Dad charged with incest after allegedly assaulting daughter

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5xU2DisLnR4

Makayla Rene Settles moved to California to chase her dreams, but her family says her biological father sexually assaulted her just two days later, when she was 18. They say he was charged with incest and related offenses, and now they’re pushing to keep the case alive even after Makayla died by suicide five months later.

What the family says

According to reporting, Makayla called her mother terrified, and her family later said a rape kit produced DNA evidence tying the assault to her father, Stephen Vincent Chavez. He was arrested the same night, and the family says the trauma from the assault became impossible for Makayla to overcome.

The fight for trial

The family says Ventura County prosecutors have warned the case could be difficult to take to trial because Makayla is no longer alive to testify. Still, the district attorney’s office reportedly says the case remains under prosecution.