Henderson teen sentenced to 32-95 years in stabbing deaths of mother, brother
A day after he turned 16, Adrian Navarro-Canales fatally stabbed his mother and younger brother inside their Henderson apartment.
On Tuesday, District Judge Kerry Earley sent the now 18-year-old Navarro-Canales to prison for a minimum of 32½ years and a maximum of 95 years for the killings.
It was a term of punishment his lawyers and prosecutors agreed upon in December, after months of negotiation, about two years after the bodies of 9-year-old Cesar Navarro and 40-year-old Elvira Canales-Gomez were found in a bathroom.
There was minimal discussion in the hearing that took less than five minutes, as a prosecutor said very little about the case, and a lawyer for Navarro-Canales simply explained the reason for the sentence.
Navarro-Canales declined to speak.
Navarro-Canales, who pleaded guilty to one count of first-degree murder and one count of second-degree murder, would be about 50 years old when he is first eligible for parole.
“This puts him in a position where, with good behavior, he could still be paroled as a relatively young person,” Deputy Public Defender Joseph Abood said. “And these were difficult circumstances.”
In 2012, the United States Supreme Court banned mandatory sentences of life in prison for juveniles.
Navarro-Canales evaded police for a week before he was charged as an adult for the September 2013 slayings.
Cesar, dressed in school clothes, had been stabbed once. Beside him, a butcher knife was stuck in the chest of his mother, who had been stabbed several times.
Henderson police found the bodies in the family’s apartment in the 11000 block of South Eastern Avenue, near Sunridge Heights Parkway.
The teen had been “extremely volatile, defiant and violent toward Elvira in the past and that he has been known to push or punch her when she confronts him,” her niece Ana Martinez, 23, told authorities.
Navarro-Canales was known to seclude himself inside the family’s apartment, playing video games. He was supposed to attend Coronado High School but had not been enrolled for nearly a year.
He “does not have any associates in the area,” Martinez told police. “He does not like it in the United States and expressed his interest to go back to Mexico.”
Police said Adrian likely remained in the residence for two days after the killings. He sent his father a text message indicating that the family “was fine,” and their cell phones had been turned off, before turning off his own cell phone.
After receiving an anonymous tip, police found Navarro-Canales sitting alone at a food court near the Strip and Tropicana Avenue.
Family of Navarro-Canales observed Tuesday’s sentencing, but did not speak. They later declined to talk with reporters.
“This has been so difficult for them,” Abood said. “They’re the family not only of the victims in this case, but of Adrian, and they love him very much. This is a position no family should ever have to be in.”
Contact reporter David Ferrara at dferrara@reviewjournal.com or 702-380-1039. Find him on Twitter: @randompoker
