Teen sentenced to decades in prison in mom, brother killing

A teenager who fatally stabbed his mother and younger brother and became the focus of an international search before he was located a week later on the Las Vegas Strip has been sentenced to spend at least the next three decades in state prison.

Adrián Navarro Canales, now 18, said nothing before Clark County District Court Judge Kerry Earley sentenced him on Tuesday to 32½ years to 95 years behind bars in the September 2013 slayings of Elvira Canales Gómez and 9-year-old César Navarro.

Navarro Canales' sentence had been agreed upon when he pleaded guilty in December to two counts of first-degree murder. He wasn't eligible for the death penalty because of his age.

His court-appointed lawyer, Joseph Abood, and prosecutor Michael Schwartzer didn't immediately respond Wednesday to messages.

Abood told the Las Vegas Review-Journal the case was difficult for the family, and with good behavior in prison Navarro Canales might be able to win parole in his 50s.

The killings happened a day after Navarro Canales turned 16, at a Henderson apartment where he lived with his mother and brother.

Records showed Navarro Canales stopped attending high school, and family members said he disliked living in the U.S. after moving from Mexico. A cousin told police Navarro Canales didn't have any friends that she knew of in the Las Vegas area, and spent most of his time in the apartment playing video games.

Henderson police went to the apartment three times in three days after the slayings, at the request of family members who said they were worried because they hadn't heard from Canales Gómez. They didn't enter or find the bodies until the third visit.

Navarro Canales was initially named as a possible victim, not a suspect. Police later said he probably lived in the apartment for a couple of days after the killings.