Jill Rockcastle

Case summary

Jill Rockcastle was sentenced to 10 years to life in prison on November 19, 2008, after pleading no contest on September 16, 2008, to second-degree murder in the stabbing death of her husband, William Gustafik.

Rockcastle’s defence described her as a battered wife who grabbed a knife and stabbed Gustafik 15 times after he grabbed her by the hair. The prosecution disputed Rockcastle’s claims and said there was no evidence Gustafik was violent toward Rockcastle. In court, Rockcastle said she loved her husband, said she was not a violent person, and stated that she had lost control. She also stated that Gustafik was out of control, had been abusing illegal drugs and steroids, and that she was afraid he would kill her.

Rockcastle apologised profusely in the courtroom. She entered an Alford plea, meaning that she did not admit guilt but conceded that prosecutors could prove the case against her. She also stated through sobs that her husband had been physically abusing her and that she was afraid he’d kill her.

Background

Jill Rockcastle met William Gustafik in 2000. Gustafik was a corrections officer in California in the mid-1980s and later became a chiropractor in California. Gustafik then pursued poker professionally. Rockcastle said in court documents that Gustafik wanted to pursue poker professionally.

Gustafik was also described as having several chiropractic offices and as being successful, and his biggest claim to fame was finishing in 280th place at the World Series of Poker Main Event in Las Vegas in 2006, earning $38,759. His biggest payday was $80,000, which he earned when he finished tenth in a World Poker Tour event in San Jose, California, in 2006. Tournament records showed Gustafik won a total of $165,597 in his career playing in poker tournaments in Vegas and California.

Rockcastle said she and Gustafik both underwent plastic surgery and that she helped him live the high life. She also described Gustafik as obsessed with his looks and as taking performance-enhancing drugs and using cocaine. She wrote that he wanted to live the high roller’s life and become a professional player on TV and that getting on TV was an obsession. She wrote that he wanted to be recognised publicly.

Rockcastle described their relationship as involving schemes to sell fake real estate and other scams. She wrote that they were living a fake life of millionaires but were going broke.

A newspaper account stated that Rockcastle fled to California after the April 2007 slaying and was later found unconscious in a central California bed-and-breakfast where she had tried to kill herself.

The indictment information also included that Jill Rockcastle was indicted in Clark County District Court for premeditated murder in the slaying of William Gustafik.

The offence

William Gustafik died after being stabbed multiple times.

Rockcastle’s attorney, Deputy Public Defender Joe Abood, said that just before the slaying Gustafik, while on a bed at the Panorama Towers, grabbed Rockcastle by the hair. According to Abood, Rockcastle grabbed a knife that Gustafik had been using to open pornographic DVDs and stabbed him multiple times.

Authorities believed Rockcastle stabbed Gustafik 15 times. Another account stated that Gustafik had been stabbed more than a dozen times. Bedding in the room was washed, but police crime scene investigators found blood on the pillows. Police also found the murder weapon, a knife that they recovered near the building’s rubbish chute.

Investigation

Police found Gustafik’s body on April 13, 2007, after being directed to a blood-spattered bedroom in a 23rd-floor condo at the Panorama Towers on the Las Vegas Strip.

A separate account stated that the police found her unconscious in a room at the Petit Soleil Bed and Breakfast in San Luis Obispo, California, and that the police believed she overdosed on an unknown medication.

Arrest

Rockcastle was arrested several days later after she was found unconscious at a motel in San Luis Obispo, California, from a drug overdose. She was hospitalised and then extradited from San Luis Obispo to Nevada. Since May, she was held without bail at the Clark County jail where she was represented by the Clark County Public Defender.

Trial

Jill Rockcastle pleaded no contest on September 16, 2008, to second-degree murder in the slaying of William Gustafik. Her plea avoided trial and acknowledged that prosecutors could prove the case against her.

In a rambling statement, Rockcastle apologised profusely for the slaying. She said through sobs:

“I love my husband. I'm not a violent person,” Rockcastle said. “I just lost control.”

She stated that her husband was out of control and had been abusing illegal drugs and steroids. She stated:

She stated that Gustafik had been physically abusing her and she was afraid he'd kill her.

Rockcastle’s attorney, Deputy Public Defender Joe Abood, cast Rockcastle as a battered wife who grabbed a knife and stabbed Gustafik 15 times after he grabbed her by the hair.

Abood also said:

"Mr. Gustafik was becoming violent and increasingly violent over time," Abood said.

Prosecutor Sam Bateman disputed Rockcastle’s claims and said there was no evidence Gustafik was violent toward Rockcastle. Bateman said:

"Dead men tell no tales," Bateman said. "I can't bring the victim in on this case to give his side of the story."

Bateman also said there was no evidence Rockcastle suffered from battered woman syndrome. He said there was evidence of independent money sources, that Rockcastle travelled back and forth between Las Vegas and California, that she was running a business for her husband, and that she was not controlled by him. Bateman said:

"This is a woman who was in complete control of her life," Bateman said.

A separate account stated that Jill Rockcastle was known as “The Manipulator” in connection with the case and that her plea later avoided trial.

Sentencing

On November 19, 2008, Jill Rockcastle was sentenced by Clark County District Court Judge Michael Villani to 10 years to life in prison for Gustafik’s fatal stabbing. She was eligible for parole after 10 years as a result of a plea to a second-degree murder charge.

Appeals

No appeal information was included.

Outcome

Jill Rockcastle received a sentence of 10 years to life in prison following her plea of no contest to second-degree murder.

Aftermath

Following the slaying, Rockcastle attempted to kill herself and was found unconscious at a bed-and-breakfast in central California.

A 10-page suicide note was described as Rockcastle’s statement claiming that Gustafik hired a hit man in Las Vegas to kill his ex-wife so she wouldn’t file for custody of their daughter. She also stated in the letter that Gustafik was obsessed with his looks, took performance-enhancing drugs and used cocaine:

"He wanted to live the high roller's life," Rockcastle wrote. "Getting on TV was an obsession. He wanted to be recognized publicly."

Rockcastle wrote that they both underwent plastic surgery and that she helped Gustafik live the high life. She wrote that Gustafik began to go through money quickly, was addicted to gambling, and was spending more on trips and going out than he was making playing cards. She wrote that the couple began to scheme to sell fake real estate and other scams, and wrote:

"We were living this fake life of millionaires. But we weren't. We were going broke," she wrote.

A letter dated April 19, 2007 was described as Rockcastle’s “final statement.” It included a message addressed to others affected by her actions and by Bill’s actions. It stated:

"This is my final statement done to help all the people affected by my actions, Bill's actions, the actions and the results of whatever does happen to them in our aftermath. I'm writing this so that each person that receives it will identify with the time period in which your experience occurred with him and I and can have some of the why, how, why me, how could they, what happened etc. answered. I am not trying in anyway to justify a single thing in here. I am not looking to clear my name or actions. I have already done the most final things possible to stop us from hurting anyone else. "

It also stated:

"When Bill and I met, we discovered that we both had the ability to get pretty much anything we wanted out of people. I did what I did out of my need to survive. Bill did what he did out of the need to conquer. To be superior to the people around him. To look like the most successful person in the room. He lived his life feeding his narcissism."

The letter described Rockcastle’s claim that performance and look enhancing drugs were used, that she worked in the mortgage business, and that she and Bill lied, manipulated, cheated, conned and hustled people to make money. It also included extensive statements about a custody battle involving their daughter and claims about alleged planning to have the ex-wife and their daughter killed. The letter included:

"He was also immersed in the battle over his rights in the custody of his daughter."

It further stated:

"Two years ago, he did plan to have you and your Mom killed. He paid a guy to do it while we had xxxxx in Las Vegas for our Christmas time. It was the scariest few days."

The letter also included the statement:

"He decided that because changes were coming in workers compensation benefits and his income was going to soon suffer that he needed to be a player. I had free time and he wanted it. "

It described their movements, business activities, and claims about gambling and drugs, including statements that:

"Several more nights, starting at 4 pm and going until 1 or 2 am, he would play online poker and do lines of cocaine and I would sit on the bed doing nothing when we were home."

The letter also included statements about poker losses and financial circumstances, and ended with the statement:

"I'm going to skip so many things in an effort to shorten this but my life was a constant hell for the last year. Im going to skip all the lawsuits that were being filed. All the tax notices. All the bounced checks. All the drugs. All the collections. The worst day being when Bill informed me that his friend who had given him the cash to hold needed some money for taxes."

Other details

A May 25, 2007 account stated that Jill Rockcastle was held without bail at the Clark County jail and that she was represented by the Clark County Public Defender.

Another account stated that the Panorama Towers unit was a 23rd-floor condo located just west of the Las Vegas Strip where the pair had leased a unit from an investor who owned several units in the building. It stated that the police crime scene investigators found blood on the pillows and that they recovered the murder weapon, a knife near the building’s rubbish chute.

A police-related account described how Rockcastle vanished and was captured three days after the murder when a tip received by the police paid off.

People involved

• Jill Rockcastle — defendant; husband’s slaying; pleaded no contest to second-degree murder; sentenced to 10 years to life in prison on November 19, 2008.
• William Gustafik — victim; died after being stabbed multiple times.
• Michael Villani — Clark County District Court Judge who sentenced Rockcastle.
• Joseph Abood (Joe Abood) — Rockcastle’s public defence lawyer; Deputy Public Defender.
• Sam Bateman — prosecutor.
• “Joanne” — referenced in Rockcastle’s letter and described as Gustafik’s ex-wife in custody-related statements in the letter.