At the start of 2023, we recapped the saga of Jose “Chille” DeCastro and the insanity that was the year of 2022. In that series of articles we examined the events in his life that led him to a literally crossroads.
At that time, he had been evicted from the studio/living space he had been residing in, nearly penniless and having to crowd fund everything from haircuts to having his photo taken by a street vendor, he had packed up his belongings and was on the road to his sister’s house where he would ultimately determine what his 2023 would be like. Would he continue down the path of ruin, which he was currently on, or would he make a sharp pivot and try to use his considerable charisma and drive to better himself and the world around him?
DeCastro’s decision came in the closing days of 2022 as a West Virginia teen named Jacqueline “Laney” Hudson skipped her brother’s birthday party in order to hang out with her friends. Hudson was killed when she was struck by a police cruiser driven by off-duty police officer Jeffery Racer.
The circumstances of the accident involve allegations that the group of teens were using marijuana and alcohol by a member of that group’s mother and allegations by an unspecified witness on the scene that the officer smelled of alcohol. The rumor of alcohol and the officer was pervasive enough that Hudson’s family members heard it when they arrived on the scene some time after the accident.
Police have stated that Racer was given two breathalyzers on scene, which came back negative for the presence of alcohol, and passed field sobriety tests that night. Hudson’s family and a witness who lived in a house near the accident have publicly disputed this by making multiple conflicting statements about the officers whereabouts after the accident, alleging that he was taken from the scene as part of a police cover up. The family members started a gofundme, which alleges police misconduct in the description of the fund raiser, and began a series of protests against the police involving Hudson’s teenage friends.
When DeCastro heard about the case, his decision was made, he would pivot back into the role of victim’s advocate and media spokesperson. This was the role he played when he approached Tina Slay after the police-involved death of her son Caleb and the same role he attempted to play when he came to Ironton, Ohio, last year in order to rally citizens against alleged corruption in the Ironton, Ohio, police department.
DeCastro started doing a series of live streams in which he would raise money for Hudson’s gofundme. To his credit, the vast majority of donations to the gofundme were made during his broadcasts, with one person pledging $1000 in the most recent stream devoted to raising funds for Hudson’s family.
Hudson’s family openly embraced DeCastro. He made promises to them that he would hold rallies and earn money in Hudson’s name. Using his unwavering charisma and determination, he convinced them that he would get justice for the stricken child and that he would be the source of truth in the case as the police could not be trusted.
DeCastro’s broadcasts showed that he was openly interviewing witnesses who had not been contacted by the police yet, he exposed the name of the passenger in the police cruiser at the time of the accident and demanded that she come to him for an interview as the police could not be trusted and he instructed the friends of Hudson to take to the streets and take the cameras from properties around the crash site and bring the footage to him and not the police, as again, he portrayed himself as the single source of truth in the case.
Jose DeCastro has a style that has always been charming and charismatic, but also viewed as odd by those who have encountered him. He has a nervous and telling tick of using a fake laugh whenever he’s denying something he knows is true. He breaks out into song at inappropriate times and often works himself into rages that fuel his livestreams. In these rages he disregards known truths and spins tales of his past and his beliefs, often mangling well-established court cases in order to further whatever cause had his attention in the moment. Most recently, DeCastro has abandoned his claims to be a former atheist who was now a devout Catholic, to claiming that he “met god” in 2019 and has no religious affiliation, just that he is now a “god guy.”
DeCastro has a small but vocal group of supporters in his YouTube channel, gaining 100-300 new subscribers daily, though having very low attendance to his live streams and with total viewership of recent videos ranging between 1k-5k, and has run a successful returned to TikTok where he claims one of his videos has “gone viral” and received over a million views.
To the family of Hudson, DeCastro has been a strong supporter and has raised more money towards their gofundme than anyone else. They’ve gone so far as to appear on Welsh News Network’s live stream in order to apparently broker a cease fire in controversy that surrounded DeCastro’s involvement in the case. While appearing on the broadcast, the Hudson’s aunt described DeCastro sending a negative e-mails to Hudson’s mother when she refused to appear on his livestream. They listened to Tina Slay’s account of her negative involvement with DeCastro and seemed receptive to more information about DeCastro’s involvement with other families.
Their case for ceasing hostilities was compelling and came off to many as they only wanted Hudson’s name not to be used in the controversy. The got what they were looking for as they received a pledge that hostilities would cease at that live stream. The next day they embraced DeCastro’s help, with a second aunt and Hudson’s mother appearing on DeCastro’s live stream, accusing the police of misconduct, standing by DeCastro’s threats against the officer in the case and open attempts at witness tampering.
By this time DeCastro had made a number of strange comments about Hudson, who had just turned 13 at the time of her death, and her friends. DeCastro had interviewed an underaged witness, one of Hudson’s friends who was walking with her at the time of the accident, apparently without parental permission to do the interview. DeCastro made comments about Hudson that came off as lurid to some, describing her beauty and attitude in a manner that wouldn’t traditionally be used to describe a 13-year-old. Most recently, airing video of Hudson, provided by her family, where she was clearly inebriated and dancing in her underwear as examples of her innocence and style.
DeCastro admitted to being in regular contact with a group of teenagers from Ironton, Ohio, who served as his eyes and ears in the town. Then he began to make statements on his live streams that he would use the children of a local high school to rise up in the streets against the officer in the case if he returned to policing. This coincided with a report by Frauditor Reaper that she had been told by an FBI agent that the FBI was aware of DeCastro’s involvement with the teens in Irontown, Ohio, and was actively investigating him.
The new accusations made by Welsh News Network, that DeCastro was openly recruiting children from multiple states to attend a rally in Huntington, West Virginia, continue the pattern of contact between DeCastro and minors that has fueled his involvement in the case. What he is seeking from the children is unclear, as there have been no accusations of sexual or financial misconduct other than allegedly promising them reimbursement of travel costs “3x over” when they attend the rally.
As we stand now there is an investigation into DeCastro by the FBI. His actions have been reported directly to the FBI by a number of reputable YouTubers. They have researched and reportedly found multiple confirmed sources for their accusations before going to the FBI.
The news broke before the rally was held; giving DeCastro the option to deny that any such rally was planned and to deny the allegations made against him. DeCastro has not taken the opportunity to make such denials. The only statement at press time (some 12 hours after the end of the Welsh News Network broadcast), from anyone in DeCastro’s camp came in the form of two videos from known DeCastro associate Rights On, mocking Welsh News Network’s coverage of the case.
How this will play out is anyone’s guess, but one thing is clear: DeCastro has made his choice on which path he will take for the year of 2023. That path is currently taking him down a similar path to the one he took in 2022 and redemption may be further away with every passing mile.
