Fundraiser at TGI Friday's Today in Memory of Slain Manager

The girlfriend of slain TGI Friday's restaurant manager Doug Castello is organizing a fundraiser today in the hope that more reward money will encourage someone to come forward with information about the unsolved 2008 killing.

Laura Johnson, 48, worked with new management at the San Mateo restaurant to organize the fundraiser; the eatery has agreed to donate 25 percent of all sales July 5 to add to the $40,000 reward currently offered for tips leading to the arrest and conviction of whomever killed Castello.

The event is being held on the day Castello would have turned 40 years old.

Johnson, who has vowed to stay at TGI Friday's until its 1 a.m. closing time tonight to raise awareness about the crime, said she thought about increasing the reward amount after seeing the effect of doing so in the case of Giants fan Bryan Stow, who was attacked at Dodgers Stadium on March 31.

Additional money seemed to motivate more people to come forward with information, she said.

San Mateo Police Sgt. Dave Norris said he agrees money is a huge motivator and hopefully the higher reward amount will provide additional incentive for those with knowledge of the homicide to come forward. No suspect leads can be shared with the public at this time, Norris said.

Investigators believe Castello, a popular night manager at the restaurant, was killed by blunt force trauma to the head sometime after closing up on Jan. 21, 2008. His body was found inside TGI Friday's shortly after 5 a.m. by the morning account.

San Mateo police suspect the violence may have stemmed from a botched robbery attempt, but in the three and a half years since his death have not publicly confirmed any suspects or described in greater detail what might of happened that early Monday morning.

Yet Johnson remains steadfast in her determination to find her boyfriend's killer and checks in with the lead investigator on the case every so often for any updates.

She said in the last few months when she has gone to local businesses to ask if she can hang fliers in their windows promoting the fundraiser, many of them have told her they weren't even aware the case was still unsolved.

But if anyone in San Mateo does know something about the killing, perhaps the constant outreach, or the increased reward amount, will be the ticket to get them to talk, Johnson said.

"Maybe they'll think, 'man, this girl is never going to let go,'" she said. "Maybe they'll come forward. Who knows. It's been a lot of ifs."

In addition to raising money, she hopes the fundraiser will show patrons that the restaurant, which suffered a drop in business after the killing, is perfectly safe to dine at.

"I'm doing it as a favor for them to show I hold no ill will," she said. "I'm bringing them business. If I can feel safe, anybody else should."

Johnson still wears a ring on her right hand that Castello bought for her, and the red wristband she never takes off in his remembrance has now turned a light orangey-pink, faded from the bright red it once was when she first had it made three years ago. A tattoo dedicated to Castello graces her right shoulder.

The pair met at TGI Friday's itself, where Johnson, a San Meteo resident, was a regular. The more they got to know one another the more she frequented the restaurant, and their friendship soon blossomed into a romance. They were together for nine months, and were planning on buying promise rings for one another at the time he was killed.

"He was a wonderful person, very loud, animated," she said. "Before I knew his name I called him 'laughing man.'"

He had a quirky personality and his smile lit up the room, she said, joking that "he had the whitest teeth in the world."

Castello moved from Oregon to the Bay Area in 2005, and soon got a job at TGI Friday's as a waiter. In two years he worked his way up to night manager.

"He loved the employees he worked with. He wasn't much older than them but he called them his kids," she said.

Since his family isn't local, the burden has been on Johnson to keep his memory alive in the town where his life was cut short. It gets hard, she said, but she does what she can.

All proceeds from today's drink and food sales will be deposited into an account set up in Castello's memory. Johnson asked those who can't come by to donate directly to the Douglas Castello Memorial Fund at any Wells Fargo branch.

Johnson has also created a website, www.douglascastellomemorial.com, and anyone with details about the crime is asked to contact San Mateo police at 650-522-7650 or the anonymous witness line at 650-522-7676. Those with information may also send an anonymous text to 650-262-3473 or an anonymous email to sanmateo@tipnow.org.