EP. 99 CALIFORNIA - The Torture and Murder of 8-Year-Old Gabriel Fernandez
02:41:09 Share

He's the most terrifying serial killer you've never heard of. Haddon Clark has confessed to several murders, but investigators say he could have over 100 victims. At the center of the mayhem, a cellmate of Haddon's that was able to get key evidence into Haddon's murder spree across America,

Because Haddon thought he was Jesus Christ. Born Evil, The Serial Killer and the Savior, an ID true crime event. Premieres Monday, September 2nd at 9. Watch on ID or stream on Max. Set your DVR.

Warning, the following podcast is not suitable for all audiences. We go into great detail with every case that we cover and do our best to bring viewers even deeper into the stories by utilizing disturbing audio and sound effects. Trigger warnings from the stories we cover may include violence, rape, murder, and offenses against children. This podcast is not for everyone. You have been warned.

♪♪

No.

Okay, do you have the paramedics on the way right now? Are you right there with him? Yes, I'm right here. Okay, do you know how to do CPR? I'm just doing the compression from the chest right now. Okay, you need to breathe for him. If he's not breathing, you need to do two breaths and 30 compressions. This needs you to keep doing that until the paramedics come, okay? They're on their way. They're coming as fast as they can.

In the late hours of May 22nd, 2013, paramedics in Palmdale, California respond to a call about an eight-year-old boy who isn't breathing. They quickly make their way over to the apartment complex and standing outside is a frantic 12-year-old boy who directs the first responders to a set of stairs. At the top of those stairs is apartment number eight.

The paramedics make their way inside and they're led to a back bedroom where 8-year-old Gabriel Fernandez is lying on the ground unresponsive. They check for a pulse but it's clear he's in cardiac arrest, so they immediately get to work trying to resuscitate him. But as they perform these life-saving measures, they couldn't help but notice all of the trauma all over his little body.

These were seasoned paramedics who had seen a lot throughout their years, but nothing to this magnitude. Gabriel's face was swollen, covered in cuts and bruises. Part of his skull was caving in. On his neck, pieces of skin were missing. Some of his teeth were missing as well. As the paramedics hover over Gabriel trying to resuscitate him,

Pearl Fernandez, Gabriel's mother, and her boyfriend, Asaro Aguirre, aren't hysterical or inconsolable like most parents in this situation. They're nervous, repeatedly telling the first responders that Gabriel got hurt while he was playing with his brother. But if that was true, then why were there cigarette burns all over his body? Why did his ankles have deep ligature marks?

As they took a closer look, they found burn marks and cuts and bruises all over him, even around his genitals. Near his groin, there was a bullet from a BB gun lodged into his skin. Another bullet was in his lung. Every single inch of this little boy's body was covered in injuries. At first glance, you'd think he'd been in a terrible car accident.

But if you took a closer look, these injuries didn't come from one single traumatic event. Some of the bruises and burns on his body were partially healed, meaning whatever happened to this little boy had been happening for a while. The paramedics quickly load Gabriel into an ambulance and start driving to the Antelope Valley Hospital.

Gabriel was rushed into emergency surgery, but time was one of the many things that was not on his side. As the seconds passed, the eight-year-old boy was slowly slipping away. He would survive the night, but was in a coma. And the following day, he was declared dead. Gabriel's small little body gave up after a severe and torturous beating at the hands of his mom and her boyfriend.

And I wish I could say that they were the only people to blame here. Sadly, Gabriel was failed by everyone on every single level. He was failed by his parents, school, his social workers, the Department of Children and Family Services, the police department,

and our country. In the months before his death, social workers and sheriff deputies had gone by the Fernandez apartment many times after multiple reports of suspected abuse. Gabriel was walking around town with black eyes, cigarette burns, and bruises covering his face and body. These social workers and sheriff deputies saw his injuries

But instead of taking action, they all looked in the other direction, revealing a systematic failure in the very agencies that were created to keep our children safe. This is the story of Gabriel Fernandez. And warning, this is a tough one. But I'm Courtney Browen. And I'm Colin Browen. And you're listening to Murder in America. ♪♪

Our story starts in February of 2005, in the city of Palmdale, California. Pearl Fernandez and Arnold Contreras are expecting their third child together. There was Ezekiel, who was four years old at the time, Virginia, who was two, and then Gabriel, who was going to be born in a couple of weeks. But life was already difficult for Gabriel, even before he came into the world. For one, his mother Pearl didn't even want to have another baby. She was going to have to have another baby.

She and her children's father were no longer together, and he had a history of incarceration, so she wasn't excited when she found out she was pregnant. In fact, she was going to have an abortion, but her family eventually talked her out of it. Everyone probably thought that once Gabriel actually came into the world, Pearl would take one look at him and fall in love. After all, the bond between a mother and child is supposed to be one of the strongest connections in the world.

But on February 20th, 2005, when Gabriel Daniel Fernandez was born, Pearl didn't feel that connection at all, and she wasn't even willing to give it a chance. Just three days after Gabriel was born, Pearl left him at the hospital. She wasn't interested in raising him, but her uncle, Michael Lemos Carranza, and his partner, David Martinez, had always wanted a child. So Pearl agreed to give them custody.

In fact, according to David, after she left the hospital, she called them and said, "Come get your kid. He's getting on my nerves already." And from here, Michael and David were Gabriel's guardians. The first few years of Gabriel's life were, without a doubt, the happiest. He was healthy, clean, loved, cared for. Pictures from this time show him with his uncles, always smiling and having a good time.

They described Gabriel as a very good kid who was always playful and loving. In the first few years of his life, he was always trying to help the people around him. If anyone was ever upset, he would do his best to make them feel better. They also said that even though Pearl had no interest in her son, Gabriel was always asking about her and how she was doing.

Now after living with his uncles for about four years, Pearl's father calls them and says that he's going to take Gabriel because "a baby shouldn't be raised by two gay men." Michael and David were devastated and they didn't think it was fair because for the last four years, no one ever cared about Gabriel. They had given him everything. He was their child.

And now that he's older, they wanted to take him away. Shortly after this, in 2009, Gabriel would be taken from his uncles and he went to live with his maternal grandparents, Robert and Sandra Fernandez. Here is Robert years later. Regarding Gabriel, was he raised by you and Sandra? Yes, practically. Was he like a son to you? Yes.

After moving in with his grandparents, Gabriel was still very happy and cared for. And it seemed to be a really good environment, especially because his older siblings were living there too. Was Ezekiel and Virginia also living with you and Sandra for some time? Yes, most of their lives, yeah. And then they went to go live with your daughter, Pearl, and his wife? Yes.

Pearl never had custody of Gabriel, but she did care for her other children, Ezekiel and Virginia, on occasion. Then, when she was going through hard times, she would send them to live with their grandparents. Now, in 2011, Pearl was dating a man named Iswaro Aguirre, who also went by the name Tony. And at first, Pearl's family was really excited about their relationship. She had a history of dating guys who had been in gangs or were always going to jail, but Iswaro was different.

He didn't do drugs, he had a clean record, and he was really good to her. And things seemed to be going really well for them. In 2011, they even got custody of Ezekiel and Virginia. But for whatever reason, they left Gabriel with her parents. Then the following year, in October of 2012, the two came over to Robert and Sandra's home and told them they were going to take Gabriel to a barbecue. But once they left with him, they never gave him back. Gabriel was now living with his mother and her boyfriend for the first time in his life. Her

Her family would later say that, at first, they were worried about Gabriel living with them because Pearl was known to have a temper and she wasn't exactly the best parent. But they all hoped that maybe a Saro or a Tony would be a good male figure in Gabriel's life. Here's Pearl's sister talking about these concerns. "With your sister and Tony, you were concerned at that moment for Gabriel's safety, right?"

Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes.

I'd have to assume that when Gabriel first moved in with his mother and her boyfriend, he was probably excited. After all, most of the time, the best case scenario is to keep a family together. But in reality, Pearl and DeSaro didn't want Gabriel there. Most people that follow this case believe that the only reason they took him in was to get money from the state. And in fact, right as Gabriel moved in, they started receiving around $600 to $700 a month in welfare checks. So they did benefit from having custody of their kids.

Now, this wasn't the easiest transition. Not only did Gabriel have to move homes, but he also had to move schools. And his life was very different than it was before. A very important part of child development is having stability and consistency. Constantly moving around, switching guardians every few years is not ideal. And yes, he was now living with his mom and siblings, but this was far from an ideal environment.

Pearl and Asaro were mean to Gabriel, always excessively disciplining him over the smallest things. But everything was about to take a turn for the worse. Not long after Gabriel moved in with his mother, someone called Pearl to tell her that Gabriel had possibly been molested by his uncle David. Now these claims have never been substantiated and David would later say that this was completely false.

He said he would have never done anything to hurt Gabriel, but we obviously don't know. But when Pearl heard this, she didn't react the way you would think a mother would react. She wasn't concerned for her son. She didn't think to get him counseling or to see if he was okay. Instead, she was disgusted with him. And it's around this time when they start accusing Gabriel of being gay.

Which is just so sad because it's obviously never a child's fault if they get molested by an adult. And it definitely doesn't mean they're gay. Even further, Gabriel had never mentioned anything about his sexual orientation. I mean, he's a seven-year-old. But his parents were fully convinced he was homosexual. And from here forward, Gabriel lived the worst life you could possibly imagine.

Following these rumors, Pearl and Asaro would force Gabriel to wear dresses. At one point, they even made him wear it to school just to humiliate him. And when they would beat him, they'd call him homophobic slurs. And Gabriel's beatings weren't just spankings. They would full-on beat him up.

Isaro worked as a security guard in the city, and like most security guards, he was a big guy, around 6'2 and 270 pounds. I'm a grown man, and I definitely wouldn't want to go up against this guy, so I can't imagine what it must have been like for Gabriel. He was only 7 years old, 4 feet tall, and about 59 pounds, but Isaro beat him like he was a grown man.

At first, it started off as brutal spankings. But as the weeks went on, it began to escalate. And it wasn't always just Isaro administering the beatings. It was Pearl too. According to Pearl's family, she always had a pretty bad temper, and she was notorious for being extremely controlling, especially with her boyfriends. If a man didn't do exactly as she said, she would break up with them. Her family also said that she would beat the shit out of her boyfriends in front of everyone. On many occasions, she was seen scratching Isaro's face and hitting him as hard as she could.

And as a little background on Gabriel's mother Pearl, she had severe intellectual disability.

She dropped out of school after the 8th grade, and throughout her adolescent years, she experimented with a lot of drugs. In fact, according to her records, at just 9 years old, she was drinking liquor and taking prescription pills. Then a few years later, when she was 12, she tried crack cocaine for the first time. And because of this drug abuse at such a young age, it's likely that it affected her development. Throughout her life, she was diagnosed with developmental disabilities, depressive disorders, eating disorders, possible PTSD, and personality disorders.

Which makes sense because she clearly didn't have an easy upbringing. Her father was in and out of jail throughout her life and when he was home, there was a lot of domestic violence.

Pearl also didn't have a great relationship with her mother. She even claimed that her mom hated her. And because of that, she actually ran away from home at just 11 years old. At one point growing up, one of Pearl's family members tried to rape her. And years later, Pearl was gang raped by a group of men. So as you can see, she didn't have a very pleasant upbringing. Which is absolutely no excuse for what she would go on to do. But it really does show that people who grow up with abuse oftentimes grow up to be abusers themselves.

When Gabriel would get in trouble at home, Asaro was known to hit him in the face with a closed fist. His mother Pearl would kick him in the groin as hard as she could. When Gabriel first came to live with them, he was a happy and healthy little boy. But as the weeks passed, more and more bruises could be seen all over his little body.

A few months into living with his mother and her boyfriend, Gabriel's teacher started to notice that there were problems at home. One day, Jennifer Garcia was sitting at her desk when Gabriel came up to ask her a question.

"Is it normal for your mom to hit you with a belt?" he asks. Jennifer was a little caught off guard, but she gave him an honest answer. "Yeah, some parents do that to discipline their children." Gabriel pauses for a moment and then he asks, "Is it normal to bleed? Because my mom hits me with the metal part of the belt." I'm not sure how Jennifer answered his question, but she knew right then that she needed to report what she just heard.

So she called the child abuse hotline that very day. Thank you for holding this. This is Steve Reed. How can I help you? Hi, yeah, I need to find out if I need to make a report or not. Okay, are you a mandated reporter? Yeah. Okay, you want to write a binding first to see if it's reportable? Yeah. I'm a teacher, and so the student comes up to me, and he mentions that his mom hit him with a belt. And he says, so it's not normal to hit with a belt? No.

Jennifer also reported that during Red Ribbon Week, where they teach children to stay away from drugs,

Gabriel announced to his class that he knew what cocaine was. Then he proceeded to show the students how to sniff a line. Now clearly this is very alarming, so a social worker from DCFS was notified. Did somebody call you that day or the next day?

Yes, I got a phone call from somebody who identified herself as Stephanie Rodriguez. And she said she was assigned to the case.

The social worker, Stephanie Rodriguez, was new to the emergency response department, which is a very important job because they're the ones that respond to these horrific child abuse cases. Hearing that a child was bleeding from being hit with the metal part of the belt should have warranted immediate action. If she would have done what she was supposed to do, she would have taken Gabriel to see a doctor or a psychologist, or anyone that could have given a third-party evaluation on what Gabriel was going through. But that didn't happen.

Stephanie did talk to Pearl and she saw Gabriel's injury, but Pearl told her that Gabriel was a liar. He didn't get that injury from a belt, he got it from roughhousing with his brother. And Stephanie believed her. And that's the scariest thing about these kinds of situations, is that now Pearl and Isaro know that Gabriel is telling people about the abuse. So as a consequence, they beat him even harder.

And a strange part of this that's seen in a lot of child abuse cases is that Pearl and Asaro never abused their other two children, Ezekiel and Virginia. There was one single instance when Pearl hit her daughter, but that was it. They had a great life compared to Gabriel. And this is common. A lot of the time, parents will be overly loving to one child and very abusive towards the other. In this case, they took all their anger out on Gabriel.

His siblings would later reveal that Pearl and Asaro were constantly punishing Gabriel, even when he didn't do anything wrong. It was obvious that they just didn't like him. Ezekiel, his older brother, would later say that the first time he ever saw Asaro really hurt Gabriel was one day when he got really mad. Ezekiel didn't even know why Gabriel was in trouble.

But suddenly, a sorrow started choking him up against the wall, while Gabriel's feet were dangling at least four feet off the ground. When's the first time that you saw something really bad at home happen to Gabriel? I seen him pick Gabriel up and choke him. Okay, so is Gabriel standing up? Yes. And Tony picks him up how? Maybe. You stand up and show me, that's fine. Okay.

Okay, so he put him against the wall? Yeah. And would he hold his hand against his neck? Yeah. One hand or two? One hand. Yeah. And would he pick him up off his feet? Yeah. How high off his feet? His feet would be up there. His feet would be up there? Yeah.

There was a lot of physical abuse going on here, but another way Perlonisaro would punish him was by withholding food. When it was time to eat dinner, they would make a plate for everyone except Gabriel. All he was allowed to eat was the expired food in the fridge. There were some nights when Gabriel was so hungry, he was forced to eat rotten spinach.

And if you've ever seen or smelled rotten spinach, it's disgusting. But Gabriel was hungry and they weren't giving him anything else. So he was forced to eat it. Sometimes the food was so expired, he would vomit afterwards. Rotten food usually doesn't settle well in someone's stomach. But anytime he would throw it up, a sorrow would force him to eat his own vomit.

and according to his siblings, Gabriel did what he was told because eating his vomit was better than getting punched in the face by a grown man. The family also had cats and one of Gabriel's chores every week was to clean their litter boxes. According to Gabriel's sister, one day, being the curious seven-year-old he was, he decided to pee in the litter box just like the cats did.

And when Asaro saw this, he forced Gabriel to eat the litter and cat feces inside of the box. Gabriel used to clean the kitty litter and Gabriel used to say he was done. So my dad would go check and the whole kitty litter was peed on him. And he would say, "Pick it up right or I'll make you eat it." And what did Gabriel do?

When Gabriel didn't pick it up right, he said, get in this corner and eat it. Really? Did he eat it? He had to. Now this was the first time Gabriel had to eat cat litter, but throughout the next few months, that was a way they would punish him. In fact, after his death, when his autopsy was performed, the medical examiner only found cat litter in his stomach.

which meant sometimes that was the only thing Gabriel was eating. Another horrific part of this case had to do with the wooden cubby or the box. The apartment that they lived in had two bedrooms, one for Pearl and Asaro and one for the children. But Gabriel wasn't allowed to sleep there. Every night when it was time for bed, they would force him into this tiny little wooden cupboard inside of their room.

It didn't have blankets or pillows, and there was barely enough room for Gabriel to even lay down. And to make it even more uncomfortable for him, they would handcuff his wrists and ankles to the cupboard so he couldn't get out. Ezekiel and Virginia said that Gabriel spent a lot of time in that cupboard. When he wasn't getting beaten by his parents, they would make him go in there for hours on end.

They didn't give him food or water or even let him use the bathroom. Sometimes when his parents weren't looking, he would look through the crack of the cupboard and beg his siblings to slip him some food. At one point, Ezekiel felt bad for him so he tried to give him a banana. But when Pearl found out about it, she pulled Gabriel out of the cupboard and beat him.

After this, they didn't want Gabriel speaking to his siblings while in the box. So from here forward, they started putting a sock in his mouth to gag him. They even tied a bandana around his face so he couldn't see anything. And the saddest part about all of this is that Gabriel wasn't just put in here at night.

On the weekends, when he wasn't in school, Pearl and Asario would sometimes make him stay in there all day long. He couldn't even come out to use the restroom, so he just had to go in his clothes inside of the cubby. When they would see that he used the restroom in there, they would beat him and make him clean it up. And unfortunately, this cubby was sometimes the best case scenario for Gabriel.

It was better being in there, safe, than to be out in the open for his parents to beat him.

After the severe abuse and neglect Gabriel went through for months, he was no longer the happy little boy that he was when he first moved there. Understandably so. He was in a constant state of fear and pain at the hands of his mother and her boyfriend. Around this time, Pearl took the children to visit her sister, Melissa. She said that when Gabriel walked through the door, he looked horrible. He had a black eye, his bottom lip was swollen and busted open, and he had a very strange haircut. There were chunks of hair missing all over his head and cuts all over his scalp.

Melissa said that it looked so bad she even took a photo of him. The fact that he had a bad memory. Yes. Melissa asked Gabriel what happened, and he initially told her that he and his brother were roughhousing. A lie. Pearl and Asaro told him to tell people if anyone asked. But when Melissa asked him again, Gabriel finally told her the truth. Did you ask Gabriel how he got that black eye? Yes, we all did.

Yes. Yes.

Gabriel's teacher and classmates noticed his injuries as well. Yes. Yeah. Yes, there was a lot of cuts under the parts that were shaved really, really short. And then there was a pretty big cut in his ear.

Seeing and hearing this, Jennifer called her principal over to her classroom.

She even brought Gabriel out into the hallway so he could really take a look at his injuries. She wanted to take pictures of it to make sure it was all documented, but as soon as the principal got there, he immediately told Gabriel to go back to his desk and then told Jennifer, Jennifer was shocked.

Gabriel had injuries on his face and the principal didn't even seem to care. So after this, she decides to call Stephanie Rodriguez, Gabriel's social worker. She told her all about the black eye, busted lip, and strange haircut. But the entire time, Jennifer said that it didn't even seem like Stephanie even cared. She just repeated everything she said and then said, okay, well, thanks for calling. And that was the end of the conversation.

Now, sometime after this, a social worker would go to Pearl's sister's house to ask her about Gabriel's injuries. And, Ms. Fernandez, when the question was, did Gabriel ever tell you how he got that black eye? Your answer was yes. He said, my sister's boyfriend, Asaro, had held him down and they were socking him. When he said that they were socking him, who was socking him? That was the question. My sister. And so, there were multiple occasions where he saw Gabriel with a black eye.

And now we're going to take our first ad break. Mia Culpa with Michael Cohen delivers political news raw and unfiltered from the man who dared to defy Donald Trump. Twice a week, Mia Culpa features the most important people in politics, offering listeners an insight into what's happening that they can get no place else.

These are the people behind the people who make the government run. Mia Coppa features the most important newsmakers of the day offering the straight dope on what's really happening in Washington and behind. Each episode takes you inside the day's news with a level of analysis and insight from Cohen that gives you a real, true understanding of what's happening and why.

His guests are a who's who of politics, media, and beyond. James Carville, Joe Trippi, Joan Dean, Lawrence Treib, Harry Melber, Joy Reid, Congressman Steve Cohen, Ellie Honig, Neil Cato, Norm Eisen, Molly Jong Fast, Sam Donaldson, Ben Stiller. You never know who's going to show up and what they'll say. Mia Culpa, you can listen on your favorite podcast app today. And now, back to today's story.

All of Gabriel's extended family were concerned about his safety, and they would later talk to social workers and police officers multiple times about the abuse. But nothing was ever done, and the abuse only got worse from here. At one point while Gabriel was home, Pearl got mad and grabbed a wooden bat. She began beating Gabriel with the bat.

And while he was on the ground crying, she delivered one final blow right down on his face. Gabriel was screaming, his mouth full of blood. Pearl had knocked out his two front teeth, and they obviously never took him to the doctor or dentist because they didn't want people asking questions about how he lost his teeth.

Gabriel's abuse was quickly escalating, and despite it being out in the open for everyone to see, nothing was done. His teacher Jennifer Garcia said that it was around this time that when it was time to go home from school every day, Gabriel would start weeping, telling her that he didn't want to go. School was the only time Gabriel was safe.

He didn't have to worry about getting beat, eating cat feces, or staying inside of the box for hours on end. Sometimes he even asked Jennifer if she could quote, "call that lady again." Jennifer said she was confused because she obviously never told Gabriel that she reported the abuse.

But the fact that he knew about this meant that Stephanie was actually going by the home. Maybe Gabriel thought that if the social worker was called, she would take him away from his abusive parents. I mean, that's their job, right? But sadly, Stephanie always left the home, leaving Gabriel in the hands of his abusers. And the big question is, if Stephanie was seeing all of Gabriel's injuries,

then why didn't she remove him? Well, according to the records, Pearl always had an excuse for Gabriel's injuries. She would tell her, I didn't punch Gabriel in the face. He's a liar. He fell off his bike. Or older kids in the neighborhood beat him up. And for whatever reason, Stephanie always believed her.

But after multiple reports of abuse, social workers had to come by the home pretty often to make sure everything was okay. At one point, a woman named Carmen Lenorgant from the Antelope Valley Children's Center came by their apartment for their mandatory family service visit. Apparently, the visit actually went well. But right when she was about to leave, Pearl stops her and says, I have to show you something. She then leaves the room and comes back with a letter that Gabriel wrote a few weeks prior that reads, I love you so much that I will kill myself.

It's unclear why Pearl decided to show her this letter. Maybe she wanted to seem like a concerned parent. Or maybe she just wanted them to take Gabriel away so they wouldn't have to deal with him anymore. But after seeing this, Carmen sits Gabriel down and says, I read your note you wrote a few weeks ago about wanting to kill yourself. Do you still want to do that right now?

Gabriel tells her that yes, he still wants to kill himself. We aren't sure if she asked him why, but shortly after this, Carmen calls to report Gabriel's suicide note. - Child protection hotline, Kate Hamilton, how may I help you? - Hi, my name's Carmen and I am an in-home counselor. - Okay. - And a six-year-old child, about eight years old, mom showed me some notes they had written that he wanted to kill himself. And when I did ask him, and he just didn't know if he wanted to do that today or now, he said yes.

Now, you would think they'd want to speak with Gabriel about the suicide note, but no. Instead, they decide to talk to Pearl about it. Okay, hold on.

But this isn't her first time dealing with DCFS.

Pearl knows exactly what to say to stay out of trouble. So she tells them that the reason Gabriel is saying all of this is only because he misses his grandparents and he wants to go live with them. Do you want to go to your mom? Uh-huh.

Then she tells them that she really thinks Gabriel is just doing all of this for attention. So how is he doing right now as we're speaking? It doesn't sound like there's no imminent risk of him doing something to himself, is that correct? No, I think that if he wanted to do something, he would have did it a long time ago. Right, yeah, and it's been a week and a half. It's been up to a week. All he's been doing is putting his thumb up. He's sorry because he's putting his thumb up.

And this is partly true. Gabriel did want to go back to his grandparents' house. In fact, shortly before his death, his grandpa recalled Gabriel asking if he could come back to live with them. I remember that one time that I, I don't know, I think I was at the store, and he started telling me that he wanted to come home. He said what? He said he wanted to come home. He wanted to come home. I told him that, um,

Too late.

Following this suicide note incident, an LAPD deputy named Frederico Gonzalez actually came by the home to check on Gabriel. It was about 2 a.m., so Asaro answered the door, and he told the deputy that Gabriel was just a spoiled kid who said he wanted to kill himself because he didn't get his way.

This deputy never even saw Gabriel once. And instead of doing anything about it, he offered to come back the following morning when Gabriel was awake to scare him so that he wouldn't make these claims anymore. And according to neighbors at the apartment complex, the officer did in fact come by the apartment the next day and he actually put Gabriel in the back of the police car trying to scare him, saying that if he kept lying and making false claims, he was going to be taken to jail. Life was getting significantly worse for little Gabriel.

and the abuse was only escalating, despite social workers and sheriff deputies constantly coming by the home. At one point, his older brother Ezekiel said that Pearl and Asaro threw Gabriel into the bathtub and sprayed him in the face with pepper spray. Gabriel tried to run out of the bathroom, but they had locked the door and were blocking him from getting out.

Afterwards, they sent him into the box for the remainder of the night. And I just can't even fathom the torture that he had to face every single day. I mean, I've seen grown military men cry after getting sprayed with pepper spray. And this is a seven-year-old. And unfortunately, the pepper spray wasn't even the worst of it. His parents were still calling him gay. They were still making him eat cat litter.

And they even started putting their cigarettes out on his body, mostly by his mom. At times, there were as many as 20 burns on the back of his head, neck, and behind his ears. Pearl and Asaro would sometimes send Gabriel to school with beanies on to cover them up.

Gabriel's teacher and classmates said that they really started to see a change in Gabriel around this time. At the beginning of the year, he was really happy and friendly, and he loved to play with other kids. But then he started missing a lot of class as the year went on, and after a while he became very irritable and withdrawn. He even started lashing out at the other students and getting mad over the simplest of things. Instead of going to recess every day and playing with the other kids, he was by himself kicking the walls, or he would just stay in the classroom with his teacher.

He even started telling some of his classmates that his mom's boyfriend was beating him. It's clear that Gabriel's home life was causing stress in all aspects of his life. I'm sure he looked at the other kids and wondered why his life couldn't be like theirs. None of the other children in his class had to sit in freezing cold baths to reduce bruising. None of the other kids' mothers were putting makeup on their bruises before school so social workers couldn't get called. And on top of the physical abuse, Gabriel never felt loved.

His parents never told him that they were proud of him. They never just hugged him and made him feel safe. And it just makes me so emotional because every child deserves that. And this next part just makes me sob, but apparently one day in his class, they had an award ceremony and out in the crowd all of the kids' parents were there to celebrate them and their accomplishments.

But Gabriel didn't have anyone in the crowd. Pictures from this day show him holding his award. He has a beanie on, likely to cover up his injuries. And he has what looks like a black eye. He even told his friend that he was sad because he wished his parents were there. And I don't know why that makes me just so sad because despite everything they had put him through,

He still wanted them there to support him. He loved them, but he never felt that love in return.

Remember those New Year's goals that you promised yourself you'd stick to? Well, HelloFresh is here to help you eat better by delivering fresh ingredients and easy recipes right to your door, taking the hassle out of dinnertime. With HelloFresh, you get farm-fresh, pre-portioned ingredients and seasonal recipes delivered right to your doorstep. Skip trips to the grocery store and count on HelloFresh to make home cooking easy, fun, and affordable. That's why it's America's number one meal kit.

So we love HelloFresh on this podcast. We've actually been a member or whatever you would call it. We've been subscribed to the service for a long time now, and we love cooking our meals together every week. It's fun opening up the box and seeing what meals you're getting for the week. And it's exciting because HelloFresh now has 40 weekly recipes to choose from. So you can say bye-bye to your recipe rut and treat yourself and your family to exciting new flavors every week.

If you're looking for an easy way to eat well and save money, you can cut back on the expensive takeout and delivery and get started with HelloFresh. You'll absolutely love how fast, easy, and affordable it is to whip up a restaurant-quality meal right there in your own kitchen. I love how HelloFresh has so many different food options. No matter your lifestyle or meal preferences, HelloFresh has recipes sure to please everyone at your table. From fit and wholesome to veggie or family-friendly, you'll always find something even the pickiest eaters will enjoy.

The meals are quick to make. They're easy to make. But above all, take my and Courtney's word for it, the meals are absolutely delicious. And that's why we love HelloFresh. We look forward to getting our box every week. So if you want to take that next step, get healthy, and keep those New Year's resolutions rolling, sign up for HelloFresh. Just go to HelloFresh.com slash State65 and use code State65 for 65% off plus free shipping.

And now, back to today's story.

At this point in our story, we're about halfway through the 2012-13 school year. On February 20th, 2013, Gabriel turned 8 years old. But this wasn't a year to celebrate. The abuse Gabriel was facing at the hands of his mom and her boyfriend was worse than ever. And Gabriel was terrified to tell anybody about what was actually going on at home. Pearl always made sure to tell him that if anyone asks you about these bruises, tell them you fell off your bike. If you tell them the truth, we're going to beat you harder than we ever have. But his injuries were bad.

And everyone knew that he was getting them from Pearl and Asaro. Pearl's own family members were so worried about Gabriel that they called DCFS three different times to talk with them about Gabriel's abuse. But for some reason, nothing ever happened. Pearl and Asaro continued to put their cigarettes out on Gabriel's skin. Asaro started choking Gabriel more frequently, sometimes to the point where he would pass out. They beat him with bats and broomsticks.

made him walk around the house in dresses. Ezekiel even said that sometimes they would force him to hit Gabriel. He didn't want to, but they made him. So beforehand, he would whisper to Gabriel to fall on the ground to make it look real. Ezekiel also said that the entire time they would beat Gabriel, he would be screaming in pain and Pearl and Asaro would be laughing, taunting him.

Inside of their apartment, they also had BB guns. If the two got tired from punching Gabriel in the face, they would just pull out the BB gun and begin shooting him with it. And BB guns are painful. They can penetrate the skin and even kill people. There are countless stories of children fracturing bones or even losing an eye from being shot with one. Pearl was usually the one who would shoot him with it.

And she did it so much, there was actually BBs lodged into Gabriel's skin. One was even found in his lung. And when she would shoot him with it, she wasn't being careful with her aim. A couple months before his death, Gabriel walked into class a little late. All of the other kids were already at their desk.

And when he walked through the door, the entire class let out a gasp, including Gabriel's teacher, Jennifer Garcia. According to her, Gabriel looked horrible. His face was covered in bruises, and his eyes were nearly swollen shut. Jennifer waited until recess to pull him aside. "'What happened to your face?'

Gabriel looked nervous, and he quickly told his teacher that he fell when he was playing. But Jennifer knew that he couldn't have gotten those injuries from falling, so she asks him, what really happened?

Gabriel becomes visibly frustrated and he tells his teacher, "Okay, my mom shot me in the face with a BB gun." And I said, "Why did you lie? Why didn't you tell me that?" And he said, "Because when I tell you and then that lady comes, then I get hurt worse." That lady gets hurt? Yes. I assumed at that point. So every time you get tired in the social work room, you get hurt worse? Yes.

Jennifer was torn. The last thing she wanted was for Gabriel to get more hurt, but she knew she had to report it. So again, she calls Stephanie Rodriguez and tells her what happened. Not

Not long afterwards, Stephanie goes by their apartment to talk about the BB gun incident. When she knocks on the door, Pearl answers. And she tells Stephanie that the entire BB gun incident was just an accident. We aren't sure if she said Gabriel did it himself or one of the other kids did it, but it definitely wasn't intentional.

And again, nothing happens. Stephanie takes Pearl's word for it and leaves, which is just wrong on so many levels because even if Gabriel did shoot himself in the face, it had nothing to do with his mother's abuse. Stephanie still should have made sure Gabriel went to the doctor to get treated.

I mean, she saw his swollen and bruised face, and those are considered to be severe injuries. So why didn't she make sure he saw a doctor? I guess we'll never know. And she wasn't even properly documenting everything. According to DCFS rules, you're supposed to mark injuries down on a body chart every single time you see them. But throughout all the times she came by the home, she only marked down one of his injuries. And that was the injury on his buttocks from when he was hit with the metal part of the belt.

So Stephanie just wasn't doing any part of her job correctly. And as soon as she left their apartment, Gabriel got the beating of a lifetime. They told Gabriel not to tell anyone about what happened, which is why he lied to his teacher when she asked him about it in the first place. And because Gabriel told the truth, he suffered the worst consequences imaginable. Over the next few days, Gabriel endured his worst beating yet.

Asaro punched him in the face over and over again, to the point where the whites of his eyes were now red. Pearl grabbed a thick computer cord and repeatedly whipped his body. They kicked him with steel-toed boots. They beat him with a bat. They burned him with cigarettes all over the back of his head. On his forehead, pieces of his skin were missing, almost like it had been peeled off.

Gabriel's beating was so bad, he actually had to miss two entire weeks of school. Perlonisaro knew that they had to let his injuries heal before they could send him back. His teacher Jennifer said that after missing two weeks of class, Gabriel walked inside of her classroom and all of her students went. Gabriel was unrecognizable. Some of the kids were even scared of him.

Gabriel still had two severe black eyes, burn marks covering his body, cuts all over his head and hands. There were deep purple marks on his neck, and parts of his skin were still missing on his forehead. And keep in mind, this is after two weeks of healing. Imagine what he looked like when it first happened.

Again, Jennifer pulled Gabriel aside and asked him about his injuries, but this time he wasn't going to tell the truth. He learned his lesson from last time. So he tells Jennifer that he fell off his bike. After school that day, Jennifer places yet another call to his social worker, Stephanie Rodriguez, and leaves her a message about his injuries. She tells her that Gabriel looks worse than ever and something has to be done.

But this time, Jennifer doesn't even get a call back. Now, shortly after this, Pearl would take her children to the LA GAIN office, which is where she would pick up her welfare checks. A security guard named Arturo Martinez was standing near the entrance when he saw the family walk inside. Good morning, Mr. Miranda. Good morning. Can you tell the jury what we're talking about? I'm an armed guard for the San Jose County Home Office and the Sheriff's Department.

Where were you working, if you remember, after the 26th? At the San Jose UBSS gain office in Palo. As Pearl and her kids come inside, Arturo watches as they walk up to the receptionist's desk, and he couldn't help but notice that the youngest kid, Gabriel, had horrible injuries to the back of his head.

Even from far away, he could tell that some of the injuries were cigarette burns. It's easy to tell because they're tiny little holes shaped like cigarettes. Arturo said that he counted as many as 20 little burns all over the back of his head. He also noticed that some were partially healed and others were fresh. He couldn't believe what he was seeing.

Then, after a few minutes, Pearl and the children turned around to leave the building, and Arturo saw Gabriel's face, which was covered in green, purple, and black bruises, mostly around his eyes.

He said that as they walked out, Gabriel kind of brushed up against him and glanced at the security guard out of the corner of his eye. He even lifted his arm up in front of his chest, almost like he was showing him the injuries on his hands. As soon as the family left, Arturo ran up to the receptionist, Marcella Corona, and says, Did you see that little boy's injuries?

He had cigarette burns all over the back of his head and two black eyes. We gotta report this. Marcela had actually been promoted to work in domestic violence situations, so Arturo told her to go do her job and tell her supervisor about it. So Marcela walks to the back, and a few minutes later, she returns and says, Yeah, my boss doesn't even want us to report it because we'd have to work overtime.

It was a little past 4.30pm at that point, and the office was about to close, so making a report would mean that they would have to stay past closing. And it was a Friday, so their bosses just didn't want to deal with it. Arturo was shocked.

A little boy just came into their office with severe injuries, and all they were worried about was having to pay their employees overtime. So Marcella tells Arturo, well, why don't I give you the mom's name and address so you can report it? Which is crazy, because if she works in the domestic violence department, then why would she make the security guard report it? According to Arturo, she said she would do it, but she just didn't want to lose her job. Sitting here today, do you know his name? Gabriel Fernandez. Regarding getting...

The information where that little boy lived, did somebody give that to you or how did you get it? I got it from Maricela Corona, the worker that was at the window. She wanted to report it, but she was told not to by her supervisor. And that made you feel sad that nobody else in that office but you was going to report these injuries on that little boy? Yes, it actually pissed me off.

Afterwards, Arturo spoke to his supervisor named Suzanne Harms, and she told him, Why are you trying to get involved in this? This is not a part of your duties. I wouldn't get involved if I were you and don't make me write you up. Arturo couldn't believe it. No one seemed to care about this little boy's safety at all. You believe on that day that Gabriel needed to be seen? Yes, sir.

Arturo knew that he couldn't just sit back and not do anything. So against his supervisor's wishes, he decided to call 911. Hello, hi. I work for the county here at the gain office.

And believe it or not, the dispatcher wasn't even taking the situation seriously. In fact, they even told him,

You know this line is for emergencies only. In Arturo's eyes, this was an emergency, but no one was listening to him. The dispatcher ended up taking down all of the information and they told Arturo that they would send a deputy over to the home. He said that he felt relieved after reporting it. Surely the officer would see Gabriel's injuries and they'd realize just how serious the situation actually was.

Now, an officer would end up going by the home, but no one came to the door. - Can you tell the jury what you think was wrong? - I'm an LA County Sheriff's deputy. My assignment was I worked for, at Palmdale Station, and I was a school resource officer.

Later that day, he went by the apartment again, but still no answer. I left and went to some other schools. And did you return to that? Yes, yes, I did. On the same day? Yes. And what happened when you returned to the ad? I knocked at the door again and there was no answer. What did you do next? That was the end of my day, so I went home. The third time the officer came by the apartment, Pearl knew she had to talk with him.

She couldn't keep avoiding it because he'd just keep coming back. She also knew that she couldn't let the officer see Gabriel. He was still covered in burns and bruises. So she quickly shoves a sock in Gabriel's mouth and forces him into the wooden cubby. This wasn't the first time she had done this. Sometimes when social workers would come by, she would hide Gabriel in there so they wouldn't see his injuries.

And when they'd ask where he was, she would tell them that he was staying with a relative. On this day, when the officer asked about Gabriel, she told him that he moved to Texas. You know, I don't remember the entire conversation. It's about four and a half years ago, but I do remember her saying that she moved the child to Texas. So you believe that... I did. Yes, I did. That Gabriel had been moved to Texas. I believe the mother, yes.

After this, the officer left, closing the investigation. This was just one week before Gabriel's murder.

At this point in our story, it's May of 2013. Mother's Day was just around the corner. Like many elementary schools, the children will make Mother's Day cards and little crafts to show their mom just how much they love them. Gabriel was happy to participate, despite the horrible abuse his mother had put him through. After everything, he still loved her. For days, Gabriel worked on these little crafts for his mother. One was a card with a house on the front that read, "Open the door to see who loves you." And when you open the little flap, there's a picture of Gabriel.

On the inside of the card, Gabriel wrote, My mom is special. She's a loving mom and I love her because she's beautiful. I'm tearing up reading this actually. It also reads, I love it when she helps me. My mom is as pretty as a flower and heart. I love my mom because she gives me love. She is beautiful than a flower. She is a butterfly. He also wrote her little coupons. One of them was a coupon for him to do the dishes. Another one read, quote, Time for me and you.

And that one just broke me because Gabriel truly just wanted quality time with his mom. No beatings, no abusive boyfriend, just quality mother and son time. On the last coupon, Gabriel wrote, quote, I will be good. Another thing his class did for Mother's Day were three pictures that they took with letters that read, Mom. Gabriel had a smile on his face and all of the pictures said,

But the smile is hard to see when all you can really see are the swollen black eyes of an eight-year-old child. And now his head is bald and covered in cuts and bruises. His chin has a deep cut. The whites of his eyes are dark red. There's purple marks on his neck. Even on his little hands that are holding up the poster, you can see that there's injuries all over them.

Every single visible part of his body is covered in trauma and who knows what under his clothes look like. But despite everything, he smiles for the pictures and he happily makes the crafts for his mom because at the end of the day, he still wanted her to know that he loved her and that he wanted to be good for her. But none of that mattered to Pearl Fernandez.

Gabriel's love for his mother is actually what initiated the beating that would end his life. Which brings us to May 22nd, 2013.

It was a Thursday night. According to Virginia, Gabriel had gotten in trouble that day for playing with her toys. They didn't like when Gabriel played at all. And she witnessed her mother punch Gabriel in the face several times. At some point in the night, it appears that there may have been an argument between Pearl and Asaro because according to her, Gabriel said something along the lines of, "Why do you let him treat you like that?" If this was true, Gabriel was only looking out for his mom. But Pearl didn't care. And she quickly dragged Gabriel into their bedroom to tell Asaro about what he just said.

"Is that true, Gabriel? You don't think I treat your mom well?" he asks. Gabriel denied saying anything. He was scared and he could see Asaro growing more and more angry. According to Asaro, the fact that Gabriel was trying to get in between him and Pearl made him fly into a rage.

And from here, they shut the door to the bedroom and began beating Gabriel. Ezekiel and Virginia said that all they could hear were the sounds of loud bangs. On the other side of that door, Asaro was grabbing Gabriel by the neck with one hand and throwing him up against the wall. Then with his other hand, he punched him in the face as hard as he could. Gabriel fell to the ground, bleeding.

and Asaro stood over his body and punched him again, all while calling him gay. Gabriel is helpless and severely injured, but that doesn't stop the beating. From here, both Pearl and Asaro begin kicking him as hard as they could, and in between kicks, Asaro continues to punch him.

The 6'2", 270-pound man stands over him and punches him 10 times in the face, then 20 more times all over his body. Gabriel eventually passes out. At the end of the beating, a part of his skull was caved in, his ribs were broken, and his face was swollen beyond recognition.

There were injuries all over his hands, arms, legs, neck. The beating likely stopped when they were tired. Hitting something as hard as you can over 30 times is a lot of work. When they were finished, there was blood everywhere and Gabriel wasn't breathing. From here, they quickly throw him in the shower, hoping the cold water will wake him up, but it doesn't.

Ezekiel and Virginia could hear them yelling at Gabriel to wake up, but after a few minutes, they realized they have to call the police. But before doing so, Pearl tells Virginia to grab some rags and help her clean up all the blood. She then turns to Ezekiel and says, "When the cops get here, tell them that you were playing," and he fell and hit his head.

Once the blood was somewhat clean and they got their story straight, Pearl then places a call to 911. 911, what's your emergency? Yes, I would like to, my son is not breathing. Okay, right now, where are you? You're kneeling next to him? Yes, I am. Okay, we're going to do some pressions, okay? I want you to do 30 compressions on his chest.

With your hands. Did you see that, Dan? You know how to do it? You're trained. Okay. Turn your mind aside right now and let any liquid that's in your mouth coming out. Do you see any vomit or anything in your mouth right now? No. Okay, so he's not choking on it. No. Now every time my mom or dad called me, called me in the last minute, because they needed some oxygen, they had to come to the shower, go for water,

Shortly after this, first responders arrive at the home, one of them being a man named James Cermak. After Ezekiel told the paramedics where to go, they entered the apartment and found Gabriel on the ground unresponsive. Here is Sean Fox, one of those first responders. This is the first time I've been in the apartment with Ezekiel. Did you see Gabriel in the bedroom?

He was on the floor, face up. I could tell from, you know, not right on top of him, but at close distance that he was what appeared to be in a severe distress. I instructed the male subject at the house to pick up the boy and bring him out in the living room because I had plans to do it.

From here, the paramedics got to work on Gabriel, whose heart had stopped beating. We noticed that the child was not breathing, had no heartbeat, so he was in cardiac arrest, so we started CPR. At that point, it was a team effort. We started compressions, we started ventilations, which is adrenaline to try to restart the heart. We had no idea what was happening, obviously, so you just think it's a...

Gabriel had burn marks covering his neck and parts of his skin were missing.

The trauma on his body was so severe, the paramedics originally thought he had some kind of skin disease. Like he had rashes, like abrasions to his face, strangulation marks around his neck, his ankles were swollen, I believe his left forearm looked like it was burned.

As the first responders worked to resuscitate Gabriel, Pearl and Asaro were standing behind them.

They weren't in hysterics or inconsolable like most parents would be in this situation. They were just repeatedly trying to explain what happened, telling them that Gabriel got hurt while he was playing with his brother. The statements they were making didn't make sense. For the condition of the patient, they didn't seem to be...

Pearl was also more concerned about her other children and her cats than she was about Gabriel. Do you see that telegraph, sir? Yes. And who is that? That's Gabriel Mellon-Pearl.

She kept asking about her daughter and her other son, but never asked about Gabriel, about what was happening with him or where he may be going if he was transported. Is she expressing concern to you about anything? Her cats. What do you think you recall her saying? She was concerned that they did left in the apartment alone in a cage or something.

But more concerning than anything, while her son was dying on her living room floor, Pearl and Asario were telling the officers that Gabriel was a liar and that he often hits himself. They also told him that he was gay, as if that had anything to do with what was going on. I remember her stating...

From here, they load Gabriel into the ambulance and make their way over to Antelope Valley Hospital.

and they're actually able to get his pulse back for the time being. The nurses and doctors at the hospital get word that an 8-year-old boy is coming in for cardiac arrest. They also learn that the circumstances around his injuries are unknown and sketchy, so they quickly prepped an OR and waited for his arrival. The ambulance eventually pulls up to the hospital, but by the time they get Gabriel on a gurney, his heart stops again. One nurse quickly straddles over him and begins CPR as they take him over to get a CAT scan.

They have to know exactly what's going on in his little body before they begin surgery. Luckily, they're able to get a pulse, but during his CAT scan, his heart stops again. So they pull him out and start CPR for the fourth time. Once they find a pulse, they quickly get his scans and rush him into surgery. Eight-year-old Gabriel Fernandez would end up surviving through the night, but he was in critical condition, and it was clear that he wasn't going to make it.

As Gabriel was being taken away in an ambulance, Pearl and Asaro were brought to the police station. Clearly, no one believed the story that Gabriel hurt himself while playing with his brother. So the detectives are nice to Asaro. They even empathize with him, hoping to get a confession. And it works. I deal with monsters. And you can turn on the TV and watch and see. And then we deal with people who make mistakes. Okay. Last night...

For some reason Gabriel did something to upset you. What happened last night in your bedroom? Okay. What did he do? No, what I'm saying, what did he do to upset you? The kids were saying something about because he has a problem with lying. You know what? Why is Brian's wife always hurting him?

You know, if you leave, if you leave them, I'll start being good. So I got mad. I was like, why don't you say this? Why every time I leave them, I'm going to leave them. So I go say this. That thing's too much. And your mom's going to start crying. And then you know what this boy's talking about. So I spanked him. I was like, why are you saying this? He was like, oh, I didn't say that.

Okay.

What did he do? No, what I'm saying, what did he do to upset you? The kids were saying something about because he has a problem with lying. You know what? Why is he always hurting me? You know, if you leave him, I'll start feeling good.

I didn't say that, mom.

The doctors have told us what happened there, okay? And what you're telling me, it doesn't match up. And you know that. You're in the real world. You've got security. Did any of you, either of you, hurt or you hit him with something? I've never seen her hit him with something.

And just her face or her head too. So you hit him in the front of the face, the back of the face, the side of the head. You hit him everywhere. Everywhere. Not in the face. If you're on the sides of the head. Sides of the head, back. In the body, front and back. How did that feel when that happened? Afterwards, seeing him crying his eyes. That's what I told you, right? You had to walk out. But when you saw him crying, you got that one instant of...

With this, they place both him and Pearl under arrest. A Palmdale mother and her boyfriend are behind bars tonight, suspected of abusing and terrorizing her eight-year-old son. He is now listed in critical condition. The L.A. County Sheriff's Department says his injuries suggest he may have been tortured. Shortly after their arrests, Gabriel would be taken off life support.

His little body just couldn't handle the trauma he endured at the hands of his mother and her boyfriend. And on May 24th, 2013, Gabriel Fernandez was pronounced dead and there would be a long and thorough investigation ahead.

During his autopsy, Dr. James Reby was shocked at the amount of injuries to Gabriel's body. He had a depressed skull fracture, broken ribs, cuts and bruises all down his body, bite marks, dozens of burns, ligature marks on his ankles and neck. He also found a metal BB embedded in his groin, and another was found in his lung. There were cuts all around his penis, wounds on his feet, almost like he had been dragged across the concrete. Every single inch of his body had been injured.

So much so that his autopsy took a lot longer than usual. Can you tell the jury how long the autopsy took? It took two days. And is this normal that it takes two days for an autopsy? No.

The doctors were also able to tell that Gabriel had experienced prolonged abuse. This was not just one single incident. You could tell that by looking at the partially healed bruises and burns that covered his body. Could all of those injuries have been caused by falling off a bike?

No. Were all the injuries that you found, were they being attributed to accidental events? No. Gabriel's death was caused by sequelae of blunt force trauma and child neglect. What does sequelae mean? Consequences.

And what is the basis of that opinion, Dr. B.C. Clark? That is that I saw Gabriel had suffered these injuries over a period of weeks or months, and he had not received any medical treatment for them. Were you able to determine the manner of death? Yes. And what is your opinion? The manner of Gabriel's death was homicidal.

They were also able to determine this prolonged abuse by taking a look at Gabriel's thymus gland. Was there something about Gabriel's thymus gland? How long and what is thymus gland? Thymus gland is a gland in the throat, upper chest area of children and young people. It's located right up here, like where my tie is, inside the rib cage in the front.

And in a child eight years old, that's quite a large, plump, white, soft gland that weighs 35 to 50 grams, sometimes even 100 grams.

In Gabriel's case, the thymus gland was barely even there. It was extremely shriveled and thin and weighed only 10 grams. And what does that tell you about the baby? It's called stress atrophy, and that means he's been under severe emotional and physiological stress for a long period of time, meaning months, weeks.

Senior criminalist Stefan Schieve also looked into Gabriel's stomach contents. Sadly, they found no food, just cat litter. Did you examine Gabriel's stomach? Yes. And can you tell the jury what, if anything, that you found? Hard, gritty material that I described as looking like sand. It felt like sand when I picked it up. After I had examined visually and with a stereomicroscope,

I noticed that there were gray colored particles in the stomach contents. This shows some of the gray particulate material that I have removed from the stomach contents. I did a couple of different, two different types of instrumental tests on both the gray particles from the stomach contents and also the exemplar cat litter material. So they were similar? Yes, I could not tell them apart.

The following day, a search warrant was issued for the apartment, so the police taped off the area and began investigating the scene. There were bloody rags found, where Pearl and Virginia attempted to wipe up the blood. They also found what I can only describe as torture tools.

They found the belts used to beat Gabriel, steel-toed boots used to kick him, a computer cord that was all worn from whipping him. They also found wooden bats and clubs that were covered in Gabriel's DNA. Here is senior criminalist Tiffany Hsu. This is a wood club.

Those red stickers are pointing to the red-brown stains that I had visualized on the wood bat at our club and it tested positive for blood. The DNA profile from the wooden club was a single source profile that matched the profile of Gabriel Fernandez. This is the black bat that I analyzed in the laboratory.

The blue arrows in this case are pointing to red-brown stains that I had visualized on the bat. They tested positive for blood. And did you do a conducted comparison of each of the weapons profile to a known sample? Yes, I did. Take the first one, the black bat. Did it come back to a match to a known sample? Yes, it did. Who did it match?

And this wasn't the only place where she found blood. Gabriel's DNA was found all over the apartment. On the torture tools, the walls, the floor, the wooden cubby he sat in every night. It was everywhere.

Every time she did find Gabriel's DNA, she had to mark the spot with a red sticker. Eventually, there were so many spots found around the home that she ran out of red stickers and had to start using yellow ones. Investigators also found all of Gabriel's clothes in a bag under the sink, the only clothes that were hung up for him.

were the two dresses that they would force him to wear around the home. The evidence was painting a clear picture of how horrible Gabriel's life was while in the custody of his mother and her boyfriend. Gabriel had only lived with them for about eight months. Eight months of pure hell for the eight-year-old boy. This was quickly becoming one of the most disturbing cases Palmdale, California had ever seen.

Shortly after Gabriel's death, detectives questioned Ezekiel and Virginia, hoping to get an idea of exactly what they witnessed in the home. And at first, it was clear that they were trying to protect Pearl's reputation. She had been telling her children to lie about the abuse far before Gabriel even died. And it was obvious that they were still trying to do that here. But after the detectives talked with them for a while, they gradually revealed more and more. Here's audio from Virginia's interview with Detective Susan Velasquez. Can you tell me what a truth is? Can you define that word truth?

It means that you're telling the real thing and not the thing that you don't want to say. Okay. What about a lie? What does a lie mean? A lie means that you're not telling the truth and you're saying another thing that's not the word that you want to say. After getting the full story on Gabriel's abuse, it was clear to the detectives that both Virginia and Ezekiel felt a lot of guilt about their brother's death, something no 10- and 12-year-old should ever have to carry on their shoulders. You know, I did something to Gabriel.

What did you do to Gabriel? I never went to go see him until I was sorry. To tell him you were sorry? Where were you going to tell him at? Because every time we would play together, I would always tell him that he can't play with me. Why? Why couldn't he play with you? Because every time he wanted to play with me, I was with my friends. And so that's what you did bad to him because you didn't want to play with him? And he always stayed in the dark with no one.

He stayed in the dark wear. Here's a part of Ezekiel's interview with detectives. I'm going to tell you this, because you're going to talk to all kinds of people you already have. Would you say you've already had to talk to a bunch of people in two weeks, right? You're going to talk to more people, okay? But this is coming. The reason this is what I'm saying, and I agree with you, it's so important, is I'm the policeman who's investigating the whole case.

I'm the guy in charge. Okay? From the guy in charge, I'm telling you, none of this was your fault. None of it. Do you believe me? I want you to believe me. That's the guy in charge. So you can hear from a lot of different people about this and that and the other thing. But when you go to bed at night, I want you to try to remember, the head guy told me it's not my fault. Okay? Because it's not.

Gabriel's first grade teacher, Jennifer Garcia, was absolutely devastated when she learned about what happened. She said she just cried and cried for hours.

And then she had to do the heartbreaking task of telling her students, Gabriel's friends. That day, she gathered everyone to the front of the class and they all sat down in a circle. And that's where she told them that Gabriel passed away. She said that afterwards, everyone just sat there and cried.

It's unclear exactly what she told them about Gabriel's death, but they had all been there, every day, watching him come to class with bruises and cuts all over his body. Gabriel even talked with some students about how his mom's boyfriend would beat him. And it's always just so sad to me that you even have to have these conversations with children. Kids are innocent, and their friends shouldn't be dying.

Their parents likely had to sit them down that night and tell them that Gabriel's mommy and daddy killed him. How can a child even wrap their head around that? For Jennifer, she felt an incredible amount of guilt that she didn't do more. Technically, she did everything she was supposed to do. Every time she noticed an injury, she reported it. But no one seemed to ever care.

And we will talk about the social workers here in a bit because I have a lot to say about them. But first, let's talk about Pearl and Asaro and their vile acts even after they were arrested. On the night of May 22nd, 2013, after Asaro confessed to beating Gabriel to death, both he and Pearl were arrested and brought to the Antelope Valley Courthouse.

Usually, investigators would separate the two, but in this case, the lead investigator, Tim O'Quinn, decided to put them in adjacent holding cells to see if they would say anything to each other. At the Antelope Valley Courthouse lockup in the basement of the Antelope Valley Court are holding cells, the two...

Persons involved in this case, including the defendant, were brought for a court appearance. I coordinated with the high-tech detail of the LA County Sheriff's Department to wire two adjacent cells for recording, audio recording.

So one cell was Pearl Fernandez? Yes. And one cell was a Sarge drink? Yes. The device in Definite Aguirre's cell did not function properly. The device in Pearl Fernandez's cell did. And then with the court's permission, we're going to play what was previously named Marcus' exhibit notebook, eight-page business letter. Hey! Did you... Did you talk to your...

Did you say it was an accidental death? When you talked to your- Did you tell him it was an accidental death? Do you know why he got that murder charge on me? Do you know why he got that murder charge on me? Because you said I was a type of woman. I just know that it was not fair. I was a type of woman in the beginning. Because it was red hot. Then he and Regina went to the living room.

Pearl was obviously more worried about herself than she was her own son. Pearl wanted to make sure that their stories matched up, as if she could possibly get away with this. The two would go on to talk for a few more minutes, then at one point,

they started getting sexual with each other. And when I heard this, I was just so shocked. I mean, we all knew she was a horrible person, but her child was just murdered hours before this and she's trying to be sexy? I just, I'll never understand that.

Now, one would think that an 8-year-old's murder would be national news, but that wasn't really the case. Murder is so common in LA, the news around Gabriel Fernandez was kind of drowned out amongst everything else. But then the board of supervisors picked it up, and it started gaining more attention.

If you don't know what the Board of Supervisors is, don't worry, we didn't know either, but it essentially governs LA County. They're a very powerful group that are over public hospitals, the beaches and harbors, police departments, the district attorney's office. They pretty much govern all of LA. And they're extremely powerful because they control all of these departments' budgets. Right now, their budget is around $39 billion.

And the reason they relate to this story is that they also control all children and family services, including DCFS, the very department that was over Gabriel Fernandez's case. Clearly, once word started to spread about how DCFS gravely mishandled everything here, people were outraged with both DCFS and the Board of Supervisors for allowing this to happen. And soon enough, the people of LA came together to protest. NBC4's Lolita Lopez is live in Palmdale where a protest is underway. Lolita.

That's right, Lucy. And it started about an hour ago and they're still here asking cars to honk and chanting justice for Gabriel. Now the worst case scenario has taken place. Our group is mad and there's enough. It's enough.

A single candle burns tonight in the apparent beating death of an eight-year-old boy inside his Palmdale home. A mother and her live-in boyfriend have been charged with capital murder in the beating death of her eight-year-old son. 29-year-old Pearl Fernandez is jailed on $100,000 bond. Her boyfriend, 32-year-old Izaro Aguirre, is also in custody. His bail, a million dollars. So let's take a deep dive on these four social workers and where exactly they went wrong.

Now, within DCFS, there's a department called the Emergency Response Department, and they're in charge of investigating these child abuse cases. Like we mentioned earlier, Stephanie Rodriguez was the social worker in charge of Gabriel's case, and she was very new to the department. After investigators looked through her reports, it was very clear that one, Stephanie just didn't thoroughly do her job.

For instance, she was supposed to mark down every time Gabriel had an injury. She never did that. When she saw injuries on Gabriel, she was supposed to get him evaluated. She never did that either.

Another huge mistake she made was when she would investigate Gabriel's child abuse claims, she mostly only spoke to Pearl. In her notes, Stephanie wrote things like, Gabriel hurt himself, Gabriel fell off a bunk bed, or Gabriel hit his face on a door. She seemed to just believe Pearl every time she gave an excuse on why Gabriel was covered in injuries. If she were to have done her job correctly,

she would have spoken to other people like Gabriel or Pearl's family members. You are never supposed to just take a person's word for it time and time again without getting third-party accounts because obviously abusers are going to lie. A lot of people think that since Stephanie was new, she was just naive and gullible, but I don't know about that.

After all, Gabriel's teacher told Stephanie that Pearl was shooting Gabriel in the face with a BB gun and she didn't do anything about it. Stephanie also saw Gabriel with chunks of hair missing, busted lips, scabs all over his scalp, and she chose to look the other way. If you are responding to a home that many times and you're constantly seeing this boy with severe injuries all over his body,

I'm sorry, but that's just not an excuse. Those sorts of injuries just don't happen by accident. And any person walking on the street would have known that Gabriel was being abused. So why she was unable to see that, we don't know.

But Stephanie isn't the only person to blame here. Her supervisor was a man named Kevin Bourne, and he was supposed to be signing off on everything Stephanie did. So, for instance, when Stephanie saw that Gabriel got shot in the face with a BB gun, and she never got him medical attention, Kevin was supposed to catch that and ensure Stephanie was following protocol. He was supposed to make sure she was filling out the body charts correctly, which she wasn't. He was also supposed to be making sure Stephanie was getting third-party accounts of the abuse, like talking with Gabriel's family members. But he didn't.

So his negligence in this case was that he wasn't supervising very well and making sure Stephanie was doing her job. The other two social workers involved in this case were a part of the family preservation department, whose main goal is to work with families so that they can be kept together. You know, a lot of us have seen these horrible videos of children screaming as social workers and police are prying these kids away to take them to foster homes.

And it's heartbreaking. It's also very traumatic for everyone involved. And studies have shown that the best thing you can do for children is to keep them with their biological parents. Now, obviously, there are exceptions, like cases of severe physical and sexual abuse. In those situations, the child obviously needs to be taken away. But in DCFS, that's a last resort.

The entire goal of family preservation is to work with parents so that they're creating a safe and healthy environment for their children. Now, the family preservation social worker in charge of Gabriel's case was a woman named Patricia Clement. According to her co-workers, Patricia was described as very rude, unprofessional, and profane, which is interesting because...

Before she got into social work, she was a nun. But nonetheless, after Gabriel was murdered, an internal affairs investigation was open where they reviewed Patricia's negligence. And like Stephanie, she just didn't do her job. She had gone by the Fernandez home many times and again, like Stephanie,

She only spoke to Pearl about what was going on. She never spoke to Gabriel's family or teachers or anyone. She just took Pearl's word. In this internal affairs interview, Patricia also said that she was well aware of Gabriel's injuries. In fact, in the report, she says that she saw his swollen face and black eyes from when he was shot with a BB gun.

But later on, when she spoke with the district attorney, she said that she had no idea about the physical abuse. The transcript from this interview specifically reads, quote, "...there were never any mentions, I gotta tell ya, of physical abuse. That wasn't what the case was about. The case was about neglect. I was there, I did my job, and I gave the referrals."

End quote. Which is a complete lie because she admitted to DCFS that she saw Gabriel with a black eye.

In addition to this, Patricia's reporting on the entire case was just straight up false. For instance, she said that Gabriel had great attendance at school, when in reality, he was barely showing up to class. Again, she never spoke to the school or his teachers, she only talked to Pearl about it. Patricia also said that the family dynamic was getting better, and that Gabriel was at a low risk in terms of being abused, which clearly wasn't the case. And to wrap everything up, Patricia was the one who wrote up the report on Gabriel's suicide note.

After doing very little investigating, she wrote that there was no safety risk to Gabriel and she even recommended closing the case. And what's really disturbing is that Patricia closed Gabriel's case in April, about a month before he died. Then after he passed away, she went into the report and switched it to where it said she closed his case in March.

She knew that closing the case so close to his death wasn't a good look. So she just switched the date, thinking no one would notice. And I was watching the amazing Netflix docuseries on this case called The Trials of Gabriel Fernandez. I highly recommend you watch it. But in it, they posted the recording of when the district attorney's office reached out to her. And she was terrified.

I mean, anytime you're getting a call from the DA's office, it's probably not good news. But the entire phone call, Patricia is sobbing and she's saying, I'm not a terrible person. I did not hurt that child. His mother and her boyfriend killed him. I did not. I had nothing to do with this. I didn't miss anything. Not true.

Ew, and hearing her whine and cry just...

It was so annoying because, yes, she may not have had any control on what went on in the family, but her entire job is to make sure that Gabriel was safe. She saw the bruises, she saw the black eyes, and she didn't do what she was supposed to do to ensure his safety. And at the end of the day, if they would have done their jobs correctly, Gabriel would still be here.

Patricia also had a supervisor named Gregory Merritt, and again, he was supposed to be making sure Patricia was doing her job correctly. Now, Greg would later claim that yes, there were missteps within their department, but that's partly because DCFS workers are incredibly overworked, which is important to consider.

Most social workers will have about 30 cases at a time, and the supervisors are in charge of everyone, so at one point Greg was handling hundreds of cases at a time. And another thing to note is that the emergency response command post, the place in charge of Gabriel's case, was filled with hundreds of children that were living there. So let me explain. Anytime a child had to be taken away from their families, they would be brought to the emergency response command post until they found a place for them to go.

whether it be with a relative or a foster parent. But the problem is, there were too many children and not enough places to put them. So after a while, children were basically just living at this command post. At first, there were about 15 to 16 children a month, but as time went on, they got up to about 350 kids a month living there. It was essentially an orphanage for the children of LA. So obviously, with all these kids living at the facility and all the cases they have to deal with, DCFS is clearly overworked.

But even knowing all of this, it still doesn't excuse what the social workers did. I mean, they knew that Gabriel was getting shot in the face with a BB gun. They knew that chunks of his hair were missing. They knew he was bleeding from the metal part of the belt after his beatings. They physically saw the bruises all over his body. They knew all of that and he still wasn't taken away. But it's also important to look at the department as a whole. There are clearly faults in the system.

If the Board of Supervisors who govern DCFS gave them more resources, more funding, and more employees, the mistakes like this probably wouldn't happen as often. And the Board of Supervisors are involved in this case in other aspects as well.

Now, bear with me because we will make the connection here in a bit. But remember the security guard that reported Gabriel's injuries and how he wanted the welfare office to report it, but they didn't want to because they didn't want to pay their employees overtime. Well, that office is contracted by a company called Maximus and Maximus is contracted by the government.

And one thing that is very important to know is that Maximus makes a ton of money. In fact, within the last decade, they've had a contract with LA County that's worth about $110 million. You can even buy stocks in it. So why would a company with all of this money not want to pay their employees overtime? Especially when it comes to reporting child abuse.

And it's just disturbing because there are countless companies out there that are supposed to be servicing the poor and are making millions, sometimes billions off of these contracts. But after looking through their reports, it's clear that they don't care about poor people at all. And all they seem to care about is money. In February of 2013, Maximus had an assessment report regarding foster children.

And a lot of the report was how they can profit off of these children. In fact, they even refer to foster children in the report as a quote, "a revenue generating mechanism," which is just disgusting on all levels. So rather than trying to help these children and maximize their services to them, they're more focused on making money. So how does this all relate back to Gabriel Fernandez?

Well, the company Maximus has had issues with overtime in the past. There were instances where employees of this company would work overtime and Maximus just wouldn't pay them. On the day Gabriel and his family came into their office, the supervisor specifically told the employees that they didn't want to get involved because they didn't want to pay overtime. They even threatened to write them up if they did.

But now that Gabriel's dead, Maximus claims that they never said that. They also said that Arturo, the security guard, was lying about everything, and in reality, they actually did call the sheriff's office to report Gabriel's injuries. But, strangely enough, when the sheriff's office looked through all of their calls, there's no evidence of them reporting anything.

At the end of the day, Maximus denies everything because it doesn't look too good knowing that a child died all because a multi-million dollar company didn't want to pay their employees overtime to report child abuse. So as you can see, it's not just the social worker's fault. It's also the fault of DCFS. It's the welfare office and Maximus who didn't want to report abuse.

Another group to blame here is the LAPD. After Gabriel's death, records show that in the months before he was killed, eight police officers went by the apartment five separate times to investigate the abuse. And every single time, nothing was done. Pearl would tell them that Gabriel's fine, he just fell off his bike, or Gabriel's just rowdy.

and they would just take her word for it and leave without investigating any further. At some points, the officers didn't even ask to see Gabriel at all. After Gabriel's death, prosecutors discovered that some of these officers didn't even write up police reports about it. And like we mentioned earlier, one officer put Gabriel in the back of his police car and said that if he kept lying about the abuse, it was going to take him to jail.

And according to the trials of Gabriel Fernandez, after his death, the lead prosecutor, Jonathan Hamadi, tried to get the sheriff's office to send over information so he could evaluate their missteps. And they just refused to send it. He actually had to get a court order where a judge had to force them to send over the information.

At the end of it all, like the social workers, these sheriff's deputies were not held accountable. And the sheriff's department actually released a statement basically saying they didn't do anything wrong. The sheriff's department says it can't discuss details citing personnel issues, but we're told no one will be fired and described the deputy's missteps as minor. Now something to note is that the common denominator in all of these departments is the board of supervisors. They fund all of these departments that mishandled Gabriel's case.

The whole point of all this is to show that Gabriel was failed on a systematic level The very agencies set in place to protect children like him didn't do their jobs And as a result, a child is dead In fact, he died a horrible, horrific death

And the world is angry. But what are we going to do? Someone has to be held accountable. So even though there were hundreds of people who were indirectly involved in all of this, someone has to go down for it. And those people would be the four social workers working Gabriel's case. - The torture death of an eight-year-old boy in Palmdale has angered a lot of people over how the Department of Children and Family Services handled that case. Protestors say that department failed to protect this eight-year-old Palmdale boy, Gabriel Fernandez,

Following his death, they were all fired, but that just wasn't enough for some people. The fact that they didn't do their jobs correctly, which led to the murder of an 8-year-old boy, many people thought that they too should be prosecuted, including LA's district attorney, Jackie Lacey.

The charges against them were child endangerment resulting in death and falsification of public records or documents.

And in California, no social worker had ever been convicted for their negligence in a case. Stephanie Rodriguez, Patricia Clement, Kevin Baum, and Gregory Merritt were in court today for their arraignment on felony charges. A preliminary hearing is underway now for two former Los Angeles County social workers and their supervisors charged in the death of eight-year-old Gabriel Fernandez. The social workers' attorneys worked hard to get the charges dropped.

claiming there wasn't enough evidence to bring them to trial. We have a case here that is unprecedented. If you look at what the people have filed, there's nothing that they've cited that remotely comes close to the facts that we have today. And there's a reason for that, Your Honor. This is a case that just never should have been filed. And it's a case that the court should dismiss.

Now, social workers in general are definitely heroes. They take on a job that is incredibly difficult, but

These four are not heroes. Their actions or inactions resulted in the murder of an eight-year-old boy. So that doesn't really sound like a hero to me. And after this, the judge was not convinced.

he still thought the four should go to trial and face a jury. This court concludes that for purposes of the Rackles and Bergman proof required, that there does exist a strong suspicion that the defendant's overall conduct does support the charges pending against them. From the overall evidence presented, there is a strong suspicion that said conduct was reckless and/or criminally negligent.

the defendant's actions and or inactions seemingly demonstrated an improper regard for human life or indifference to the consequences as such the defense notions to dismiss are hereby denied that is the first ruling

Following this,

they decided to go to the appeals court to see if they could drop their charges there. It took years for a decision to finally be made, but in January of 2020, the court of appeals ultimately decided that the social workers were not at fault and their charges were dropped, which was very upsetting to a lot of people following the case.

Here was their attorney after the decision was made. Our clients, Mr. Baum in particular, are very grateful for the court's ruling that the case was dismissed and that they were declared factually innocent. Thank you so much. We have no further statements. Afterwards, DCFS would release a statement saying that they respected the court's decision to drop the charges.

Now again, all of this happened in 2020 but we just wanted to wrap up this social worker story before we talk about the trial of Pearl Fernandez and Asaro Aguirre.

Pearl and Asaro were initially going to be tried together, but anytime they were in the courtroom together, Pearl would just start screaming things at Asaro, calling him names like a liar. Why did you guys say you guys were going to be tried? Mr. Bernardo. You didn't go and kill my baby.

After this, they decided to try them separately and Isaro's trial would come first. It was held on the 9th floor of the courthouse where they handle all of LA's biggest cases, including OJ Simpson, the Grim Sleeper, otherwise known as Lonnie Franklin, even Michael Jackson's doctor. The prosecutors in the case were Jonathan Itami and Scott Yang, and they were going full throttle seeking the death penalty. Isaro's defense attorney was a man named Michael Sklar, who had over 30 years of experience in the field.

This was going to be a huge trial and people all over America were following along. Then, on October 16th, 2017, over four years after Gabriel's murder, the trial finally began. - Okay, the audience, this case is gonna be very emotional, so at any point you find yourself getting a little overwhelmed or losing your composure, please step out of the courtroom, compose yourself, and then come back inside.

We're going to be bringing out the parties in just a few moments. Make sure your cell phones are turned off as far as the ring capacity. I understand the tourism presence and everything? Yes, Your Honor. All right. Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. We are prepared to go forward on this matter. We're on the record of the matter. We have on council present. We're independent on tourism and the U.S. economy.

From here, prosecutor Jonathan Hatami gives his opening statement. Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. Good morning. On behalf of the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office, I'd like to thank you for being a juror in this case. The evidence will show this case is about one thing, and that is the systematic torture of a helpless and innocent child. This is Gabriel Fernandez. He was a happy and healthy seven-year-old boy

when he went to live with the defendant in 2012. After eight months of being with the defendant, this is how Bimbril looked. Less than a minute into the trial, there were already tears in the courtroom. Hitomi showed a picture of Gabriel in October of 2012, and then he showed a picture of him while in the coma. Then he turns their focus towards Gabriel's killer, Asaro Aguirre. This is the defendant. When he was arrested, he was six feet

Two inches, he weighed 270 pounds. And this is Gabriel. When he died, he was eight years old. He was 4'1". He weighed 59 pounds. What are the charges? The charges you'll have to decide, ladies and gentlemen, are the charges at the end of this ballot pass. You find the defendant guilty of his first-degree murder and that the murder was intentional and involved in the infliction of the portrait.

Next, defense attorney John Allen gives his opening statement. - We will not tell you, nor will we call any witness who will tell you that Isaro Aguirre did not commit these heinous acts. Yet while the evidence would show that Isaro and his girlfriend, Gabriel's mother, Pearl Fernandez, committed unspeakable acts of abuse against Gabriel over time,

and that together on the night of May 22nd, 2013, they beat Gabriel so severely that he never recovered. When Isauro exploded into a rage of anger, the evidence will also show that despite the horrific abuse, Isauro never intended for Gabriel to die. Isauro's attorneys were trying to tell the jury that he never meant to kill Gabriel.

On the night of his death, he flew into a blinding rage. And during that rage, he unintentionally ended his life. But that was for the jury to decide. Throughout the trial, the prosecution brought forward many witnesses, including the first responders that you've heard throughout this episode.

They also brought forward Gabriel's father, Arnold Contreras. Having him as a witness was shocking for a lot of people because they had actually prosecuted Arnold in the past. He didn't have a great relationship with the LA County prosecutors, but none of that mattered today. He was there to get justice for his son. Mr. Contreras, I'm going to show you some photographs. First, an exhibit notebook, page 18.

Is that a photograph of you? Yes. And who's that? Gabriel and Alan. And Gabriel's on top? Yes. Arnold went on to tell the court about the day he found out about Gabriel's death. Did you get notified that Gabriel was murdered? I was in Riverside County jail and the chaplain pulled me into the visiting room and

Arnold recognized the fact that he wasn't very present in his son's life. Being in and out of jail makes it difficult to have a relationship with your children. But he loved Gabriel, and he feels guilty every day that he wasn't able to save him. Get a chance to tell him something. One thing.

So I will repeat. You can scan me. You can scan me. The prosecution's main goal throughout this trial was to show the jury that this was no accidental death. Isaro Aguirre chose to kill Gabriel over the eight months of repeated torture and abuse. The evidence will show the defendant intentionally murdered and tortured Gabriel. And he did it because he didn't like him. There is evil in this room right now. And it's right over there.

To show this, they brought in the cupboard that Gabriel was forced to sleep in every night. The evidence will show, ladies and gentlemen, that in the defendant's bedroom, with a tub, and in the same bedroom that the defendant slept in every night, Gabriel was in here, tied up in the bed. Gabriel was in here. That's what the evidence will show. I want you to think about that. Just that.

Gabriel's last vision was that man over there, standing over Gabriel, beating him to death. At the end of this trial, I'm going to ask you to find him guilty beyond a reasonable doubt for first degree murder.

But again, the defense was ready to prove that Asaro was innocent of murder in the first degree, meaning that he didn't intend on killing Gabriel. And they said that they know this because on the night of the murder, Asaro was performing CPR on Gabriel, according to the 911 call. And you wouldn't do that if you wanted someone dead. But the prosecution had a hard time believing that Asaro even performed CPR at all.

During the 911 call, he claims he's doing compressions on Gabriel, but it didn't seem like he was. You know, there's usually a sort of jumpiness to your breath from compressions that they just didn't hear. Okay, right now we're already doing it again? Okay, we're going to do compressions, okay? We're just going to do 30 compressions on his chest with your hands.

And an important part of CPR is that you have to keep doing it to keep the person alive until the paramedics get there. But when they walked into the apartment, Gabriel was on the ground and no one was performing CPR. Can you tell the court and jury whether or not you were able to see any blood on the defendant's body? Not that I remember. Did you see any blood on the defendant's face? Not that I remember.

I took him off and he didn't respond.

Another interesting point that the prosecution brought up was that most parents in a situation where their child is dying, they want to be right by their side the entire time. Most parents will even fight their way into the ambulance just to be with their kid. But that wasn't the case here. "Is there anything preventing that male and that female from getting in that ambulance when Gabriel was taken to the hospital?" "No." "In your 21 years of experience, have you seen parents of children who were injured get in that ambulance and go to the hospital?"

Not only were Pearl and Asaro more interested in their cat's well-being that night, they also never asked to go to the hospital with Gabriel. The defense would later say that they couldn't go to the hospital because the police wanted to question them. But according to the officers, that just wasn't the case. Pearl and Asaro obviously could have gone to the hospital, but they just never asked to.

So are you suggesting to us that while you were questioning Mr. Aguirre that night and when the ambulance left to take Gabriel to the hospital, that if Mr. Aguirre had said to you, you know, I want to go,

Now, throughout this trial, Asaro's attorneys really wanted to show the jury that this was a spur-of-the-moment, rage-induced homicide. And to prove this, they brought up Asaro's confession tape.

He talks about how angry he got when Gabriel asked his mom, "Why do you let him treat you like that?" In his mind, Gabriel was trying to break them up, which caused him to go into a blinding rage. Here is part of that confession tape. So your frustration level, dude, is way up here. That's where mine would be. On a scale of 1 to 10, where would you say your frustration/anger level is at? 20. Exactly, a 20.

That right there, to the defense, proved that Asaro didn't intentionally kill Gabriel. He became so out of control with anger and rage that he saw red. A decision to kill made rashly, impulsively, or without careful consideration is not premeditated. Now, following this, Gabriel's siblings would be brought to court to testify, making it one of the most emotional days of the trial.

No cameras were allowed in the courtroom since they were minors. But both Ezekiel and Virginia were able to paint a picture of exactly what life was like for Gabriel.

inside of their home today possibly an even more intense day as the two children took the stand who witnessed the abuse Gabriel's older brother and older sister they were just 11 and 12 at the time of the abuse the first person on the stand was Gabriel's brother Ezekiel

After nearly a month, Isaro Aguirre's trial was coming to an end. And soon enough, the defense was ready to give their final statements. Well, the evidence presented shows that Isaro Aguirre and Pearl Fernandez committed unspeakable acts of abuse against Gabriel over a period of time. It was the trauma that

caused as a result of the beating on May 22nd, 2013 that killed Gabriel. Isaro confessed to Detective Uribe. Pearl informed Isaro that Gabriel had asked her to leave him. Angry over the fact that Gabriel would interfere with his relationship with Pearl, Isaro confronted Gabriel, who denied saying it.

When Gabriel twice called Pearl a liar in Isauro's presence, Isauro exploded into a rage of anger and together with Pearl struck Gabriel with his hands and fists to the head and body.

He started to describe his level of anger at 20 on a scale of 1 to 10. He told detectives Uribe and Long he became so out of control with anger and rage that he saw red. He was hyperventilating and he almost passed out. He stated in his confession that he was completely out of control and he just couldn't stop himself from hitting Gabriel.

But note that he also told the detective that acting out of control was no excuse for what he did. No one is asking you not to hold Isauro accountable and responsible for his actions. What we're asking that you do is come back with a verdict that serves the ends of justice.

of finding that Isaro is guilty of murder in the second degree. And here is the prosecution's final statement. The defense wants you to believe that the defendant was in a rage and he was a 20 on a scale of 1 to 10, completely lost control. Because that is their theory and that is their story. But it's just not consistent with the evidence.

When the defendant grabbed him by the neck and brought him towards that wall and pushed him right in the face, that's one time. And Gabriel's down. And the defendant's standing over him. And Gabriel's dying. And he's helpless. He's a child. You can't do anything. You can't do anything when you're helpless. And he picks Gabriel back up and he calls him Gabe and he hits him again. And Gabriel's down. And that's only two times.

And then Pearl gets in there. And then when he's down, they kick him. And they're hitting him. And he hits him 20 times in the body. And he hits him 10 times in the head. 10 times. And Gabriel, he'll never know why. He'll never know why that he's defeated. He'll never know.

The last breath when he looked up and saw the defendant beating him, and saw his mom there. You'll never know why. You'll never get a chance. Ever. To live a normal life. Justice for Gabriel. Justice for Gabriel. This is first degree murder. And this is intentional murder by torture. And it's beyond all doubt. All doubt. The social workers had a chance. The deputies had a chance. The school officials had a chance.

The counselors had a chance. Now it's to you, the people. I have one question to ask you about this case. What are you going to do? What are you going to do? And with that, the jury left for deliberation. Seven women and five men all gathered into a room to discuss the case. And almost immediately, everyone voted that the murder was premeditated. But one man in the jury wasn't convinced.

So that first day came and went without a verdict. The jury finished its first day of deliberations without a verdict. The seven women and five men deliberated for just three and a half hours. The jury will continue deliberations tomorrow morning. It's always nerve-wracking when the jury is in deliberation. If everyone can't agree on a verdict, there will be a mistrial and the entire case will have to be tried again.

But luckily, that wouldn't happen here. Okay, good afternoon. We all know why we're here. So we expect the utmost courtesy and respect for the court. So whatever decisions that may be rendered, no running out of the courtroom, no texting or causing any kind of disturbance once this process begins.

All right, we are on the record in the manner of people versus the Soria Aguirre. All counsel are present, the defendant as well. I understand the jury has reached a verdict. We're going to invite the jury to join us at this time, if you would, Mr. Clerk. All right, let the record reflect. The jury is now joining us. Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. I understand that there is a verdict that's been reached, is that correct? Yes. Who is the fourth? All right, is it correct the verdict's been reached? If you would hand the verdict over to my bailiff, please.

In the Superior Court of the State of California, County of Los Angeles, Department 107, people of the State of California v. Isaro Aguirre, we the jury in the above entitled action find the defendant, Isaro Aguirre, guilty of the crime of murder in the first degree.

We further find the allegation that said murder was committed intentionally and involved the infliction of torture within the meaning of Penal Code section 190.2 subsection A-18 to be true. Dated November 15, 2017, juror number 5, foreperson. Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, is this your verdict? So say you once, so say you all. Yes. Thank you. The defendant is guilty of first degree murder if the people have proved that he acted willfully, deliberately, and with premeditation.

Guilty of murder in the first degree. There were many tears in the courtroom that day knowing that Gabriel's murderer got the justice he deserved.

And now it was time for Asaro Aguirre to be sentenced. What happens next? They take a break, same jury, seven women, five men. They now begin what is called the penalty phase that begins on November 27th. What's determined in that is the defendant, Aguirre, will it be life or death? The jury must decide on that. Asaro's defense team was very defeated knowing they didn't get the second-degree murder charge.

so they did everything they could to prevent him from getting the death penalty. They even brought forward Asaro's previous employer to talk about his quote "good character". In the years before he beat an eight-year-old child to death, Asaro worked with a disabled and elderly, which is a scary thought. I wouldn't want him anywhere near my grandparents.

But here is his old boss. Good morning, Ms. Weisbarn. Good morning. Ms. Weisbarn, correct me your attention to the man who's back outside here. Do you recognize him? I do. How do you recognize him? Isaro worked for me. Where did he work for you at? In Woodland Hills at Woodland Park Retirement Hotel. It has another name now. What was Isaro's job at Woodland Park? Isaro was a caregiver and a driver.

We called him Shaggy. That was a nickname for him? Yes, it was. Was the nickname a term of endearment? Yes, it was. Susan claimed that Asaro, or Shaggy, was always very helpful, quiet, and down to earth. And when she found out what happened, she was shocked. Did you see him carrying out his duties? I saw him every day that we worked together. And that was over a span of three years? Yes.

As a caregiver, if a lot of them were briefs, that's a diaper. And if someone was wet or dirty, he would clean them. According to Susan, the residents at the retirement home absolutely loved him. Some days, he would even drive them to the Santa Monica Pier.

And on the way home, he would take the scenic route so the elderly people could see the beautiful scenery. Compassion is the most important part. If you don't have it, then, well, they couldn't work for me. Knowing what you know about the crime that he was found guilty of in this case, do you believe that there remains some goodness in his sorrow that's worth saving?

I saw him as a good person. He worked for me otherwise he couldn't have worked for me if he wasn't. So would it change your opinion to know that he admitted to punishing an eight-year-old boy ten times in the face? That changes your opinion? That he's good? No. No. So you're okay with Roan Mann

punching an eight year old child ten times in the face. In your opinion, that person could still have good in them, correct? I'm not okay with what he did now. You testify that now there's some good in him. I... I... Yes, I did because I know the type of person he was. I'm caught between a rock and a hard place in a sense.

Interesting take.

If I thought someone was a good person and then I found out they beat an eight-year-old child to death, I would never defend their character, but to each their own. After this witness testimony, the prosecution reminded the jury just how evil a sorrow Aguirre really was. What did Gabo think during those last few seconds? Does anybody love me? Does my mom love me? Why is this man who calls himself my stepfather doing this to me? Is anybody there to protect me?

Where are my grandparents? Where is my teacher? Isn't anybody there to love me and hold me? I'm sorry. I'll be a good boy. There is evil in this room right now, and it's right over there. It's right over there. You know what Gabriel went through. It is beyond all doubt, cruel, inhumane, and evil conduct.

No human with a heart and soul could do that to an innocent little boy. And no human with any goodness in them can do that to a helpless little child.

Following this, the jury left to decide Asaro's fate. And again, when they took a vote, it was 11 to 1 in favor of the death penalty. The same juror who didn't think it was first-degree murder didn't think Asaro deserved the death penalty. But as they deliberated, the jurors discussed the fact that throughout the entire trial, Asaro didn't show any remorse whatsoever. They watched him for weeks, but he never shed a tear. He never even looked sad. They also brought up the fact that Asaro wasn't even Gabriel's father. He was just the boyfriend.

And at any point, he could have easily walked away, but he didn't. And for the entire eight months, he chose to stay in that home and abuse Gabriel at any chance that he got. And with this, they finally had their verdict. We are on the record in the span of people versus a gay, all 12 jurors present, all counsel and defendant. Journal 5, we're back to the verdict. Yes. All right, Mr. Burdick, you will read the verdict.

In the Superior Court of California, County of Los Angeles, Department 107, people of the State of California versus Isaro Aguirre, case number BA-425-180. With the jury and the above entitled action, having found the defendant, Isaro Aguirre, guilty of the crime of murder in the first degree, and having found the special circumstance to be true, fix the penalty at death. Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, is this your verdict? So say you won, so say you all. Yes.

Asaro Aguirre will be executed for the first-degree murder of Gabriel Fernandez. And following this, he was sent to California's death row, the largest death row in the country. And now it was time to prosecute Pearl, Gabriel's mother. She initially wanted to have a trial by jury, but after hearing Asaro was sentenced to death, she started to get nervous.

That could possibly be her fate as well. So to avoid the death penalty, Pearl would eventually plead guilty. Ms. Fernandez, the prosecution is going to explain to you your constitutional statutory rights and then the specifics about your plea. I ask that you listen very carefully. To the extent that you do not understand something, make sure you consult with your attorneys. All right, we'll try to go slow on this.

Defendant Pearl Cynthia Fernandez, in case BA-425-180, to count one, a violation of California Penal Code Section 187, Subdivision A, the murder of Gabriel Fernandez, a serious and violent felony. How do you plead? Excuse me? Defendant Fernandez, you are being sent to state prison for the remainder of your natural life. You will never be paroled.

Yes. Yes, sir.

Do you also admit or deny the special circumstance that the aforementioned murder of Gabriel Fernandez was intentional and involved the infliction of torture? Yes. All right, the court will make a finding that the defendant knowingly, intelligently, and understandably waived her constitutional and statutory rights and that her plea was freely and voluntarily made with an understanding of the nature of consequences thereof. We stand in recess, all right? Thank you. Thank you, Your Honor. Thank you.

Four months later, the two defendants would enter the courtroom together. Here is the victim impact statement from Gabriel's teacher, Jennifer Garcia. I'm going to talk about how Gabriel's murder has affected my life. I feel strange even talking about me because I'm living and he is dead. Time has helped, but I can honestly say there isn't a day that goes by that I don't think about Gabriel. I carry around a lot of guilt. I think about him most when I am alone with my thoughts on my way to work or trying to fall asleep.

I replay over and over again what happened and what I could have done differently, what I should have said, what I should have done. My own school district thinks since my testimony is over that this is over and done. But for me, it will never go away. This will always be a part of me and something I will think about until the day I die. For the last five years, Gabriel has been number 28 in my classroom. I don't assign number 28 to another student because I feel that it's only his number now. And it's a way for me to honor him in my classroom.

It almost makes it like he's still here. I find comfort in believing he is now at peace. He cannot be harmed anymore. And I know that unlike him, his abusers will never have peace. They will have a lifetime of suffering to endure. And I know I'm not alone in hoping that they experience the same abuse in their lifetime and worse.

They are evil people for what they did. And despite how I feel, I know that if Gabriel had survived, he wouldn't have wanted his mom and a sorrow to be punished for anything they did to him. Next, Pearl spoke to the court and read a very underwhelming statement. She does keep her voice up, but it's very normal. I'm a dad.

I want to say I'm sorry to my family for what I did. I want to say I'm sorry that this will happen. I wish they were not alive. Every day I wish that I made better choices. I'm sorry to my children and I want them to know that I love them. And I hope one day they will forgive me. And I hope one day they will come to their friends and come to me. I wish they would, I wish they could see me.

And finally, the judge had something to say. All right, let me move on to the issue of sentencing. As I stated, next week, June 17th, it'll be 20 years that I've been on the bench. Generally, and I have imposed a lot of sentences in the course of those 20 years, and generally it is my practice not to comment on a lot of cases.

But, you know, I was privy to this case. I sat through it. I heard the evidence. I was privy to the photographs, coroner's photographs, the extent of the injuries and what have you. And this almost demands that comment be made. It is unimaginable the pain that this child probably endured. And from what I heard, Gabriel was a kind, loving individual who just wanted to be loved. And so, you know...

But I'm not sure that you're capable of doing that.

But that's my wish. I'm going to move to the issue of sentencing with respect to parole Cynthia Fernandez. It is the judgment and sentence of this court that the defendant shall be sentenced to a term of life in prison without the possibility of parole for the underlying murder charge coupled with the torture special circumstance allegation. With respect to Mr. Isario Aguirre,

And before we wrap up this story, we thought we'd talk about Pearl Fernandez and her time in prison.

As we all know, even the most prolific hardened criminals in prison looked down on child killers. And according to people who were in the same prison as Pearl, they said that in the beginning, Pearl walked the halls of the facility with her head held high and showed no remorse for her actions. Nobody at the time knew what she had done, and allegedly she told others in prison that she was in there for a DUI. But that all changed one day when a corrections officer showed up at Pearl's prison cell door and verbally stated, you sleep good for having killed your baby. At

At that point, Pearl's life in prison drastically changed because, as we all know, child killers and pedophiles get the worst treatment in prison. And when the inmates heard about what Pearl did, she was attacked and sliced up in the prison yard with the sharp lid of a tuna can. She had hot coffee poured on her face, and she was repeatedly beaten. She was also allegedly jumped by a group of other inmates while in the food hall one day, and it took days to clean her blood off the walls and floors after this attack.

Another user online who stated that her mother was in prison at the same time as Pearl shared stories of Pearl being physically assaulted every single day by other inmates. We can assume that Pearl is getting the worst treatment possible in prison. She seems to be living a sad, violent existence full of endless torture, kind of like the life she gave her own son, Gabriel, while he was still alive. ♪ Let me off the hook ♪ ♪ I wanna run wild ♪ ♪ Get tangled in the sheets ♪

But to wrap this story up, I really wish I could say that after Gabriel's case, there was a huge change in the system and that everyone started working together to make sure this wouldn't happen again. But that wasn't the case.

In fact, just two weeks after Pearl and Asario went off to prison, another little boy in the exact same town as Gabriel was murdered by his parents. He was 10-year-old Anthony Avalos, and he and Gabriel's stories were eerily similar. His parents withheld food, they beat him relentlessly, burned his skin, called him gay.

And like Gabriel, DCFS was well aware of the abuse. Now don't get me wrong, the Department of Children and Family Services has done a lot of good. They've saved thousands of children from abusive situations. But there's still a lot of room for improvement. And a big part of that is holding these governmental agencies that fund these departments accountable.

There's no reason why DCFS workers should be overworked and lacking resources when it comes down to the safety of our country's children. Following this case, many people around the U.S. demanded that the Board of Supervisors take action. And fortunately, they listened. In April of 2014, L.A. County created the Blue Ribbon Commission on Child Protection. And in their final report, they state, quote,

we cannot idly stand by and wait for another child to meet the fate of Gabriel Fernandez. Sparked by his and other tragic child fatalities, community outrage, and a series of unsuccessful attempts at reforming the county's child protection system,

The Board of Supervisors agreed that action is necessary, stating that "the current system does not serve the best interest of the child, the family, or the community at large."

End quote. And a huge part of this commission is to make sure these departments are working together and communicating with one another.

If DCFS and the Sheriff's Department had worked together in Gabriel's case, they would have likely seen the warning signs and taken the appropriate measures to make sure he was safe. And as happy as I am that they are making improvements, eight-year-old little boys shouldn't have to die in order for change to be made. In just a couple of days, Gabriel would have turned 18 years old. He would have had his entire life ahead of him.

but because of his horrible mother and her boyfriend. Coupled with the systematic failure in the system, his life was taken and he never even had a chance. Unfortunately, there will be many other children who will meet the same fate as Gabriel did. According to the trials of Gabriel Fernandez that came out in 2020, following Gabriel's death, 150 other children have died from abuse and neglect.

all of whom had cases with DCFS. As a country, our main priority should be protecting our children, whether that be from their parents, sexual predators, or even school shooters. Every child deserves to feel loved, valued, and appreciated.

But more than anything, they deserve to feel safe. And if we as a country are not prioritizing the safety of our future generations, then what are we doing?

Hey everybody, it's Colin here. And Courtney. Thank you for listening to this week's extremely hard to get through episode of Murder in America. Courtney, you have some thoughts on the case? Yes, I was writing this and I cried so many times throughout it. It's definitely one of those cases that it just gets to me every single time. It's so sad. Yeah, you even heard during my

Part when they were talking about Gabriel's cards that he made his mom for Mother's Day that I started just sobbing when I was recording. I had to actually pause for a second. So, yeah, I know this episode was really hard to get through, but it's a very important story to talk about. And it's a very important issue that I think we here in America, like Courtney said, need to talk about more.

But I want to thank all of our new patrons this week.

Shifting my wardrobe from summer to fall is always a challenge, but luckily, Quince offers timeless and high quality items that I absolutely adore. Online shopping can be a little bit difficult, but Quince makes it so easy. When I was going through and adding items to my cart, there were so many options that I had to choose from and...

I was so obsessed with all of them. Every piece of clothing is so high quality. It will last you forever and everything is so cute.

quince offers so many high quality products for all different types of people like cashmere sweaters from fifty dollars pants for every occasion washable silk tops and so much more the best part all quince items are priced 50 to 80 percent less than similar brands so after ordering from quince i received the 100 european linen blazer the flow knit breeze performance tee and the flow knit breeze performance polo and

I was absolutely stunned by the quality of the clothing and the European linen blazer is perfect. I mean, it fits me so unbelievably well. It's slimming and I can't tell you enough. It's just ridiculously high quality. So if you're having a hard time switching your wardrobe from summer to fall, I highly, highly recommend you shop at Quint.

It makes switching seasons a breeze with Quince's high-quality closet essentials. Go to quince.com slash america for free shipping on your orders and 365-day returns. That's quince, Q-U-I-N-C-E dot com slash america to get free shipping and 365-day returns. quince.com slash america Momo Fiasco, Rebecca Rogers,

Gia, Elizabeth Stevens, TJ, Samara, Camille, Noizogi, Ail Miranda, Heather Lee, Jamie Thelwell, Nick and Aaron Turner, Wu Fel, Ebony Arts, Michelle Smith, Katie Dixon, and Norma Rivera. Holy crap, that is a lot of patrons. So if you're wondering what that list of names is, those are our patrons. If you want to become a patron and get the ad-free version of every episode we post, just head to patreon.com and search Murder in America.

And if you want to see pictures from every single episode, go follow our Instagram at Murder in America. We have some incredible cases coming up in the next few weeks, some really different stories. So, Courtney and I, thanks for listening. We love you. And we'll see you next week.