00:00We are here today to announce the grand jury indictment of 27-year-old Joseph Horner on charges of one
00:08count of first-degree murder, two counts of second-degree murder, and two counts of first-degree rape.
00:18On the morning of June 29, 2026, the defendant asked his sister-in-law, 25-year-old Victoria Castle, for
00:28help moving a keyboard upstairs to his apartment.
00:34This seemingly innocent request masked a much darker and ultimately deadly motivation.
00:43It was a cover for the defendant to finally act on his decade-long chilling lust for his sister-in
00:53-law.
00:54Victoria lived in the lower level of a two-family home on North Oak Street in North Massapequa.
01:02Her sister and the defendant lived in the upstairs apartment of the same home.
01:09After moving the keyboard, the defendant claimed that he would return downstairs to get the bench.
01:16But that was just another excuse in this planned, twisted attack.
01:23After the defendant returned to the victim's apartment, he allegedly, suddenly, and unprovoked attacked Victoria from behind.
01:33He put her in a chokehold until her body went limp.
01:40He then removed her clothing, placed her on her bed, and raped her.
01:46She suffered internal hemorrhaging and bruising from the assault, and later died as a result of manual strangulation at the
01:56hands of her own brother-in-law.
02:00During the alleged attack, the defendant answered a FaceTime call from his wife, the victim's sister, who was away on
02:09a bachelorette trip.
02:11During that call, the defendant acted as if nothing was wrong, as if he hadn't just violently attacked her sister,
02:19as if Victoria's body wasn't laying motionless, just a floor below.
02:26Victoria was a promising young woman who had a great future ahead of her.
02:31She was pursuing a Ph.D. in geology at Stony Brook University and had traveled the world.
02:38Her life was senselessly cut short by a man she had welcomed into her family with open arms.
02:48Security video taken from inside the defendant's apartment about 15 minutes before the vile attack
02:56captured the defendant allegedly practicing a chokehold on a stuffed animal.
03:03The same method he allegedly used to violently end Victoria's life.
