His mother came from an aristocratic family and was distantly related to General Miguel Primo de Rivera (Spanish dictator 1923–30).

In 1925 he transferred to a Peninsular regiment of regular infantry, Following the overthrow of the Monarchy in 1931, José Castillo was appointed to the newly raised Assault Guards, a para-military force intended to maintain security in urban areas and provide a counterweight to the long established and conservative Guardia Civil.

In April 1936, he commanded the Assault Guard unit which forcibly put down the riots that broke out at the funeral of Guardia Civil lieutenant Anastasio de los Reyes; for this, he was marked for death by the Falange.

Shots were fired on the funeral procession (it had been prohibited from marching through the city but had insisted on doing so anyway) and three people, including Heredia, were killed, while many more were injured, before Reyes was finally buried.

On the pavement outside he was killed by four men with revolvers who had waited for him through the late afternoon; the bullet holes on the surrounding wall are still visible today.

[9] In retaliation, that night at around 03:00, Castillo's close friend Police Captain Fernando Condés and other police officers and leftist gunmen, drove to the home of José Calvo Sotelo — leader of the monarchist party and a rival of José Antonio Primo de Rivera for leadership of the Spanish far-right — and asked him to come down to the station for interrogation.

[11] Both Castillo and Calvo Sotelo were buried 14 July; fighting between Assault Guard and fascist militias broke out in the streets surrounding the cemetery of Madrid, resulting in four deaths.

Having spent 9 months in the Ventas prison, Morales was set free in 1940, just in time to see her daughter – who from birth suffered heart problems – pass away.

In 1983 the decision was subject to revision and she was granted full pension, on basis that Castillo fell victim to “atentado terrorista”.