The Gabriel Fernandez and Anthony Avalos case refers to two Los Angeles County children, killed five years apart, who were tortured to death by their mothers’ boyfriends after the Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) received dozens of warnings and did not remove them. Gabriel, age eight, died in 2013. Anthony, age ten, died in 2018. Their killers were convicted. The social workers on Gabriel’s case were charged and then cleared on appeal. County reforms adopted after Gabriel’s death did not prevent Anthony’s.
What Happened to Gabriel Fernandez
Gabriel was placed with his mother, Pearl Fernandez, and her boyfriend, Isauro Aguirre, in 2012. Over roughly eight months in Palmdale, California, he was shot in the face with a BB gun, forced to eat cat litter and his own vomit, burned with cigarettes, and locked for hours in a small cabinet the couple called “the box.” He was made to wear girls’ clothing to school. Trial testimony from his siblings described abuse driven by the couple’s belief that Gabriel was gay.
On May 22, 2013, Pearl Fernandez called 911 and told dispatchers Gabriel had fallen in the shower. Paramedics found a boy who was not breathing, with a cracked skull and bruises, cuts, and burns covering his body. He was declared dead on May 24, 2013. The autopsy documented broken ribs, BB pellets lodged in his lung and groin, and injuries in different stages of healing.
Prosecutors charged both Fernandez and Aguirre with first-degree murder and added the special circumstance of intentional murder by torture, making them eligible for the death penalty. A jury convicted Aguirre in November 2017, and Judge George Lomeli sentenced him to death. In February 2018, Pearl Fernandez pleaded guilty to the same charge and was sentenced to life in prison without parole.1Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office. Mother, Boyfriend Sentenced for Torture-Murder of 8-Year-Old Gabriel Fernandez California has not carried out an execution since 2006, and Governor Gavin Newsom imposed a formal moratorium in 2019.2Governor of California. Governor Gavin Newsom Orders a Halt to the Death Penalty in California
The Warnings DCFS Ignored
Family members, school personnel, and neighbors filed as many as 64 complaints with DCFS about Gabriel’s treatment. His teacher, Jennifer Garcia, contacted social worker Stefanie Rodriguez on October 30, 2012, after Gabriel arrived at school with visible injuries. Weeks later, when Gabriel came in with a swollen, bruised face and said his mother had shot him with a BB gun, Garcia called again. In another incident, Gabriel told her he had been beaten with a belt until he bled.
None of the reports led to his removal. The social workers assigned to his case were later accused of closing referrals with minimal investigation and fabricating notes about home visits.
Why the Social Workers Were Not Convicted
Prosecutors filed criminal charges against four DCFS employees: Stefanie Rodriguez, Patricia Clement, Kevin Bom, and Gregory Merritt. Each faced one felony count of child abuse and one felony count of falsifying public records.3Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office. District Attorney Jackie Lacey Announces Charges Filed Against Four Social Workers in Death of Gabriel Fernandez The theory was that they had a legal duty to protect Gabriel from October 31, 2012, when the case opened, until his death, and that they falsified records to conceal the escalating abuse.
In January 2020, the California Court of Appeal, Second District, dismissed all charges in Bom v. The People. On the child abuse count, the court found the social workers never had “care or custody” of Gabriel as the statute requires. They did not live with him, feed him, bathe him, or act as caregivers. The court also found they had no legal duty to control Aguirre and Pearl Fernandez because they lacked the kind of special relationship with the abusers that would create such an obligation.4FindLaw. Bom v. The People, Real Party in Interest (2020)
On the falsifying records count, the court held that DCFS social workers are not “officers” under the Government Code provision prosecutors used. That statute reaches people holding positions created by the state constitution or legislature who exercise sovereign authority, and DCFS employees did not meet that definition. The appellate court refused to reconsider.4FindLaw. Bom v. The People, Real Party in Interest (2020) The workers escaped criminal liability not because the court approved of their conduct, but because the statutes chosen by prosecutors did not fit their roles.
The Civil Settlement
Gabriel’s family separately sued Los Angeles County, alleging that DCFS and the Sheriff’s Department knew about the abuse claims and did not act. The county reportedly neared a settlement of approximately $2.63 million. Civil liability runs on a different standard than criminal prosecution, which is why damages remained available even after the criminal charges against the social workers collapsed.
What Happened to Anthony Avalos
In June 2018, ten-year-old Anthony Daniel Avalos was found mortally wounded in his Lancaster home with severe head injuries and cigarette burns covering his body. His mother, Heather Barron, and her boyfriend, Kareem Leiva, were investigated in his death.
The parallels to Gabriel’s case were immediate. A DCFS deputy director confirmed Anthony had told adults before his death that he “liked boys,” and authorities investigated whether that disclosure triggered the fatal violence. Anthony was locked in small spaces, denied food and water, and beaten regularly.
DCFS and law enforcement received at least 16 calls since 2013 from school administrators, teachers, counselors, and family members alleging abuse of Anthony and his six siblings. At least 13 of those calls specifically named Anthony as the victim. Callers described children being beaten, forced to fight each other, dangled upside-down from staircases, and locked in spaces without bathroom access. DCFS caseworkers had documented years earlier that Leiva was allegedly affiliated with the MS-13 gang but did not classify that as a safety threat requiring Anthony’s removal.
Reforms Between the Two Deaths, and Why They Weren’t Enough
After Gabriel’s death, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors appointed a Blue Ribbon Commission on Child Protection. Its April 2014 final report described the county’s child protection system as being in a “state of emergency” and identified the county’s own siloed agencies as the biggest obstacle to reform.5Los Angeles County DCFS. The Road to Safety for Our Children – Final Report of the Los Angeles County Blue Ribbon Commission on Child Protection The Commission called for a unified county-wide mission, measurable outcomes including abuse recurrence and fatality rates, a prevention plan from public health agencies, and coordinated data sharing among DCFS, mental health, public health, probation, schools, and the courts.
On June 11, 2014, the Board approved a new Office of Child Protection, led by a director with authority across multiple departments who reports directly to the supervisors rather than through agency leadership. At the time, Los Angeles County was the only jurisdiction in the country with an office like it.
Anthony died four years later, under conditions the reforms were meant to prevent.
Mandated Reporting and Legal Protections
Both cases put pressure on the mandated reporting system. Teachers, doctors, social workers, and other professionals working with children must report suspected abuse. In Gabriel’s case, his teacher did exactly what the law requires, more than once. The breakdown was on the receiving end.
Federal law strongly protects good-faith reporters. The Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act (CAPTA) requires every state to provide immunity to good-faith reporters, and all 50 states have such laws granting civil and criminal immunity. The federal Victims of Child Abuse Act, passed in 1990, makes anyone who in good faith reports abuse or assists an investigation immune from civil and criminal liability, with a statutory presumption of good faith.6U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families. Report to Congress on Immunity from Prosecution for Professional Consultation in Suspected and Known Instances of Child Abuse and Neglect
Mandated reporters who knowingly fail to report face criminal penalties that vary by state, from misdemeanors with up to six months in jail to felonies carrying several years in prison. The framework makes reporting easy and safe and makes silence costly. Gabriel and Anthony show that a well-designed reporting system is only as good as the agency receiving the reports.
The Netflix Documentary and Public Pressure
In February 2020, Netflix released “The Trials of Gabriel Fernandez,” a six-part documentary that reached number one on the platform in the United States and held that spot for several weeks. Within 24 hours of release, more than half a million people searched for information about the case. DCFS oversight became a live issue in local elections, and reporting on later child deaths in Los Angeles routinely revisited the department’s history. When the DCFS unit that had handled Gabriel’s case suspended home visits during the COVID-19 pandemic, public pressure forced a reversal.
The killers of both boys were convicted. The criminal case against the social workers failed on the statutes prosecutors chose. Reforms adopted after Gabriel’s death did not save Anthony. Whether the system itself has been held accountable is still an open question.