Washington family of murder victim protests potential early release of killers
(The Center Square) – The Washington family of a man murdered by two teenagers in 2004 are speaking out against their potential early release by the state Intermediate Sentence Review Board, while a state House bill proposed this session could allow convicted killers to be released even earlier.
In 2004, 14 year-old Jordan Castillo and 16 year-old Robert Suarez stabbed Bob Mars to death outside of Ki-Be Middle School, where he worked as a sixth-grade teacher, as part of a gang initiation. They were later found guilty of first-degree murder, with Suarez sentenced to 26 years and eight months, while Castillo was sentenced to 29 years and nine months.
Both Suarez and Castillo have petitioned the ISRB to be released early, with Mars’ family notified that the two are scheduled for hearings in July and February 2026, respectively.
Bob Mars’ widow Kris Mars, a teacher in the Kennewick School District, told The Center Square that during a resentencing roughly three years ago there was no indication that they could one day petition to be released before their full sentences had been served.
“That’s not the case,” she said. “We were shocked. Our whole family was shocked.”
Kris Mars is preparing to deliver a statement during a Community Concern meeting for Suarez scheduled for June 23, where friends and family will be able to attend. As of right now, the public is not allowed to be at the meeting.
Mars says the issue is not just about justice for her husband, but to ensure that other families don’t have to experience a similar tragedy.
“I just very concerned for our community to be safe,” she said. “We know that they were violent offenders. My hope is that at the end of their sentence they’re doing things, using program in the system, that will help them when they are released eventually. But our goal right now is to preserve justice for Bob. What they’re doing is they’re taking that away.”
A state law enacted in 2014 allows juvenile offenders convicted of one or more crimes to petition the ISRB for early release after serving at least 20 years of total confinement. That timeline may be shortened even further with House Bill 1125 sponsored by Rep. Tarra Simmons, D-Bremerton. If passed, it would have allowed those convicted as a juvenile of three murders or less to petition after just serving seven years of their sentence. The bill reached the House Rules Committee, but failed to advance to the House floor for a vote.
Mars says allowing early release for those convicted of murder as a juvenile “minimizes accountability, because a rational human, a rational child, can tell you right from wrong. You may not know the long-term consequences … but you certainly know there’s going to be some judicial consequences that are going to be handed down.”
The Community Concern hearing will take place at 637 Woodland Square Loop SE in Lacey.
