A Southern California man has been convicted of first-degree murder for the 2022 killing of his estranged wife, a crime prosecutors say involved a planned ambush, a violent stabbing, and a disturbing return to the victim’s gravesite the next morning.

The Ventura County District Attorney’s Office announced Friday that a jury found 28-year-old Zarbab Ali guilty in the death of 25-year-old Rachel Castillo, the mother of his two young children. Prosecutors said the jury also upheld multiple special-circumstance allegations, including lying in wait and the use of a knife, which mandate a sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole.

According to evidence presented at trial, Ali waited outside Castillo’s Simi Valley apartment on November 10, 2022, slipped inside, hid, and then stabbed her multiple times when she stepped out of the bathroom. Castillo was reported missing the same day. Her body was discovered three days later in a remote desert area of Littlerock, California.

In a police interrogation played for jurors, Ali admitted to burying Castillo, returning the next morning to dig up her body, sexually assaulting her, and reburying her in the same location. Ali had already pleaded guilty to the post-mortem sexual assault before the murder trial began.

The district attorney’s office said Ali described himself during questioning as a “monster,” and prosecutors argued his own words demonstrated the premeditated nature of the killing.

Castillo’s family delivered emotional statements following the verdict. Her father, Chris Castillo, said the conviction brought some measure of justice but that no sentence could undo the loss. Other relatives rejected Ali’s claim on the stand that he may have killed his wife out of jealousy, calling Rachel a devoted mother who excelled academically and personally.

Ali is scheduled to be formally sentenced on January 12, 2026. He faces life in prison without the possibility of parole.