Thousand Oaks Man Sentenced For Girlfriend's Murder

Wednesday December 04, 2024

     Updated--A Ventura County judge Wednesday sentenced a Thousand Oaks man to more than 50-years-to-life in prison for the murder of his girlfriend.

     But 24-year-old Saul Nava could have faced life in prison with no chance of parole had the jury found true a Special Circumstance Allegation that he tortured her with the intent to kill her.

     They did not.

     The Medical Examiner ruled that 24-year-old Alisen Takacs-Escobar died from blunt force trauma.

     The jury did find Nava guilty of a separate charge of torture as well as aggravated mayhem, assault with a deadly weapon, kidnapping, and possession of child pornography.

     The jury also convicted Nava on three counts of domestic violence.

     Some of the charges not only involved his violent and deadly relationship with Escobar, but also extensive violence in a prior relationship with another female victim who survived and testified against him at trial.

     Nava took the witness stand in his own defense and admitted he was responsible for what happened but he claimed he did not intend to kill Escobar.

     It was Christmas Eve 2021, after days of beating and torturing Takacs-Escobar in their studio apartment, that Nava finally called 9-1-1.

     First responders found her with injuries all over her body and degrading words tattooed on her chest and pronounced her dead at the scene.

     Nava used a baseball bat, a hammer, and a screwdriver to inflict the injuries.

     Cell phone video Nava recorded showed him taunting her and displaying no concern for her worsening condition.

     But while convicting Nava of murder and a separate charge of torture, they found not true that special circumstance allegation that it was intentional murder involving torture.

     That was the difference between his sentence of 50-years-to-life with a chance of parole instead of life in prison with no chance of parole.