassau County District Court.
Prosecutors described the case to the judge as a ‘planned, twisted attack,’ with Horner’s wife and her family present in the courtroom.
Police responded on the morning of June 29 to a two-family home in North Massapequa, where Horner and his wife of three years lived upstairs while Castle lived on the lower level.
A new photo allegedly shows Long Island music teacher Joseph Horner, 27, practicing a chokehold on a stuffed animal minutes before using the same method to kill his sister-in-law, prosecutors say
Horner pleaded not guilty Wednesday to charges of raping and murdering his sister-in-law Victoria Castle, 25, in June. Prosecutors allege he had lusted after her for nearly a decade
Castle, a 25-year-old doctoral student, was found naked and unresponsive in her own bed on the morning of June 29
The 25-year-old doctoral student was found naked and unresponsive in her own bedroom before being rushed to a hospital, where she was pronounced dead shortly afterward.
The medical examiner ruled her official cause of death to be manual strangulation.
Prosecutors, who claimed Horner had a deep fixation with Castle, said he waited until his wife was away on a bachelorette trip before allegedly luring her upstairs with the seemingly innocent request to help move a piano.
‘It was cover for the defendant to finally act on his decade-long, chilling lust for his sister-in-law,’ Donnelly said, according to CBS News.
Investigators said Horner had harbored this obsession with Castle since meeting her in 2017, when he was a college student dating her older sister.
‘Even as he stood at the altar in 2023 and married the victim’s sister, his dangerous fixation on Victoria never wavered,’ the district attorney added, according to NBC New York.
When Castle went to grab the piano bench, Horner allegedly ambushed her from behind and placed her in a chokehold until her body went limp. Prosecutors said he then removed her clothes, placed her in her bed and raped her.
Prosecutors said Horner until his wife was away on a bachelorette trip before allegedly luring Castle upstairs with the seemingly innocent request to help move a piano
Nassau County District Attorney Anne T Donnelly said Horner ambushed Castle from behind and put her in a chokehold until she went limp. He then allegedly removed her clothes, placed her in her bed and raped her
In court, it was revealed that Horner allegedly told detectives he would occasionally sneak into Castle’s apartment downstairs, hoping to find explicit pictures of her
Prosecutors said Horner took a FaceTime call from his wife during the attack. Donnelly said he ‘acted as if nothing was wrong, as if he hadn’t just violently attacked her sister,’ CBS News reports.
He then changed his clothes, calmly dialed 911 and waited on the porch stoop for authorities to arrive, where prosecutors said he described what had just unfolded inside the home with no apparent emotion.
According to Donnelly, he casually told police: ‘I did it, she’s downstairs. I’ll wait here.’
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‘Changed his clothes, sat on the porch and waited for them,’ she said, according to ABC 7. ‘He basically – the way it was explained to me – had very little affect.’
After taking Horner into custody at the scene, investigators said he confessed to having longstanding erotic feelings for Castle and admitted he had deliberately carried out the attack while his wife was away.
It was also revealed that he allegedly told detectives he would occasionally sneak into Castle’s apartment downstairs, hoping to find explicit pictures of her.
‘A truly twisted, sickening behavior pattern,’ Donnelly said.
The district attorney said the alleged crime was all the more shocking because Horner had spent years working as a chorus teacher at an Oceanside elementary school, where he was regarded as well-liked by colleagues and students alike.
Prosecutors said Horner took a FaceTime call from his wife during the attack and ‘acted like nothing was wrong, like he hadn’t just left her sister lying on a bed’
Investigators said Horner had harbored this obsession with Castle since meeting her in 2017, when he was a college student dating her older sister
The medical examiner ruled Castle’s official cause of death to be manual strangulation
‘As a parent, I am horrified that this person had access to children, someone who could commit such a vile and monstrous act,’ she said.
Others in the community have echoed those concerns, including Oceanside resident Cindy Fountain, who told ABC 7 News: ‘They need to do a better background check… bottom line.’
‘When a teacher is hired, are there mental health evaluations? I don’t know,’ resident Barbara DeVito added.
The school district said it is moving to terminate Horner and described the allegations as deeply disturbing, according to CBS News.
In another heartbreaking twist, Castle had publicly gushed over the man now accused of killing her after he married her sister just three years earlier.
In a Facebook post, she wrote: ‘My sister, my person, my partner in chaos, is now married to one of the most wonderful people in the world. I love you both forever.’
Horner’s wife sobbed in the courtroom Wednesday and was comforted by her parents as he pleaded not guilty to the charges.
In a subsequent press release shared by the district attorney’s office, Donnelly wrote: ‘Joseph Horner allegedly lured his unsuspecting sister-in-law with an innocuous favor, strangled, and brutally raped her in her own bed.’
Horner’s wife sobbed in the courtroom Wednesday and was comforted by her parents as he pleaded not guilty to the charges
Castle publicly gushed over Horner after he married her sister just three years before the attack
According to DA Donnelly, Horner casually told police at the scene: ‘I did it, she’s downstairs. I’ll wait here’
‘This vicious attack was the act of a deranged individual suffering from an unrequited love and sick lust dating back more than a decade,’ she added. ‘Joseph Horner saw his chance when his wife was out of town, and he allegedly took it.’
‘Now, a bright young woman with a promising future is dead. Our thoughts remain with the Castle family as they continue to endure this indescribable pain and heartbreak and as we pursue justice for Victoria.’
Castle was remembered by Stony Brook University as a promising young scientist pursuing her doctorate in geosciences, with colleagues describing her as dedicated, brilliant and deeply committed to her research.
Horner is due back in court on August 19. If convicted, he faces up to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
The Daily Mail has reached out to Oceanside Union Free School District for comment.
