BOCA RATON, FL (Boca Post) (Copyright © 2025) — A Boca Raton woman is facing an aggravated battery charge after police say she hurled a candle at her ex-boyfriend’s overnight guest while the woman was asleep in his bed at an apartment off Southeast 12th Street.
According to a Boca Raton Police Department probable cause affidavit, officers were called to 50 SE 12th Street, around 12:04 a.m. on Dec. 7, 2025, for a reported battery. When an officer arrived, he met the victim, identified in the report as 47-year-old Deserri Dorsey, and noted a laceration on her chin with blood running down her neck.
Dorsey told the officer that she had met a friend, Ryan Bernard, at a local bar earlier in the night. The two later went back to Bernard’s apartment, ate, and fell asleep in his bed, according to the affidavit.
Dorsey said she woke up to someone screaming and being hit in the face. She told police that Bernard’s roommate, 47-year-old Elaine E.K. Castillo, threw a candle at her head while she was in bed, striking her and causing her to bleed. The officer wrote that he saw blood on the pillow and blanket on the bed.
The report says the officer then spoke with Bernard, who largely confirmed Dorsey’s account of the night. Bernard added that he and Castillo had dated on and off for several years and that he believed she threw the candle because he had brought another woman home, according to the affidavit.
When the officer met with Castillo, she initially said, “I know I fucked up, he’s my ex-boyfriend,” and, “I’m sorry for all this shit,” the affidavit states. Castillo reportedly confirmed that she and Bernard had been in an on-and-off relationship for about five years and that they had been together earlier that day before he went out drinking at the bar. She said Bernard later returned home with Dorsey, which upset her, according to the report.
However, when the officer asked Castillo specifically about the candle, she denied knowing what happened and started to walk back her earlier statements, the affidavit notes.
Based on the statements from everyone involved and the injuries observed on the victim, the officer wrote that he developed probable cause to arrest Castillo on a charge of aggravated battery causing bodily harm or disability, a violation of Florida Statute 784.045(1)(a)(1). Photos of Dorsey’s injuries were taken and placed into evidence, and a Victim’s Right to Confidentiality form was completed, according to the report.
Jail records on the arrest form list Castillo’s date of birth as March 14, 1978, and indicate she was booked into the Palm Beach County Jail with “no bond” written on the form at the time of processing.
All details in this story come from a Boca Raton Police Department arrest and probable cause affidavit filed Dec. 7, 2025.
As with all criminal cases, the charge against Castillo is an allegation only. She is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty in a court of law.
Additional law enforcement updates affecting Boca Raton and nearby communities are tracked on Boca Post’s police activity page.
