The sentencing of Gabriel Fernandez’s evil mother and her boyfriend for torturing and murdering the eight-year-old provides a rare moment of relief in the documentary about his death.
Gabriel suffered terribly at the hands of mum Pearl Fernandez and her boyfriend Isauro Aguirre who shot him with a BB gun, whipped him a belt and locked him in a cabinet called 'The Box'.
When paramedics attended his Los Angeles home in May 2013 - after his mother rang 911 claiming he had stopped breathing after falling down the stairs - they found he had broken ribs, a cracked skull and BB gun pellets lodged in his skin.
He was declared brain dead in hospital and died two days later.
Gabriel's chilling story is being told in Netflix's six-part series The Trials of Gabriel Fernandez, which also documents how a teacher reported concerns to the Los Angeles County child abuse hotline . This led to care workers visiting his home but not finding sufficient evidence to remove him.
Towards the end viewers see Superior Court Judge George G. Lomeli pull no punches when sentencing Pearl Fernandez and Isauro Aguirre to life in prison without parole and death respectively.
He tells the pair: “I can only wish, I really do, that you both, in the middle of the night, you wake up and you think of the injuries that you subjected to this poor, young boy, and that it tortures you. I rarely say that.”
Moments after the conclusion of Gabriel's case in the series, another horror story emerges.
Just two weeks after that sentencing in June 2018, a 10-year-old boy named Anthony Avalos died in Lancaster, Los Angeles County, not far from where Gabriel had lived.
Anthony was found with injuries “all over” his body, with prosecutors alleging he was tortured and murdered by his mother Heather Barron and stepfather Kareem Leiva after coming out as gay.
Barron and Leiva have been charged with murder and torture , something they both deny.
Sheriff’s deputies were called to his home the day before he died in hospital. His mum claimed he’d fallen down the stairs.
However, he was found with severe head injuries and covered in cigarette burns, while court papers also allege he was slammed onto the floor, had hot sauce poured into his mouth, was whipped with a belt, banned from using the toilet.
It’s also claimed his eight siblings were also forced to take part in the abuse.
In the indictment Los Angeles County Deputy District Attorney Jonathan Hatami wrote: “At one point Anthony could not walk, was unconscious lying on his bedroom floor for hours, was not provided medical attention, and could not eat on his own.”
Mr Hatami also said the coroner's report suggested there was blunt force trauma to the boy's head and brain, Eyewitness News reports.
It's also alleged Anthony’s heart stopped when he was brought to hospital while he also suffered from a brain bleed. He also had reddened eyes and numerous bruises, cuts and scrapes on his forehead, nose, mouth, cheek, neck, legs, shoulder, hips, back, buttocks, stomach, ankle, legs and feet, according to court documents.
In December 2018 a California judge ordered the unsealing of grand jury proceeding transcripts.
In the hearing Mr Hatami told jurors that Barron and Leiva allegedly made Anthony kneel on rice, used wrestling moves and chokeholds on him and locked him in his room for days.
He said the evidence will “clearly show” the two “brutally tortured and intentionally murdered” the 10-year-old.
After Anthony’s death it emerged child services were phoned at least 16 times due to concerns he and his siblings were being abused.
On one occasion he was removed from his home for several months, returning after family members received in-home counselling, according to welfare officials. Authorities removed the eight other children - then aged between 11 months and 12 years old - from the family home after Anthony died.
His aunt Maria Baron told CBS she reported Heather Barron and Leiva to officials and her nephew’s school in 2015 but claimed nothing was done.
She said: “Anthony deserves justice and the rest of my nieces and nephews do not deserve to go back to her.”
A protest outside the Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) offices demanding change is documented in The Trials of Gabriel Fernandez, as well as contemporary news reports comparing the two deaths.
“DCFS was very quick to say ‘this is not a similar case’ but you couldn’t help but draw parallels between the two,” journalist Melissa Chadburn told the documentary.
In August last year prosecutors moved to seek the death penalty against Anthony’s mum and stepfather, while the family also announced a $50million lawsuit against the DCFS.
Barron and Leiva deny the charges against them.
