Las Vegas Sun

March 18, 2024

Police believe 16-year-old may have stayed in house after mother, brother were killed

Henderson Police are still looking for Adrian Navarro-Canales, wanted in connection to deaths

Teen sought in slaying of brother, mother

Henderson Police Department

Henderson Police released these photos of Adrian Navarro-Canales. On Monday, a warrant was issued for the 16-year-old, charging him as an adult with two counts of murder in the stabbing death of his mother, Elvira Canales-Gomez, 40, and his 9-year-old brother, Cesar Navarro.

Mom, son found

Henderson Police discovered their bodies on Friday inside the bathroom — a 9-year-old boy in the bathtub and his mother on the floor next to him.

The mother, Elvira Canales-Gomez, 40, had a large butcher’s knife in her chest and multiple stab wounds, and the boy, Cesar Navarro, had a stab wound in his chest. The officers smelled the odor of human decomposition, which filled the Summit at Sunridge apartment in the 11000 block of South Eastern Avenue, indicating they had been dead for a while.

Missing from the apartment was Canales-Gomez’s 16-year-old son Adrian Navarro-Canales, who is wanted in connection with their deaths.

These were the details outlined in a Henderson Police arrest warrant for Navarro-Canales, who has been missing since Friday and is wanted on two charges of murder with use of a deadly weapon.

The warrant details the events leading up to the discovery of the bodies:

Earlier in the week, on Monday, the family and Canales-Gomez’s boyfriend held a small celebration for Navarro-Canales’ birthday. Relatives described the boy as anti-social, often secluding himself inside the apartment to play video games. He wanted to return to Mexico and had stopped attending Coronado High School in November 2012.

The next day, a neighbor saw Canales-Gomez picking Cesar up at Lamping Elementary School and spoke briefly on the phone with her boyfriend on the way home. That was the last time she was heard from.

The mother’s boyfriend tried reaching her at the family’s apartment multiple times. On Tuesday, the lights were off, so he assumed they were sleeping. The next day he noticed a kitchen light was on through a window, but no one answered the door.

Henderson Police conducted their first welfare check Wednesday, but no one answered the door.

On Wednesday, Navarro-Canales texted his father, Enrique Velasquez, who lived in Northern California, telling him everything was fine at the home. He said his mother and brother were sleeping so they couldn’t answer the phone.

Henderson Police conducted a second welfare check on Friday, at the behest of a family relative who said Canales-Gomez hadn’t shown up for work and Cesar wasn’t going school.

Detectives believe Canales-Gomez and Cesar had been dead since Tuesday and that Navarro-Canales had lived in the home after they died.

Police have been searching for Navarro-Canales since Friday.

Police urge anyone with information regarding the incident or the whereabouts of Navarro-Canales to call Henderson Police at 267-4750 or, to remain anonymous, contact Crime Stoppers at 385-5555 or online at crimestoppersofnv.com.

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