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- A judge sentenced Mark Andre Tomas Navarrete to life in prison for killing his parents.
- A jury last month found Navarrete guilty of two counts of first-degree murder.
- Prosecutors said Navarrete killed his parents and stood to inherit half their estate.
A Sacramento Superior Court judge sentenced an Elk Grove man Friday to life in prison for the brutal deaths of his parents, whose estate he stood to inherit.
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Judge Michael Bowman sentenced Mark Andre Tomas Navarrete, 46, for the murders of his father, Augusto Tacsuan Navarrete, 73, and his mother, Marjorie Jane Tomas Navarrete, 70, the Sacramento County District Attorney’s Office announced in a news release.
Last month, a jury found Navarrete guilty of two counts of first-degree murder. His conviction included special circumstances for multiple murders and killings committed for financial gain.
Prosecutors said Navarrete had been defrauding friends and family through fraudulent investment schemes, promising unusually high interest rates on their money.
Navarrete’s parents repaid other family members for debts their son owed. Prosecutors said he grew resentful of his parents and devised an elaborate plan to kill them, knowing he stood to inherit half their estate.
The murders occurred June 28, 2024, at the couple’s home in the 9000 block of Crosscourt Way, a home in the Perry Ranch neighborhood and blocks away from Arthur C. Butler Elementary School and the private Merryhill School in Elk Grove.
Navarrete drove from his Elk Grove home to his parents’ neighborhood and parked a few blocks away. Prosecutors said he put on a mask and gloves, then rode a kick scooter to the house and entered through a side gate to avoid a doorbell camera at the front entrance.
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Navarrete encountered his parents at the back door and lured them into the garage, where he struck them both in the head with an object before strangling them, prosecutors said.
Navarrete then drove away in his parents’ car, parked it near where he had left his own vehicle and rode the scooter back to his car.
Later that morning, Navarrete texted his dead parents to ask whether they wanted to come to his home for dinner. Navarrete’s sister became worried when she could not reach their parents. Prosecutors said Navarrete then drove to his parents’ home with his children and pretended to discover their bodies.
Detectives found the kick scooter in Navarrete’s garage, and DNA testing revealed traces of his DNA beneath his mother’s fingernails, according to the District Attorney’s Office.
Prosecutors said automated license plate readers and traffic cameras helped Elk Grove police track Navarrete’s movements on the day of the murders.
Navarrete remained in custody Friday afternoon at the Rio Cosumnes Correctional Facility near Elk Grove, awaiting transfer to state prison.
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