John Nicholas Belcastro Jr., 31, was shot dead inside an Oak Valley Drive apartment in Knoxville, Tennessee, in the late hours of September 1, 2024. Knox County Sheriff’s deputies found him with a gunshot wound to the head around 11:30 p.m.; he was taken to a hospital and pronounced deceased.

Investigators focused on his 29-year-old girlfriend, Alexandria Pastor-Light, who was taken into custody at the scene. According to police, she admitted to shooting Belcastro after forcing him to remove his clothes in a bedroom. Officers recovered multiple .22 caliber shell casings, live ammunition, and a gunshot hole in a hallway door. A 911 call made by Pastor-Light was played at a preliminary hearing, during which she accused Belcastro of cheating and said he had tried to poison her.

A judge found sufficient evidence at the preliminary hearing to send the case to a grand jury, and Pastor-Light was arrested and charged with first-degree murder, felony murder, and aggravated kidnapping; bond was set at $500,000.