Mark Navarrete

Introduction

Mark Andre Tomas Navarrete, 46, of Elk Grove, California, was sentenced on Friday, November 13, 2026, to two consecutive life sentences in prison without the possibility of parole for murdering his parents — his father, Augusto, 73, and his mother, Marjorie, 70 — inside their home on June 28, 2024 . Judge Michael Bowman imposed the sentence a month after a jury convicted Navarrete of two counts of first-degree murder and found true the special circumstances that he committed multiple murders and killed for financial gain . Prosecutors said Navarrete — who stood to inherit half of his parents’ estate — struck both parents on the head with an object and strangled them in their garage, then tried to stage the discovery of their bodies, bringing his own children along when he “discovered” them . The case was prosecuted by the Sacramento County District Attorney’s Office, with Principal Criminal Attorney Aaron Miller of the Homicide Unit handling it .

Background Information

The financial scheme behind the killings ran for years before them, prosecutors said: Navarrete scammed friends and relatives through fake investment schemes, promising to repay their money with exorbitant interest rates . Investigators determined his parents had stepped in to repay other family members for the debts he owed, fueling a resentment toward them that became the motive . At the time he killed them, Navarrete stood to inherit half of his parents’ estate .

The Controversy or Incident That Led to Their Cancellation

Convicted and sentenced. A Sacramento County jury convicted Navarrete of both murders on October 16, 2026, finding the multiple-murder and financial-gain special circumstances true, and Judge Michael Bowman answered with two consecutive life terms without parole on November 13, 2026. The killings were carried out, per the district attorney’s account, in a planned disguise-and-scooter approach to his parents’ own back door — and the cover-up attempt dragged his own children into it. The record here is a conviction returned after a trial, not a charging-stage allegation.

On the morning of June 28, 2024, Navarrete drove from his Elk Grove home to his parents’ neighborhood, parked a few blocks from their house, put on a mask and gloves, and rode a kick scooter to their home . He went through the side gate to avoid detection by the front-porch Ring camera and met his parents at the backyard door; after getting them into the garage, he struck both on the head with an object and strangled them to death while facing them . He then drove away in his parents’ car, parked it a short distance from where he had originally parked, and rode the scooter back to his own vehicle .

The staging began within the hour, per the district attorney’s account: later that morning, Navarrete texted his deceased parents asking whether they wanted to come over for dinner . When his sister grew worried because she could not reach them, Navarrete drove to their house with his own children and staged the discovery of the bodies . CBS Sacramento, citing officials, adds the emergency-call detail: Navarrete phoned for help from the home on Crosscourt Way, telling dispatchers he had entered the house and found his parents dead after multiple unsuccessful attempts to contact them, and told responding officers one of their vehicles was missing . Video evidence showed the opposite, police said: him parking a car a few blocks from the crime scene and later leaving in his parents’ vehicle .

The ruse unraveled on physical evidence. Detectives found the kick scooter in Navarrete’s garage, and DNA analysis revealed his DNA under his mother’s fingernails . The Elk Grove Police Department solved the case in part through Flock cameras and other traffic surveillance footage that captured his movements that day .

Public Reaction and Consequences

The verdict was announced by the Sacramento County District Attorney’s Office, whose release laid out the inheritance motive and the jury’s special-circumstance findings; the office reported the sentence on November 13, closing the case’s trial phase with the maximum exposure — two life terms stacked consecutively rather than concurrently . No public statement from Navarrete or a defense attorney appears in the coverage, and the sentencing coverage records no family statements; the sister whose concern triggered the staged discovery appears in the account only as the relative who could not reach the couple that morning .

Current Status

Navarrete, 46, is serving two consecutive life sentences without the possibility of parole, imposed November 13, 2026, by Judge Michael Bowman for the June 28, 2024 murders of his parents . The conviction stands at the trial-court level: the jury returned its verdict and special-circumstance findings on October 16, 2026, and no appeal appears in the coverage to date . The prosecution is recorded under Sacramento County case 24FE011435, handled by Principal Criminal Attorney Aaron Miller of the DA’s Homicide Unit .

Impact on Their Career/Life

The sentence closes the double life Navarrete built across the scheme’s years: the fake-investment persona he presented to friends and relatives, the debts his parents quietly absorbed for him, and the half-share of their estate he stood to inherit by killing them . At 46, he will spend the rest of his life in prison unless a court acts, and the case now stands as Elk Grove’s inheritance-murder precedent — solved, per the district attorney, by a kick scooter in a garage, DNA under a fingernail, and a network of traffic cameras .

Sources

Sacramento County District Attorney’s Office, “Defendant Sentenced for Murdering His Parents for Financial Gain,” November 13, 2026 — source
New York Post, “Elk Grove man gets life without parole for murdering parents over inheritance,” November 14, 2026 — source
CBS News Sacramento, “Elk Grove man convicted of murdering his parents for financial gain,” October 2026 — source
CBS News Sacramento, “Man given two life sentences for murdering his parents in Elk Grove,” November 2026 — source