2 Get Life Sentences in Torture, Murder

Two men convicted of torturing and murdering an 18-year-old Buena Park man during a 1993 weekend party were sentenced Friday to life in prison without parole.

Before imposing the stiffest sentence possible, Orange County Superior Court Judge Anthony J. Rackauckas Jr. noted the cruel way Carlos Salanova was killed by Gregory Jason Chandler of Long Beach and Christopher David Scott of Buena Park, saying the pair showed “complete disregard for the victim’s life.”

Prosecutors charged that Scott brought the unwitting victim to the party because Chandler was looking to pick a fight with him over a drug dispute. The victim was bound to a chair with duct tape, beaten with wire hangers and hanged with a rope from a rafter in the garage. His throat was later slit.

Eventually, the killers put Salanova’s body in a trash bag and dumped it into the Cerritos Channel in Long Beach, prosecutors said. The corpse was discovered nine days later, with the rope still tied around Salanova’s neck.

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“The court can’t help but believe that . . . these series of acts took a long time,” the judge said. “That during the course of the weekend, the victim must have been hoping and praying that at some point he might be let go and might receive some kind of mercy. And he got none.”

Deputy Dist. Atty. Robin Park, who prosecuted the case, said neither man has shown remorse for the murder and they continue to break rules in jail.

Park said the victim’s final hours were “terrifying, miserable and painful. There’s no way to comprehend what he was going through.”

Salanova’s mother, Gladys Stickel, told the judge Friday of her anguish since her son was murdered.

“When he died, part of me died also,” she said tearfully. “My life has changed completely. I have no dreams.”

Looking straight at the defendants, the mother said Chandler and Scott “played God” and took away her only child.

“At least their parents can visit them in prison and know that they’re alive,” she said in a halting voice. “I can only visit a grave.”

Suzanne Scott told the judge that she believes her 21-year-old son is innocent. She criticized the way police and prosecutors handled the case.

“He doesn’t deserve this,” she said. “He’s a special young man. I’m as proud of him as I could ever be of any of my children.”

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Deputy Public Defender Thomas M. Goethals, who represented the 22-year-old Chandler, said he is not convinced that the facts about the murder will ever be known.

“The facts of this case are horrible,” he said. “We all feel the victim’s mom’s loss, but the quality and the credibility of the witnesses were horrible too.”

A third man, Rami Sabbara, 21, of La Palma was acquitted of all charges last month by the same jury that convicted Chandler and Scott.