Bluffton man gets nearly 2 decades in prison for DUI crash that killed 4-month-old infant
A Bluffton man will spend nearly two decades in prison after pleading guilty to driving under the influence and causing a May 2024 crash that killed a 4-month-old infant on Bluffton Parkway.
Gregorio Hernandez-Castillo, 31, received a 20-year sentence for the DUI conviction, which was upgraded to a felony due to the infant passenger’s death. His sentences for child endangerment and driving under suspension would run concurrently.
Hernandez-Castillo received credit for 323 days he already served in jail, bringing his remaining prison time to just over 19 years.
Circuit Court Judge Marvin H. Dukes III handed down the sentence Tuesday at the Beaufort County Courthouse. He also ordered the defendant to pay $10,100 in restitution.
Hernandez-Castillo was also accused of driving without a license, failing to properly restrain the infant passenger in her car seat and carrying an open container in the vehicle. Those charges had not yet been prosecuted.
The single-car collision killed 4-month-old Starling Guzman from Allendale. Police said the child was improperly restrained in her car seat.
Details of the child’s death
First responders arrived at the crash site around 11 p.m. on May 12, 2024, near the intersection of Bluffton Parkway and Buck Island Road. They found Hernandez-Castillo’s gold Toyota RAV4 with “heavy front-end damage” resting against a tree in the median, according to a press release from the 14th Circuit Solicitor’s Office.
Guzman’s body was found unresponsive “in the road next to the car,” according to the solicitor’s office. She was pronounced dead at the scene after first responders attempted CPR and used a defibrillator in an attempt to revive the child.
Officers noted the child’s car seat was facing the wrong way and “improperly strapped to the rear seat,” prosecutors said. A 16-ounce can of beer was found in the driver’s side cup holder.
Hernandez-Castillo told police he “lost control” of the car after a deer ran in front of him and he swerved to avoid it, according to the Solicitor’s Office.
About one-and-a-half hours after the crash, Hernandez-Castillo’s blood alcohol content was found to be 0.18, the release said. He reportedly told police he was driving about 60 mph in the 45 mph zone.
In September, the infant’s mother filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Hernandez-Castillo and the child’s caregiver, who was in the car at the time of the crash but was not criminally charged. The lawsuit, which as of April remained pending in Beaufort County civil court, claimed the pair was returning from a party when the fatal crash occurred.
Hernandez-Castillo’s license was suspended for a previous DUI at the time of the fatal crash. He pleaded guilty to his first DUI out of Beaufort County in June 2023 after his arrest that January.
He also received 12 months probation for a DUI conviction out of Chatham County, Georgia, in April 2024, close to one month before the Bluffton Parkway collision, according to Solicitor’s Office spokesperson Jeff Kidd.
“This defendant has a history of drunken and irresponsible driving,” Deputy Solicitor Mary Jordan Lempesis, who prosecuted the case, said in the release. “Tragically, an infant has now paid with her life for Mr. Hernandez-Castillo’s disregard for the law.”
An effort to reach Hernandez-Castillo’s public defender was unsuccessful.
Bluffton Parkway and Buck Island Road are home to some of the most dangerous intersections in the county, according to collision data from the South Carolina Department of Public Safety.
This story was originally published April 2, 2025 at 12:05 PM.
