(Editor’s Note: This story has been corrected to reflect that Stephen Chavez’s guilty plea followed an offer from the judge).
On the morning of July 21, 2025, Carolina Sandoval received a phone call from her daughter that will haunt her for the rest of her life.
Makayla Settles, then 18, had just moved into her father’s Moorpark home two days earlier and told her mother that he had just sexually assaulted her.
Five months later, Settles died by suicide.
Sandoval is now suing Settles’ father, Stephen Chavez, for wrongful death. Filed in Ventura County Superior Court on June 5, the lawsuit also accuses him of certain crimes, intentional infliction of emotional distress and negligence.
The 41-year-old Moorpark man is currently in Ventura County jail awaiting sentencing after pleading guilty to incest and providing alcohol to a minor. Chavez, who does not yet have a civil attorney, could not be reached for comment.
‘In my gut, I know that Makayla probably would say something like, ‘It’s OK,’ if she were here, so I’m trying to work on being as forgiving as she is — or was,” Sandoval said. “But I want everybody to never forget her name, and I want it to mean something for the future. This was not OK.”
Settles learned Chavez was her father when she was 9. Though she lived in North Carolina and he lived in California, they remained connected through regular phone calls and holiday visits, Sandoval said.
The lawsuit alleges that in December 2024, while Settles was spending Christmas break at Chavez’s home, he provided her with alcohol, and she passed out. When she woke up the next morning, she discovered that she was only wearing underwear, and the lawsuit argues that Chavez had groomed her for future sexual exploitation.
On July 19, 2025, after graduating from high school in North Carolina, Settles moved into Chavez’s Moorpark home. She was planning to start classes at Moorpark College the next month, as she dreamed of becoming a stenographer and nail salon owner.
“The plan was always to have her own business. Ever since she was little, she was going to be somebody’s boss or her own boss,” Sandoval said, recalling how Settles would always control play time with her sister.
Just two days later, on July 21, 2025, Chavez provided Settles with alcohol and caused her to become intoxicated, according to the lawsuit. He then sexually assaulted her, the document states.
Settles called her mother, who was staying nearby, and Sandoval drove her to the hospital, where she underwent a sexual assault forensic exam.
“I want her to be remembered as a beautiful soul and so innocent from all the evil in this world but also brave enough to speak up,” the mother said. “As excruciating as it was, she went through all the things that you’re supposed to do.”
The exam, according to the lawsuit, confirmed that Chavez sexually assaulted her, and he was soon arrested and charged with incest and providing alcohol to a minor.
The Ventura County District Attorney’s Office initially considered charging Chavez with rape, but after analyzing the evidence, determined incest was the proper charge, the agency previously stated.
Though Settles did her best to move forward, returning to North Carolina and completing nail tech training, she was unable to cope with the trauma.
“She was full of life, she was outgoing, she was funny, … but when I brought her back, it was a totally different person,” Sandoval said.
The teen attempted suicide Dec. 22, 2025, and died in the hospital one week later. The lawsuit asserts that Settles’ decision to end her life was the result of the emotional distress she experienced after the assault.
“There’s an absolute causal relationship between the two,” Sandoval’s civil attorney, Gerard Dougherty said. “The humiliation, the embarrassment and the shock of her father committing such a heinous act on her ultimately led to her saying, ‘Why would I want to go forward?’”
Though Chavez initially denied the two criminal charges, he pleaded guilty May 19 to both incest and providing alcohol to a minor after an offer from Judge Dusty Kawai, according to the DA’s office.
According to the DA’s office, Chavez faces a maximum sentence of three years in state prison and will be required to register as a sex offender for 20 years after his June 23 sentencing.
Although Dougherty described the maximum sentence as “ridiculous,” he said the outcome of the criminal case did not play a role in his client’s decision to proceed with a civil case. Sandoval would have filed a lawsuit regardless.
“Our burden of proof is significantly less than the prosecution’s,” Dougherty said. “It’s always a challenge when you don’t have your star witness there to testify, but the guilty plea is certainly a significant part of the civil case.”
The first hearing for the civil case is set for Nov. 20, and Sandoval is demanding unspecified damages and a jury trial.
“It’s never going to result in justice in the sense that Makayla will never be brought back,” Dougherty said. “All we’re seeking is monetary damages, and while that might be helpful for the financial burden that this has placed on Carolina, it will never truly give her back what she has lost.”
Sandoval misses hearing Settles’ voice call her mommy, smelling her Nest New York Vanilla Bourbon perfume, and seeing the leftovers she would constantly forget in the fridge.
She mourns the pranks that Settles never got to play on her friends, the Stephen King novels she never got to finish and the brand new passport she never got to fill.
“I feel so bad for that soul that didn’t get to meet new people and get to grow,” Sandoval said. “I wish I could have seen her grow up.”
If you’re feeling despondent, the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline, for both English and Spanish speakers, can be reached by calling 988 or visiting online https://988lifeline.org.
Makena Huey is an investigative and watchdog reporter for the Ventura County Star. Reach her at makena.huey@vcstar.com. This story was made possible by a grant from the Ventura County Community Foundation’s Fund to Support Local Journalism.
This article originally appeared on Ventura County Star: Lawsuit links teen’s death to Moorpark father’s alleged abuse
Reporting by Makena Huey, Ventura County Star / Ventura County Star
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By Makena Huey, Ventura County Star | USA TODAY Network
