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Driver gets 6 years for deadly hit-and-run at Laguna Hills hotel

February 7, 2025

A Mission Viejo driver who fled from a deadly collision in the parking lot of a Laguna Hills hotel was sentenced on Friday, Feb 7, to six years in prison.

Andrew Austin Arbuckle was convicted last year of hit-and-run with permanent and serious injury related to a July 16, 2020 crash that killed 22-year-old Fabio Castro at The Hills Hotel on La Paz Road.

Castro — a horse groomer who lived in Atascadero — was staying at the hotel while taking part in a horse show in San Juan Capistrano. Arbuckle struck and killed Castro while dropping someone off at the hotel, according to court records.

Witnesses saw a grey or silver Chevrolet pickup truck drive over what they initially thought was a speed bump but that turned out to be Castro’s body.

Arbuckle’s girlfriend told police that when he arrived at her home the night of July 16 Arbuckle had told her that he had hit something and that someone had stepped out in front of him, according to prosecution filings. He also told her, using an obscenity, that he was finished, prosecutors said.

The girlfriend also reportedly told investigators that the afternoon of July 16, prior to the fatal collision, she had been bartending and had served Arbuckle and his friends several buckets of beer. Surveillance footage at the bar the girlfriend worked at showed Arbuckle having four drinks over the course of two hours, prosecutors wrote in court filings, and cell phone records also tied Arbuckle to the vicinity of the hotel at the time of the hit-and-run.

According to a sentencing brief filed by the defense, Castro was either walking or riding a bike across the parking lot toward the entrance of the hotel when he was struck by the pickup.

Arbuckle later testified that he had thought he hit a speed bump, the defense attorney said.

Orange County Register

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Driver gets 6 years for deadly hit-and-run at Laguna Hills hotel

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