Goodyear stepfather and daughter dead in apparent murder-suicide

PHOENIX — Goodyear police reported a man and his stepdaughter were found dead from gunshots Wednesday in an apparent murder-suicide.

Police said when officers responded to a medical call in the 16000 block of West Larkspur Drive they discovered 41-year-old John D. Castro and 18-year-old Aaliyah M. Anderson deceased from apparent gunshot wounds. Family members called 911.

The Goodyear Police Department Criminal Investigations Unit collected evidence and the Maricopa County Medical Examiner conducted an autopsy, leading to the determination of murder-suicide.

Investigators, however, are unsure currently what motivated Castro.

According to the Violence Policy Center, about 600 murder-suicides occur yearly in the United States, accounting for 1,000 to 1,500 deaths.

Sixty-five percent of the events involve intimate partners. Of these, 95% were females killed by their intimate partners.

Of these, 92% involved a gun.

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