The Misery Machine - The Cases of Gabriel Fernandez, Anthony Avalos, and Noah Cuatro

Starting point is 00:00:00 Many people have heard of the case we're going to talk about today, but there's a couple of important pieces of information that people often get wrong. Now, first is the belief that a horrific murder of a child under CPS oversight with a detailed history is an anomaly. That's sadly not the case. Now, many people recognize that the amount of people who tried to help the poor boy we were discussing today are more than you could comfortably fit in the room I'm sitting in right now. as well as the fact that a total of 60 calls were made to the police and to various social services to try to save him. And yes, that does not sound real, but as nightmarish as it sounds, it did happen. This happens more often than you think, and this channel is proof of that. And one of the worst parts of doing this is that we can only cover the victims that are more than a small blurb in the newspaper.

Starting point is 00:00:49 Yes, that's right. Most murders, even those involving children, end up being nothing more than a small obiturban. or a paragraph on a news website. This first case we're discussing, he almost was nothing more than a blurb in a newspaper. The second thing people often get wrong with this case is that despite the catastrophic negligence of the Los Angeles County Department of Children and Families, the average person believes the spokespeople from L.A. County who claim that they would fix every problem in their system and that a case like this would never happen again. But sadly, it did happen again. It happened at least two more times that we know of. Inside a county that should

Starting point is 00:01:26 known better, a county that openly told us that it knew better. We will talk about those two other times later in this video, but first, let's dive into the case that opened mine and Yergy's eyes to the systemic issues inside of the departments put in place to protect children. This is the story of Gabriel Fernandez. Gabriel Daniel Fernandez was born on February 20th, 2005 in California to parents Arnold Contreras and Pearl Fernandez. The couple had a total of four children together, including little Gabriel. According to sources, Pearl abandoned her newborn at the hospital three days after he was born. Shortly after, Gabriel was placed in the care of Michael Lamos Caranza, his great uncle on

Starting point is 00:02:12 his mother's side, and his partner, David Martinez. In recent years, Gabriel Fernandez has become something of a household name thanks to L.A. Times reporter Garrett Therolv, who risked everything to tell Gabriel's story. He came across Gabriel's name and age in a homicide docket and wondered why there wasn't any information on this boy. So he started digging and he faced an incredible amount of pushback. Workers from inside L.A. County were afraid to go public due to the risk of losing their jobs or potentially facing criminal prosecution. But thankfully, one person was willing to come forward. And the information that we're about to cover is only possible thanks to G.

Starting point is 00:02:56 Garrett and the whistleblower for coming forward even despite the serious risk of doing so. In 2009, when Gabriel was four years old, he was placed into the custody of his grandparents due to his grandfather's objection to the boy being raised by two men in a relationship together. There had also been allegations that the couple had been essay in Gabriel, although this has never proven to be true, and was possibly a ployed to remove the boy from their custody. Gabriel remained in his grandparents' care until 2012. Despite objections from the family regarding Gabriel's well-being, his mother, Pearl, and her new boyfriend, Isarro Aguirre,

Starting point is 00:03:38 regained custody to gain welfare benefits. At the time, Gabriel was just eight years old. Pearl Cynthia Fernandez was born on August 29, 1983, the parents Robert and Sandra Fernandez. She had a complicated upbringing with her father in and out of jail for the bulk of her childhood. Pearl claimed that her mother was a violent woman who did not love her. Pouring to Pearl, she started drinking and using Crystal by the age of nine,

Starting point is 00:04:04 and by 11 she ran away from home. She never made it to high school, having dropped out by the time she was in eighth grade. Pearl claimed that her teenage years were rife with violence as well as essay from her family members. For example, she claimed that as a teenager, her uncle had attempted to assault her and that she had been held hostage for days by a gang who took turns on her. This led to a hospitalization and dark thoughts from Pearl who confessed to dealing with ideation at this time. In 2011, Pearl took a cognitive ability test. She placed within the third percentile in the verbal comprehension portion of the test,

Starting point is 00:04:39 which was on par with a typical second grade student. She was also diagnosed with a number of severe mental health issues, including a depressive disorder, an unnamed developmental disability, and a possible personality disorder. as well as PTSD. According to clinical psychologist, Dr. Deborah Miora, Pearl was virtually unable to use thoughts to guide her behavior and control her emotional reactions. According to family members, including her own aunt, Elizabeth Caranza, Pearl had a difficult time accepting responsibility for her actions and enjoyed falsely portraying herself as a victim. She claimed that many of her

Starting point is 00:05:15 romantic partners, including Misarro, were violent with her. But according to her aunt, this simply was not the case. Pearl was the only one who was actually violent and controlling and had pending charges for threatening to stab the father of her four children. She also had a problem with substance use and enjoyed using oxycodone and Norco, both of which are opioids. Her boyfriend Isaro Tony Aguirre was born on June 13, 1980. The time of our story, Pearl and Isarro had been together about a year prior to regaining custody of Gabriel. Isarro had dropped out of school after being forced to repeat two grades and was working as a caregiver and a driver at the Woodland Park Retirement Hotel. There, his co-workers referred to him by his nickname Shaggy. According to his former boss, Susan Weisparth, Isarro was

Starting point is 00:06:01 quiet, down to earth, nice person, always willing to help. He had worked for Woodland Park for three years and was described as patient and loving and would often change the adult diapers of elderly residents at the facility. Isarro was well loved by his residence. According to his co-worker, Shirlene Mill, Isara would often take scenic routes while driving his residents around so they could check out views other than the California Freeway. At the time of our story, Isara was working as a security guard for AVL private security, where he was posted up at the Viata Market in Palmdale. Now, after hearing all of this, one would think that Isara was just a huge teddy bear. That's what makes what happened next so shocking.

Starting point is 00:06:43 Gabriel would go on to live with his mother and her boyfriend for a total of eight months. During that time, young Gabriel would suffer unimaginable violence and torture at the hands of the couple. He was beaten regularly, which would result in his bones being broken. This included having his teeth knocked out with a baseball bat. He was covered in burn marks that were inflicted with an array of items, including lit cigarettes, lighters and heated up metal spoons. He was forced to consume cat litter, feces, spoiled or expired foods, and when he couldn't hold any of these items down, he was forced to eat his own vomit. Gabriel endured being pepper sprayed. He was forced to wear women's clothing to school.

Starting point is 00:07:30 He was forced to take cold showers. He was shot repeatedly with a BB gun all over his body, including to his face and groin. To top it all off, Gabriel, was forced to sleep bound and gagged in a small cupboard locked with a set of handcuffs. He didn't even have a real bed. According to Gabriel's siblings, Pearl and Isaro would laugh while being violent with a little boy. Allegedly, Gabriel was mistreated because Isaro believed that the eight-year-old liked boys, while in the cupboard, the only real food Gabriel had access to was pieces of banana that his siblings would give him in secret through the crack in the cupboard doors. During this, time, child protective services became involved in the couple's life due to the fact that

Starting point is 00:08:20 Gabriel was going to school battered and bruised. This would include Barbara Dixon, a licensed marriage and family therapist from Hathaway Sycamore's child and family services. Barbara oversaw in-home counseling sessions for both Gabriel Fernandez and Anthony Avalos, whom we'll discuss later in the story. Barbara believed Pearl when she told her that Gabriel's black eye and bruises on his ankles and wrists were the result of a bicycle accident. And even after she allegedly grew suspicious of the family, she never escalated the matter to the DCFS hotline, despite being a mandatory reporter. Now, it's also important to talk about a particular home visit that was conducted by the Antelope Valley Youth and Family Services that could

Starting point is 00:09:07 have changed the course of things for Little Gabriel, but unfortunately, the social worker didn't do her job either. She didn't even document any of Gabriel's injuries. Upon leaving the family home, Pearl presented the social worker with a series of notes that Gabriel had written had messages on them, indicating that he wanted to remove himself from this earth. Rather than taking them seriously, the social worker trusted Pearl's words that Gabriel was doing just fine, wasn't presenting any current signs of ideation, and wasn't a danger to himself or others. Things came to a head on May 22nd, 20223. Allegedly,

Starting point is 00:09:47 Gabriel had failed to pick up his toys after he was done with him, which led to the couple beating him. Except, this time, Gabriel wasn't breathing. Pearl called 911 and emergency services were dispatched to the couple's apartment, located in a

Starting point is 00:10:02 complex on East Avenue Q10 in Palmdale. First responders found Gabriel laying naked on the floor, covered in injuries. Rather than provide them with any useful information, Isaro again doubled down on insisting that the eight-year-old Gabriel liked boys. Gabriel was rushed to the Children's Hospital Los Angeles where doctors declared the little boy brain dead. Gabriel Daniel Fernandez passed away two days later on May 24, 2013.

Starting point is 00:10:35 At autopsy, his cause of death was determined to be blunt-forced trauma, neglect, and malnutrition. His manner of death was a homicide. Gabriel's body was later cremated, and his ashes were provided to his family members. Just a day prior on May 23rd, both Pearl Fernandez and Isaro Aguirre were arrested in connection with Gabriel's death and were charged with first-degree homicide with a special circumstance for torture. Prosecutors were quick to announce that they planned to seek the death penalty for both defendants. In a bid to avoid the death penalty, Pearl decided to take a plea deal on February 15, 20th. As part of the agreement, the death penalty would be removed from the table, and parole would plead guilty in exchange for life imprisonment without the possibility of parole.

Starting point is 00:11:21 Isarro, on the other hand, decided to plead not guilty to his charges and his case went to trial, prosecuted by both Deputy District Attorney Jonathan Hatami and Deputy District Attorney Scott Yang. Prosecutor Hatami will become something of a household name as our story progresses. Now, many felt that the prosecution should have classified Gabriel's death as a hate crime, due to the fact that Isara would often beat Gabriel because he thought that he liked boys. According to Prosecutor Hatami, they chose not to pursue a hate crime charge for strategic reasons. Jury selection began in September of 2017 and consisted of seven women and five men. At trial, Isarro's attorney John Allen painted his client as a kind and compassionate man

Starting point is 00:12:01 with a clean criminal record before meeting Pearl. But prosecutor Hatami portrayed him as simply pure evil, who deserved the death penalty, even though it, and I quote, doesn't even compare to what he did to Gabriel. In November 14th, 2017, the 12 jurors began their deliberations, which went on until the following afternoon. Ultimately, Isaro Aguirre was found guilty on all counts. The sentencing phase began December 11th of the same year.

Starting point is 00:12:26 It appeared the jury was deadlocked, but on December 13th, they recommended capital punishment, and the judge accepted the recommendation. At their joint sentencing hearing on June 7th, 2018, Pearl shared the following apology directed towards her family, and children. But thankfully, Superior Court Judge George Lomeli wasn't moved and had harsh words for both Pearl and Isaro. It's privy to this case. I sat through it and I heard the evidence.

Starting point is 00:13:23 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 about this case. It goes without saying that the conduct was horrendous, inhumane, and nothing short of evil. the repeated beatings, burning, starving, binding, shooting Gabriel with the b-bees that were embedded in different parts of his body, knocking his teeth out with a bat, locking him in a dark cabinet while he's bound, and starving this poor child. 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, you want to say that the conduct was animalistic, but that would be wrong.

Starting point is 00:14:16 Because even animals know how to take care of their young, some to an extent that they will sacrifice their own lives in caring for their young. I remember saying years ago a report on the news that, and this at least sent the point home to me about animals, And there was this cat who had given birth to a littery cats. And the house wherein the kittens were in was on fire. And that's what I think it made the news, because the fire department was trying to put the fire out. But each time the mother went in to retrieve a kitten, and she would emerge from the house by the scruff, holding a kitten by the scruff, and would manage one by one to bring him or her to safety. And the last time the house was lost.

Starting point is 00:15:06 And the fire department tried to keep this cat from going into the house, but it managed to elude them, went into the house, and they thought, well, she's lost. And I never forgot thinking she made it out of the house. She had the cat by the scruff, except that she was singed, burning her face. But the thing that really struck me was the cat was not blind. The intensity of the heat burned her eyes. but she never let go with that kitten. And so when you want to say,

Starting point is 00:15:35 first instinct is to say, you know what, this is animalistic. No, it's beyond animalistic because animals know how to take care of their young. You know, I can only wish, I really do, that you both, in the middle of the night, you wake up and you think of the injuries that you subject at this poor young man, this poor seven-year-old,

Starting point is 00:15:54 and that it tortures you. I rarely say that. I rarely say that. It'll be a different type of torture because you won't be in pain, physical pain. But I'm not capable, I'm not sure that you're capable of doing that. But that's my wish. On June 13, 2018, Isara was transferred to San Quentin State Prison to await his execution. Should be noted that California Governor Gavin Newsom placed a moratorium on executions in 2019.

Starting point is 00:16:22 There's even a federal court order prohibiting the practice in the state, which has been in place since 2006. The convicted can still be sentenced to death, but actually, Actual procedures are currently not being carried out. Many of California's condemned are simply dying of natural causes on death row, which include the likes of Charles Manson and the nightstocker Richard Ramirez. In the spring of 2021, Isaro Aguirre was transferred to the Richard J. Donovan Correctional Facility in San Diego. On June 21st, 2018, Pearl was transferred to the Central California Women's Facility

Starting point is 00:16:53 in Chow Chila. April 8th, 2021, Pearl attempted to be resentence. She claimed that due to new changes in California law, she wouldn't have been eligible for life without the possibility of parole if she were to be sentenced today. Thankfully, Superior Court Judge George Lomeli was having none of it. And after a careful review concluded that Pearl was not entitled to resentencing relief. According to sources, things haven't been going well for Pearl in prison, as her fellow inmates know exactly what she's done and she's been getting her come up in, It's something that we surprisingly rarely see happen to perpetrators when we research these stories.

Starting point is 00:17:29 Another thing that's rare to see in the cases that we cover are social service workers being held accountable for their actions when they fail the children they're supposed to be protecting. The social workers in charge of Gabriel's case, Stephanie Rodriguez and Patricia Clement, as well as their supervisors Kevin Baum and Gregory Merritt, stood accused of actually neglecting Gabriel and falsifying public records. In fact, Gabriel wasn't a little boy that simply fell through the cracks. People in his life were well aware of what was taking place with him. Several calls were placed to the CA hotline voicing concerns for Gabriel. In fact, Gabriel showed

Starting point is 00:18:10 his injuries to family members, to a security guard at the Los Angeles County Welfare Office, and to mandated reporters at his school. The very first hotline called, was placed by Jennifer Garcia, Gabriel's first grade teacher. Jennifer quickly became concerned about the boy's safety after he confessed to getting whipped at home. Jennifer is the same teacher that found the note hidden in Gabriel's desk that read, I love you, Mom, and Gabriel is a good boy.

Starting point is 00:18:38 She's like, well, sometimes my mom makes me bleed, and I say, well, where do you bleed? And he says, well, on my bottom, because she hits me with the felt, and he's like, you know that part with the metal on it? He's like, that part of it. After Jennifer's call, caseworker Rodriguez was assigned to Gabriel's case, but the violence suffered by the first grader just seemed to be getting worse.

Starting point is 00:18:59 Jennifer watched as Gabriel came to her classroom with a fat lip in patches of missing hair, all of which she claimed were inflicted by Pearl. He confessed to her that he'd been repeatedly shot with a BB gun, and as a result, Jennifer kept calling the hotline, except nothing would ever come of her calls. Anytime a social worker would conduct a home visit, they'd only speak with Pearl. They never had eyes on Gabriel, and there was never any medical follow-up. Gabriel should have been brought to his CA medical hub for examination, but he wasn't. Gabriel's great-a-a-a-a-cored the hotline on three separate occasions

Starting point is 00:19:36 and tried to get the sheriff's office to intervene twice. Security guard Arturo Miranda Martinez risked the possibility of losing his job to report Gabriel's injuries to a 911 operator. But again, nothing was done. Due to their gross negligence, the social workers and their supervisors were fired in charge with CA and falsifying public records, both of which are felonies and could have landed all parties in prison for 11 years. At trial, Barbara Dixon, the therapist from Hathaway Sycamore's Child and Family Services, who provided in-home counseling services to Gabriel, was granted immunity for her testimony. We'll touch more on Barbara later in our story because Barbara, in my opinion, didn't deserve immunity.

Starting point is 00:20:21 As you'll find out later, Gabriel would not be the last child who would die from her negligence. Sadly, the CA charges were dropped in 2020 by California's 2nd District Court of Appeals due to lack of probable cause. Apparently, they felt that failure to uphold their duties and failure to remove Gabriel from his prison did not constitute criminal liability. This is sadly something. we see quite often. The fact is that it's not a crime to be shitty at your job, even when the lives of children are on the line. Nine sheriff's deputies were internally disciplined for their failure to properly investigate the allegations of violence against Gabriel. It's unclear if anyone was fired, but no one was held legally liable, even when they tried to interfere with the investigation.

Starting point is 00:21:09 Many in California have done their best to keep Gabriel's name alive. There's a memorial tree standing outside of his East Avenue Q10 apartment complex, which is adorned with pictures of Gabriel stuffed animals and candles. Many murals depicting the first grader have popped up in his community, including one in Pekoyma where he attended school for two years. Sadly, on September 17th, 2014, Gabriel's great-uncle Michael Lamos Caranza passed away. He was only 46 years old and never got to see justice for his sweet nephew. On July 14, 2020, Michael's partner, David Martinez, passed away due to complications from the pandemic. After Michael's death, David had been deported by ICE to his native El Salvador, a country

Starting point is 00:21:55 he hadn't lived in for 38 years. According to prosecutor Hatami, he should have been allowed to stay in the U.S. Very, very unfair. David's funeral was held on July 16, 2020. The same day, California's second district court of appeals throughout the case against the social workers. Now, it's clear that the social workers and the sheriff's deputies dodged a bullet here, especially with the public pressure to hold them accountable. And regardless of what you believe their intentions were, you would think child welfare in Los Angeles County would not want this level of heat on them again.

Starting point is 00:22:32 After all, the entire country was watching them now. But the next case we're about to cover is going to make you think that none of this could possibly be real. L.A. County had another boy come across their radar whose case looked virtually identical to Gabriel's right down to the BB gun wounds. You would think that now they would actually take a case like this seriously, but sadly, that's not what happened. Anthony Nolan Avalos was born on May 4th, 2008 in Los Angeles, California. As of the date I'm sharing this story with you all, he should have been approaching his 17th birthday.

Starting point is 00:23:09 He was born to parents Heather Maxine Barron and Victor Avalos, who were both teenagers. He was also the big brother to six half-siblings. Soon after Anthony was born, Victor, who was a construction worker, had a take off to Mexico. Victor was able to keep in contact through video calls, but Heather had a difficult time making ends meet at her part-time job at a local subway. She went on to live with Anthony and later his other siblings in a cluttered, chaotic apartment off of Challenger Way in Lancaster, California. According to his aunt Maria Barron, he was very loving and always wanted to cuddle. He was a hard worker. Dancing was something he always enjoyed. He loved watching football with his uncle David.

Starting point is 00:23:54 He loved the cowboys. He loved going to the park. He was good at playing video games. He always enjoyed eating papooses when his mama would make. make them for him. His mother, Heather, didn't have the greatest start in life. She grew up with two older siblings named Crystal and David. After her mother, Wendy, left her father when she was just four, she married a man named Roger Brown, an ex-con she had been pen pals with when he was still serving his sentence. Wendy told the kids that he had been incarcerated for robbery, but the truth

Starting point is 00:24:25 came out soon enough. Now, according to Heather, she and her sisters were repeatedly essayed by their stepfather. You'd think after what she and her sister endured, Heather would have kept her son away from him, but she didn't. Allegedly, Heather would leave Anthony with Roger from time to time. She said she wasn't worried about Anthony's safety because, and these are her words, he preferred girls to boys. As it turned out, she was wrong about that. When Anthony was just four years old, his mother brought him to a health clinic after he claimed that someone in the family had been touching him in an inappropriate manner. The visit resulted in the first of many calls to the CA hotline. DCFS records indicated that investigators concluded the incident had occurred, but they did not set up ongoing

Starting point is 00:25:14 supervision or counseling after assurances from Anthony's mother that she would find him help and keep him away from the person that was hurting him. After he turned six, his aunt Crystal told her therapist that Heather was beating her nephew and locking him in a room with no access to food or a bathroom. Being a mandated reporter, the therapist called the hotline on April 29th, 2014 to report what had been shared with her. The call was taken seriously and DCFS became involved. Anthony verified the account to a caseworker who interviewed him at his school. Further interviews revealed that his mother had not gotten him counseling and due to this, Anthony began acting inappropriately with another child, which experts have found is not uncommon with child victims of

Starting point is 00:26:01 Asa. Furthermore, his siblings told them that Heather was beating him. Caseworkers believed that there was neglect in the home, and they referred the family to the department's voluntary family maintenance program. Under this program, children can stay with their families while they work to resolve issues. The program is designed for low-risk cases as a means to reduce the number of children in foster care. However, caseworkers placed Anthony into the program even though he was considered a high-risk case. often no judicial oversight or an attorney to represent the child's best interests, which is a huge problem. Gabriel Fernandez had actually been placed in this exact same program despite being considered also very high risk. One of the caseworkers assigned to Anthony was Matthew Mansfield, a veteran

Starting point is 00:26:50 DCFS supervisor who also played a role in Gabriel's placement in the voluntary program. In Anthony's case, Mansfield and colleague Mark Millman brought in counselors from the Children's center of the Anelope Valley to provide services for Heather and her kids. This was the same agency that didn't take Gabriel Fernandez's notes seriously. According to Counselor Louise Ramirez, based solely on the information provided by Ms. Barron, the assessor believes that her capacity to provide suitable care for her children is severely limited by her poor parenting skills, poor judgment, and denial and lack of awareness of her mental health issues.

Starting point is 00:27:28 Now, according to relatives, Heather had a history of depression, possibly even postpartum. She would have crying spells, complaints of feeling empty and lost, and seemed incapable of connecting with her children. But these weren't just normal blues. Heather had violent bursts of aggression that seemed to be on a hairpin trigger. She would hit the children with whatever object was close by, a wooden spoon, a ping pong paddle, belts, shoes, or a hanger. Allegedly, when confronted by her siblings about the rampant mistreatment of her kids, Heather pretty much told them that what she did to punish her kids was her business. But despite having these types of mental health and emotional issues, Heather continued to have more children. By now,

Starting point is 00:28:16 she was 24 with four kids and she was pregnant again. Caseworkers in Los Angeles County weren't taking what Anthony was going through seriously. They refused to remove him from Heather. care, even after the six-year-old wrote a note threatening to remove himself from the earth. This is exactly what happened with Gabriel Fernandez. And what's more, there were warning signs that were exactly identical to Gabriel's, such as appearing in school with facial wounds from a BB gun, and finally, after telling his teacher that his mother was hurting him. Wendy Wright, another counselor at the Children's Center who spent significant time with Anthony and his mother called the hotline on October 14th, 2014 to report that Heather grabbed one of

Starting point is 00:29:00 Anthony's siblings violently and dragged him across the room. She consistently talked about her children in derogatory terms and displayed nothing but anger towards them. Ms. Wright told the hotline operator that Mark Millman was slow to respond to her phone calls and did not seem to take action when she finally reached him. Her call was later dismissed as unsubstantiated. The entire time I was there and I was there twice in. in the same day because it takes about two hours per child. So I was there in the morning, then I came back in the afternoon. And I was there a very long time.

Starting point is 00:29:33 I saw nothing but anger towards those children, verbal, this emotional, she showed absolutely no affection towards any of them. Okay. Even the two weeks, at that time, the baby was two weeks old. Okay. She seemed completely detached. Shane Bulkley, another DCFS worker who was assigned to investigate Wendy Wright's report, wrote in his notes that Heather cursed, yelled, and acknowledged hitting her kids with the belt. He quoted Mark Millman as saying,

Starting point is 00:30:06 given the children and their age and their behavior, she is doing all she can. However, both Shane Bulkley and Mark Millman later declined to comment on that particular statement. On November 5, 2014, yet another therapist at the Children's Center named Crystal Ghee called the hotline to report. that one of the children told her, Mommy whoops our asses. Mark Millman did follow up with Ms. Ghee, but the conversation was brief at best. Now, we've mentioned in previous episodes,

Starting point is 00:30:37 a scoring system that DCFS uses to rate the children that enter their program. The voluntary family maintenance program was supposed to service low-risk cases, despite Anthony being considered high risk, and Gabriel Fernandez as very high. Well, Anthony was evaluated once more and yet again scored high, and a recommendation for increased supervision was given. However, Shane Bulky and his supervisor overruled the recommendation and closed the investigation, saying they did not have evidence to substantiate the allegations.

Starting point is 00:31:12 At the close of 2014, Mark Millman and his supervisor, Matthew Mansfield, took the Children's Center off the case and enlisted a new agency, Hathaway Sycamore's Child and Families. services, which again had provided similar services to Gabriel Fernandez through its counselor, Barbara Dixon. It's unclear why the switch was made and Crystal Ghee considered her removal and its timing to be odd. Now, Barbara Dixon probably wasn't the best fit for Anthony's case either, as she had completely failed Gabriel prior. It should be noted how she talked about her role in Gabriel's case when she testified in court. In 2017, during the criminal case against Gabriel's caseworkers, she claims she witnessed extensive injuries but withheld the information from the hotline, despite a state law requiring her to report all suspected violence. In exchange for

Starting point is 00:32:06 her testimony, she was granted immunity. She was still allowed to keep her job and manage cases of children who clearly were in need of intervention. To no surprise, she was also no help to Anthony. After she was assigned to his case, the focus of Barbara's counseling to reduce the dysfunction in the family was directed at Anthony, not Heather. Her case note showed that she counseled him to listen to his mother more attentively and to finish his homework. I wonder if she'd tell a battered woman that she wouldn't get hit if she didn't burn dinner. I digress.

Starting point is 00:32:43 Barbara's notes spanning from February of 2015 to January of 2016 when Anthony was ages six and seven, depicted him as prone to whining, crying, and tantrums, and she said this made parenting him difficult. But Barbara wasn't even taking proper notes to document Anthony's case. For example, some of her notes were cut and pasted from one session to the next, and they did not mention the new allegations that arrived at the hotline during the time she worked with the family. She, of course, has declined to comment on that fact. In April of 2015, Heather's brother David introduced her to Kareem Ernesto Lava, a coworker of his at a Santa Clarita shipping facility. The two began a relationship that would span years and eventually produce more children. But we should talk for a moment about who fathered who in the Baron Lava household, as it is somewhat confusing.

Starting point is 00:33:36 As we mentioned previously, Anthony's father was Victor Avalos. His middle siblings were born to two different fathers, none of whom who stuck around. The youngest were all born to Kareem. The family of 10 all lived together in a three unit at the village point apartments off of East Avenue K and Lancaster. Then months of their introduction, the father of one of Heather's younger children told police that Kareem was hurting his son. On April 27, 2015, Sheriff's deputy Elijah Gophagin interviewed the boy, then two years old, who told him that his mother's boyfriend had violently grabbed him by the ear, leaving it bruised and cut. The deputy wrote that he saw the wounds himself. When sheriff's detective Chris Wyatt got the report, he made no attempt whatsoever to find

Starting point is 00:34:21 Kareem and recommended no charges and thus ended the investigation. DCFS workers also did not locate and interview Kareem at any point over the three years they investigated the family, even though they suspected he was at the home regularly on nights and weekends. They also did not follow the department's rules requiring them to contact his other children or their mothers. If they had, or if they had pulled court records, they would have seen that two other women had restraining orders against him after they separately told judges that Kareem beat them with their children present. It was also clear that Kareem hadn't changed his ways because

Starting point is 00:34:58 as the relationship progressed, Heather told caseworkers that he began manhandling her as well. DCFS opened a case in dependency court for the sibling, but not for Anthony and the other children in the home. Soon thereafter, one of the assigned DCFS caseworkers Anna Scortino saw visible marks and bruises on the siblings face and left arm, which Heather claimed were due to a fall in the shower. On June 12, 2015, Ms. Scortino called the hotline and stated that she doubted the claim, but wanted it recorded, as she put it, to cover our butts. The case was later closed as unsubstantiated. Mom says he fell in the shower. Child says he fell in the shower. Dad's freaking out. more neglect or alleging more physical abuse by an unknown perpetrator? No.

Starting point is 00:35:46 What's our allegation would you say? I know you have to have to put some. To cover our butt. I know. To cover. DCFS guidelines nevertheless required the allegation to be sent to police for a criminal investigation. The assignment went to sheriff's deputy Billy Cox, who had been disciplined in the past

Starting point is 00:36:03 for failing to properly investigate an unrelated CA allegation. According to Deputy Cox, he never contacted Heather or. Kareem. He stated, it was routine and common practice that if a referral was called in by a social worker that we basically rubber stamped it, so to speak, and sent it through. By September of 2015, Anthony was enrolled at Lincoln Elementary School in Lancaster, California. In talking with Anthony, Vice-Principal Gia Groh had become increasingly concerned. He told Ms. Groh that his mother beat him and locked him in a room with no access to food, water, or a bathroom. He shared his mother's boyfriend forced him to kneel on uncooked rice and pushed on his knees as he knelt so that

Starting point is 00:36:47 he would bleed. He also described what he called the captain's chair, which was a form of discipline that required him to hold a squatted position for a long period of time with his arms outstretched. Appalled by what Anthony shared, she called the hotline on September 18th. A little boy told me today that he moved out of his home and into his aunt's home. He and his brothers and sisters because his mom was hitting them. I'm locking them up in their room for long hours. I'm going to put them to do captain's chairs in the corner. Okay, what is that?

Starting point is 00:37:27 Captain's chair. He demonstrated it for me where he has to put his back up against the wall and kneeled down, like spend down. So it's like, I mean, it's just, it's five strengths in the exercise. Mm-hmm. Could also be considered difficulty. Mm-hmm. If you're making a child do that for a long time. Okay.

Starting point is 00:37:41 They're hurting their eyes. Okay. And you said locking them up where? In the, um, their room for hours on them. And so the aunt went and took them. Okay. And they've now gone to go visit the aunt. Around the same time, Anthony's uncle, David Barron,

Starting point is 00:37:59 heard the same alarming stories from the children during a visit to his home. They told him about being locked. in a room. They said Kareem also ordered the captain's chair punishment. Additionally, the children said that Kareem whipped their faces and legs with a belt and dangled Anthony's younger half-brother upside down from a staircase. When Heather came to pick up her children, David and his wife, Maria, physically blocked her from taking them and called 911. Sheriff's deputy Michael Galardo responded and called the hotline to report what had happened. According to Deputy Galardo, they seemed pretty shaken up when I talked to them about it.

Starting point is 00:38:35 with a couple of the kids. And a couple of the kids that told me some things that make me not want to release them right now. I'm not going to release them. Basically, they're saying that the guy Kareem that I referred to earlier,

Starting point is 00:38:50 he's been pretty physically to him, hit him with belts in the face, hit him with belts on the leg. He put him in like a seated squat position against the wall for tons of time on in. He locked him in the bedrooms. Apparently he held

Starting point is 00:39:05 the youngest by his ankles over the flight of stairs and that wasn't even from a that was from gave me that information and uh i tend to believe the kid they seem pretty shugging up when i talked to him about it um mom at this point says she's willing to leave them here with brother brother is willing to have them stay here okay so that's where i'm at okay so you're leading them with the brother for how long? I guess until you guys come out and do that referral that you guys have open right now, that five-day referral. Next day, David called the hotline himself.

Starting point is 00:39:49 He told the operator that the children confided that they had been locked in a room for so long that they urinated and defecated on themselves. Their mother's boyfriend got angry. They said he threw dirty diapers at them, slammed them into walls, and dragged one of Anthony's half-brothers by the ear, leaving it scabbed and bruised. He stated that the children were so hungry that they had been hoarding food.

Starting point is 00:40:10 When asked how long this has been going on for, the children could be heard in the background responding a thousand weeks. David told the hotline worker that Heather was hurting herself around the children and saying that she hates life and noted that he had pictures of her hurting herself and saying that she wanted to remove herself from the earth. He also told the operator that Kareem was a member of the MS-13 gang and that he was afraid of what he would do now. He said Karim dragged him on the floor.

Starting point is 00:40:38 He slammed them to the floor. Like he'd pick him up and throw him on the floor. Are they like rough plan or is he doing this intentionally to call time? He's admitted he doesn't like the kid, so he just treats him like crap just because he doesn't like them because he's too hyper and stuff. So he locks him in the rooms and he was grabbing him by his ankles so they have a two-story house and he would hang him upside down by his ankles and start shaking them. ankles and start shaking him like oh i'm going to drop you if you don't stop and i was thinking if

Starting point is 00:41:09 he slipped one time that would kill the baby the kid so okay when did all of this happen what the we just found out about it but i guess it's been going on for months now and they they uh my sister and him said if they would tell anybody that they would be in a lot of trouble and then when i saw the bruises i asked um like what happened and he told me so i separated the kids and i asked each one individually so that way they can just say the same story And they all told me the same exact thing. He wouldn't feed him until a mommy came home. He would give him cold showers.

Starting point is 00:41:45 And then, you know what an Indian bird is? No. Is that like a carpet? No, it's like you grab somebody's arms, and you just start twisting your arms. Oh, okay. And he was doing that to him also, and then throwing dirty diapers at their heads.

Starting point is 00:42:01 So your sister and Karin stated that if they towed anyone, they would be in trouble? Yes. And then after she told us, we let my sister know, like, do you know that Kreme's in your child? And she's like, no, no, no. It's not true. And then when she took her home, she kept telling her, you need to say it's not true. It's not true.

Starting point is 00:42:21 And she said, I'm not going to lie. I need to tell the police the truth because we told her we were going to tell the cops. And so she grounded and locked her in the room and didn't let her come out until the next day. DCFS caseworker IKEA Vernon met with Anthony at his aunt and uncle's home. He told her everything. He also told her that, Heather is my old mom. This is my new house.

Starting point is 00:42:45 I am part of the Baron family now. I'm never going to see Heather again. She locks us up in our rooms and makes us starving. Ms. Vernon then called Barbara Dixon and two other Hathaway Sycamores counselors who had been working in the home for seven months. They were supportive of Heather's parenting during the discussion. According to Ms. Vernon's case notes,

Starting point is 00:43:06 each service provider reported that he had never heard anything from the children about violence and neglect. Akea Vernon had just recently joined the department. Her notes indicated that she was unwilling to draw a conclusion based solely on what the children had told her. When David and Maria Barron showed up at the DCFS office for answers about the investigation, Ms. Vernon turned them away and told them they could get information only from Anthony's mother. The couple left unaware that they could have filed a formal petition to ask the court to intervene. Still in possession of her parental rights, Heather brought her kids home during the last week of September 2015. According to IKEA Vernon, she met with Anthony at Lincoln Elementary, where he shared with her that his mother was starting to be nice and that she does a new thing,

Starting point is 00:43:55 which does not lock the bedroom door anymore. A month later, Anthony and his siblings recanted their allegations against Heather and Kareem. In December 2015, Ikea Vernon marked the allegations from Gia Groh, Deputy Galardo, and David Barron as unsubstantiated. She also used a computer system to score the family's risk and it once again rated it as high and recommended a greater level of intervention. Ms. Vernon and her supervisor, however, decided against taking any further action. She later stated that her decision relied on the children recanting their prior claims and was unaware that victims often retract their account. counts. The following month, Barbara Dixon and Hathaway Sycamores ended their work with the family. But this would not be the last time that DCFS was involved in the Baron Lava household.

Starting point is 00:44:44 On April 28, 2016, Mildred Blue, a teacher providing services to Heather at a battered women's shelter, reported to the hotline that her children arrived with bruises and said that Kareem had forced them to fight each other at home. They also appeared hungry with one of the children eating out of the trash. Again, the children denied the allegation when interviewed by DCFS caseworkers who in turn decided that based on the children's word, there was no need to follow up. Sheriff's deputy Billy Cox also received a report of Ms. Blue's hotline call. He too decided not to follow up. In doing so, Deputy Cox violated his department's own policy, which requires detectives to

Starting point is 00:45:22 conduct independent investigations of CA and not rely solely on DCFS's reports, even if DCFS claims it is unsubstantiated. Near the end of 2016, at least one more calls of the hotline arrived regarding Anthony's family, but there were little to no details other than the fact that caseworkers marked it as unsubstantiated once again. Between February 28, 2013, to November 2nd, 2016, 12 calls were made to the hotline regarding the family, and Anthony and his siblings still remained in their mother's care. Around this time, Heather cut ties with her brother David, Sister Crystal, her sister-in-law Maria, and the educators who made claims against her. As with many cases we've covered where parents facing multiple accusations of CA

Starting point is 00:46:10 end up pulling their kids from school, Heather moved Anthony to El Dorado Elementary, where they had no idea about his prior history as a victim. There, he got to know his new fourth grade teacher, Harmony Bell. Anthony was the fastest runner in his fourth grade class. He earned a place on the honor roll. and his teacher noticed an uncommon emotional maturity for a boy his age. He often collected his thoughts before speaking, asking if he could step out of the room to take a few deep breaths. When a new student joined the class, he asked him move to a neighboring seat, hoping to be the friend the newcomer needed.

Starting point is 00:46:49 According to Ms. Bell, Anthony was often nervous about something. He held his Bible tightly throughout the day, once quaking with tears when it fell to the floor. On the last day of school, Anthony wrote a letter. It read, Dear Mrs. Bell, thank you for teaching me everything you could. It was such a blessing to meet you. I just hope that when I'm going to six, that you can come to new Vista so I can see you still. I hope that you can come to my high school, middle school, and college. That way, we will see each other for school years without a problem because how close we are and how we are best buddies friends. I just want to stay with you forever, but I can't. I just hope you have a good rest of your life because you already know that I'm going to have a good life. Love Anthony Avalos, your friend. Mrs. Bell wrote in his report card, Anthony absolutely amazes me.

Starting point is 00:47:46 He is so kind and considerate to others. Arise on time, keeps a smile on my face all day long. I can't imagine my class without him. But the summer of 2018 wasn't. going to be full of trips to the beach, and Anthony wasn't going to make it to the sixth grade or see Ms. Bell ever again. On June 18th, Anthony allegedly confided to his mother that he liked boys, something that his Aunt Maria would later state took great courage for Anthony to do while living in the home and only reinforced how brave he was. Heather would later go on to tell a

Starting point is 00:48:22 DCFS caseworker that Kareem overheard this conversation. The following night, Kareem dropped dropped Anthony on his head repeatedly. In addition, he was whipped with a belt and a cord, slammed into furniture, starved, had hot sauce poured down his throat and was not allowed to use the bathroom. June 20, 2018, Los Angeles County Sheriff's deputies responded to a 911 call from Heather at about 1215 in the afternoon. They found Anthony inside the apartment. He was not responding. The deputies were told that he had suffered injuries from a fall and paramedics rushed him to the Analype Valley Hospital in grave condition. Anthony's Aunt Maria learned of Anthony's condition and went to the hospital where she found Heather in the hallway. When Heather hesitated to let her see her nephew,

Starting point is 00:49:10 Maria crouched her feet on her hands and knees on the linoleum floor to plead with her to please allow her to see Anthony. Through tears, she told Heather she was sorry for reporting her to DCFS, anything that she could do to get inside and see him. When Heather finally relented. Maria found Anthony unconscious and breathing on a ventilator. His lifeless face was held by a large yellow neck brace. Censors were taped around his skull, recording his diminished brain activity. He was four feet six inches tall and weighed 77 pounds. His tiny body was covered in cuts, bruises, and cigarette burns. He was so malnourished and dehydrated that his veins were collapsing. He forced emergency personnel to drill into his tibia to administer an

Starting point is 00:49:58 IV. He had a brain bleed and had suffered a traumatic brain injury. Due to the results of his injuries, Anthony Nolan Avalos died hours later on June 21st, 2018. He was just 10 years old. Sadly, it took Anthony dying for DCFS to do anything about the horror going on inside his mother's home. As a result, the six other siblings were finally removed from Heather's care. 29-year-old Heather Barron and 32-year-old Karim Leiva were arrested on June 20, 2018, in charge with one count of homicide and one count of torture with regard to Anthony, and one count of CA in the alleged beating of one of Anthony's younger brothers. Kareem was also charged with an additional count of CA resulting in death.

Starting point is 00:50:48 Some sources claim that the two were denied bail. Other states they had a bail set at $2 million each. On the day of Anthony's death, Deputy District Attorney Jonathan Hattami and a couple of Sheriff's Department homicide detectives spent two hours combing through Heather's apartment, searching for clues. What prosecutor Hatami saw made the hairs on the back of his neck stand up. They found blood stains on a carpet. They discovered locks on the outside of the children's bedroom doors. There was a leather belt and a bloodied hamper and telltale bottles of hot sauce on the table right next to Anthony's bed. Under a bit of loose carpet in a corner, they discovered a pile of uncooked rice.

Starting point is 00:51:33 During her interrogation at the L.A. County Sheriff's Special Victims Bureau in Lancaster, Prosecutor Hatami said he experienced an overwhelming sense of deja vu. At 5'2, 160 pounds, with black hair pulled back in a tight ponytail, Heather looked like someone he became familiar with five years earlier. Pearl Fernandez. There were other similarities as well. Both women were intelligent and highly manipulative, even while being grilled by law enforcement. Heather tried to take control of her own interrogation. She would ask questions instead of answering them. She demanded to know what the investigators knew. She had a calculating way of turning a question over in her mind before she answered back, always insisting that she was the victim. According to Prosecutor Hatami, she was. Pearl Fernandez. The couple were subsequently indicted by a Los Angeles County grand jury in October of 2018.

Starting point is 00:52:35 At trial, Anthony's eight-year-old sister, his seven-year-old brother gave a chilling testimony. The brother shared that he was forced to wrestle Anthony until he hurt him sometimes with his mother and Kareem watching them. He told investigators that the children would have to fight one another to escape punishment, and that eating was a privilege that they had. to earn. If they urinated while they were in a locked room, Kareem would push their face into the puddle and sometimes it would stuff a shirt into their mouths to muffle the screams. The sister shared a similar story. She stated that Kareem would also make the kids beat each other up.

Starting point is 00:53:12 She said, so the boys would be in trouble so Kareem would have me and my other brother or me and Anthony beat up my other brother. Kareem would have us pinch him or sock him. She also shared that they were made to stand in a corner for hours out of the time. after returning home from school. Sometimes we'd like go in the hallway, the little wall between my room and my mom's room. We would have to go there on our knees and carry books, and with two weights on top tied altogether,

Starting point is 00:53:40 we would have to hold it for like 10 minutes. If the books fell, she alleged they were made to start over for another hour. She claimed that her mom and Kareem would punish them by making them kneel on rice and that Kareem sometimes used his foot to put pressure on their knees, causing them to bleed. afterward she said she was forced to clean it up. Evidence also showed they were hit with power cords, vacuum tubes, as well as fists. She went on to say that food often was withheld as punishment and that after the boys were caught sneaking out for food, an alarm was placed on their bedroom door.

Starting point is 00:54:12 The boys were also allegedly forbidden from exiting the room to leave the bathroom, which led to further punishment if they soiled themselves. She said that Kareem would hold their legs, make them lay down, and put their face into the urine. The word he's alleged that over the last five or six days of his life, Anthony suffered a slew of punishments, both quick and prolonged. Punishments that, in addition to kneeling on rice for lengthy periods, included having hot sauce poured on his face and mouth and being whipped with a belt on his body, legs, butt, and the bottom of his feet, as well as being repeatedly held upside down and dropped on his head. On March 6, 2019, a verdict in Heather Barron and Karim Lava's trial was reached. The decision was announced by Superior Court Judge Sam Oda the following afternoon. Both were found guilty of first-degree homicide with special circumstances involving infliction of torture. The court finds defendant Karim Ernesto Lava guilty of first-degree murder under a theory of torture murder in violation of Pino-code Section 187 subdivision A.

Starting point is 00:55:19 The court also finds the special circumstance allegation against defendant Lava pursuant to Pinole Code Section 190.2, Subdivision A, paragraph 18, to be true. The court finds defendant Heather and Maxine Barron guilty of first-degree murder under a theory of torture murder in violation of Pino Code Section 187, subdivision A. The court also finds the special circumstance allegation against defendant Barron. and pursuant of Pino Code section 190.2 subdivision A, paragraph 18 to be true. On this count, defendant Leva's guilt is primarily established inter alia through the medical evidence presented in the trial, including trial testimony of doctors, photographic and documentary exhibits, defendant Leva's own admissions made on September 27, 2018,

Starting point is 00:56:16 defendant Leva's flight from the apartment when 9-1-1 was called on June 20th, 2018. Defendant Leva's self-infliction of harm to himself slashing his own neck observed at his interview on June 27, 2018, the in-court trial testimony of the various taped interviews ranging from June 20th, 2018, to June 28, 2018.

Starting point is 00:56:52 At sentencing four years later, Heather and Karim looked on as several of Anthony's grieving family members delivered emotional victim impact statements. This brings us to the part relates to that relates to the public and that is the victim impact statements. So Tommy, I understand that there are a number of people who wishes to address the court. Is that correct? I believe there's 11, Your Honor, who six or seven that you want to. You may begin. We're going to start with the juvenile genre. The first is both of the last name is O. And she's with her family members.

Starting point is 00:57:42 It's okay, honey. You can stand right here that you want, or you can read it, whatever you want. You tell the judge whatever you want to say. Do you take your time? Take your time. It's okay. How about this?

Starting point is 00:58:41 Why don't you have other people go so that you can see how it goes? Thank you, Your Honor. And then if she wishes to make it. the statement herself she could do so thank you all right just sit there for a little while okay here's the thing you're just you're making a statement to the judge that's it and it's no longer right way to do it it's just your way and that's okay that's okay whatever way you want to do it is the way you're gonna talk okay you first initial of the last

Starting point is 00:59:20 name of the key your honor Anthony's cousin yes and you can hold this if you want and Maria can help you too no you want it Okay, so I know. They're going to see, if he's up there, and you can tell the judge wherever you want, okay? Do you have this paper? Is it your book? Yes.

Starting point is 00:59:41 You mean doesn't have it memorized? Right? Yeah, yeah. You didn't memorize it? I could read the paper. Okay. Okay. Okay.

Starting point is 00:59:53 Okay. Okay. Dear judge, my name is... I am eight years old, and I miss my cousin Anthony. I was a baby when I last saw him. I wish I could remember all our time together, but all I have is pictures and stories that my family tells me. Anthony was an amazing company, full of life and love. He always played me and made me laugh. I have family and I have a video that I like to play over and over him making me laugh when I was little. We never got, I, we, we, will never get to see Anthony grow up. I never, I will never get to play with my older cousin. He will teach, he will get to teach me and play baseball or play catch with him.

Starting point is 01:00:50 Heather, who's supposed to be my aunt took Anthony away from us. Heather is an evil monster and she deserves to spend the rest of her life in prison. I don't forgive Heather for taking my goodness life, and I hope she gets beat up in jail because I just wanted to meet Anthony. I hope Heather is a horrible life. Anthony is in a better place, and Sunday will be together again, and we will be able to make new memories. I always carry you in my heart, Anthony.

Starting point is 01:01:25 Love you and miss you very much. Thank you for your time honor. Thank you. It has been five long years without my brother, my best friend, and my whole world, Anthony Obloch. Anthony was everything to me and my family. It was abolished to shine to everyone, and sadly because of these two monsters, he is not here anymore. Anthony did not deserve any other things that happened to him, nor me or a girl. I should not have to be here doing all this.

Starting point is 01:02:08 I shouldn't be able to live a normal life. They both took away my ability to live a normal life as a normal girl. Sometimes I wish I could turn back time and speak up to anyone, but I can't. Sometimes I wish that I could turn back time and speak up to a future, or anyone at least, or I can't. I wish that Maria never introduced herring to you or us. Heather, you and Kareem ruined our own Anthony's life, but mine, Rosh, Bella, Noah, Davis, Dacillas, Evelyn is in even your own lives.

Starting point is 01:03:32 You decide to choose and live, and you decide to choose and live a man over us, your own children. You decided to let that horrible man into our lives and not ruined everything. You stopped loving, and protecting us, and that hurts a lot. Corrine, you came into our life and ruined everything. I don't know why you did it, but you did.

Starting point is 01:03:59 You tortured us and hurt us very badly. If it wasn't for you, Anthony would still be here, and none of us would have to be here doing this. It is also because of Heather that Anthony is not here anymore. She did not do her job as long as. She did not protect us and took part in the torture. I would have never thought in a million years that I would have wanted to call my own mother, mom.

Starting point is 01:04:29 To me, you are both monsters and Heather, you are not my mother, nor family. If I knew that the would have ended with me losing my brother, I would have said something, but I didn't because I was scared and terrified. I'm not anymore because this is all finally coming to an end and you both would get what had been waiting for you. I have learned to accept that you guys can't hurt me anymore. I'm finally free from all the torture. But if I were to have known that this would end with me losing a brother, I would do it all over again with just one difference. That would be me not the end of the end of you. Thank you, Thank you.

Starting point is 01:05:37 And what about Barbara Dixon? Well, the California State Board of Behavioral Sciences placed Barbara Dixon on four years of probation. She faced charges of gross negligence and unprofessional conduct by the licensing board, but sadly, those charges were dropped. Her probation went into effect on March 31, 2022. This means that in 26, Barbara Dixon is free to fail children in Los Angeles and Los Angeles once more. On April 25th, 2023, Heather Maxine Barron and Kareem Ernesto Lava were sentenced to life in prison. Both were denied probation in order to pay $7,500 in victims' compensation funds.

Starting point is 01:06:21 They had initially faced the death penalty, but Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascon had said his office would no longer seek capital punishment after he won his 2020 election. In addition, Anthony's father, Victor, and his siblings received a settlement of $32 million in damages from Los Angeles County. Heather is currently being housed at the Central California Women's Facility in Chowchilla, the same location that houses Pearl Fernandez, while Kareem is being held at the Mule Creek State Prison in Nione. It should also be noted that in the wake of Anthony's death, his family, along with

Starting point is 01:06:57 prosecutor Jonathan Hatami, held protests with the intention to oust Dia Gascon due to his inability to put victims in their families first. protests were held in Sam Yellen Park in Palmdale, as well as Schooner patio grill in Lancaster. In addition to Anthony's family and prosecutor Hatami, the family of Gabriel Fernandez, was also in attendance. Anthony's funeral service was held at St. Junipero Sarah Parish in Quartz Hills, California, in July 20, 2018. Its father Victor served as a pallbearer. He was laid to rest in a small blue casket at the Good Shepherd Catholic Cemetery in Lancaster, California. headstone engraved with the image of a sleeping angel or the inscription, you don't have to have

Starting point is 01:07:41 superpowers to be a superhero. Now, you would think this would be the end of the video. Surely L.A. County couldn't let this happen again, right? But it didn't take long before they did let it happen again. And despite a mountain of evidence and the incredible work from one social worker who tried her very best to save this next boy's life, L.A. County was content to let him die, and as a further insult, remove the social worker from the case, the only person who was trying to save his life. After everything that happened with Gabriel Fernandez and Anthony Avalos, it's reasonable for you to believe that this just couldn't happen again, especially in such a short span of time.

Starting point is 01:08:29 But what you're about to find out is that it is far more horrifying than that. Noah Alejandro Quatro was born on August 20th, 2014 in Palmdale, California to parents Ursula Elaine Juarez and Jose Maria Quatro Jr. The pair met at John F. Kennedy High School in Grenada Hills and had their first son when Ursula was 18 years old. Noah was born two years later, followed by a daughter and another son. From very early on, the couple had already wrapped up a long history with social services. In fact, L.A. County DCFS had their eyes on the family before Noah was even born. In 2014, Ursula was accused of harming her infant half-sister causing skull fractures. Oftentimes, skull fractures in infants and toddlers point to shaken baby syndrome.

Starting point is 01:09:22 DCFS social worker Jennifer Montagna wasn't going to allow Ursula to have another opportunity to harm another child. She launched a full investigation and knew that Earth, Ursula was pregnant again. As such, she arranged to have Noah taken away from his parents as soon as he was born. During the first few weeks of his life, Noah bounced from foster home to foster home and never formed the bond that newborns have with their mothers. Later, it became obvious that Ursula didn't develop any motherly feelings towards her son. However, she was already accused of harming her half-sister, so there was a very good possibility that she would have hurt Noah even if the two had bonded. After a few weeks of bouncing around in the foster care system, Noah was placed in the temporary custody of his

Starting point is 01:10:06 great-grandmother, Evangela Hernandez, who he would go on to stay with for nine months. He was a capable, responsible, and loving caregiver. Noah formed perhaps the most enduring bond of his entire life while staying with Evangelina, sometimes calling his great-grandmother mommy. Evangelina was getting him to all his doctor's appointments and kept him clean and well-fed. She made sure he had plenty of age-appropriate toys and enriching activities throughout the day. Noah was thriving in her care. However, like many of the narcissistic parents we cover, Ursula and Jose wanted nothing more than to sabotage their son's life.

Starting point is 01:10:44 They felt that DCFS had to rob them of the first months of caring for their son. When DCFS couldn't find concrete proof that Ursula was responsible for her half-sister's skull fracture, the investigation was determined to be inconclusive, and Noah was returned to his parents. Evangelina Hernandez expressed concerns about the reunification between Noah and his parents. His great-grandmother didn't feel like they were ready to take care of their son, but her concerns didn't seem to count for much. So one would think that once Ursula and Jose got their son back, all would be sunshine and daisies, right? It wouldn't be long before the family was back on the DCFS race.

Starting point is 01:11:25 radar. In November of 2016, when Noah was just a little over two years old, Kaiser Permanente called DCFS to let them know that Noah had missed his last eight doctor's appointments. In fact, these eight appointments were missed over the course of six months. Because of Noah's young age and his history with DCFS, it was really important that he was being seen by a doctor. This isn't just important for at-risk children. Babies and toddlers need to reach a lot of developmental milestones. If Noah wasn't showing up for his doctor's appointments, there was no way for professionals to monitor his progress. Ursula claimed it was an issue with the family's insurance, but that was quickly proven to be a lie. A social worker verified Noah always had medical coverage. It had never

Starting point is 01:12:11 lapsed, and again, DCFS had to intervene. They visited the family's home to investigate. They found that Noah was so weak and malnourished that he couldn't even walk, which placed him in the first percentile for boys his age. At two years old, he weighed just 17 pounds. The average weight for a two-year-old boy should be between 27 and 30 pounds. He was almost half that. Jennifer Montagnos said that he appeared very thin. His eyes were hollow. Again, if Noah had been going to his regular doctor's appointments, this would have been a non-issue. Ursula and Jose had hidden the little boy for a reason. Ursula said Noah ate too much, which made him vomit and thus not gain weight. She explained that he was a troublemaker and would run around the house eating everything

Starting point is 01:12:58 until he couldn't take any more and threw up. Once again, Noah was removed from his parents' custody. This time, he was placed in a treatment center called Bathias House in the San Gabriel Valley. There, the goal was to restore his health, which is exactly what happened. Noah didn't have any of the issues his parents' claims, such as vomiting or naughty behavior. The administrator of Bathias' house, Michelle Thompson, said, he was not quite caught up, but almost there. He was running around.

Starting point is 01:13:30 He was sliding on the slide. He would call himself no-no. Afterward, Noah was returned to the care of his great-grandmother of Angelina. During this time, the two lit up each other's lives. By now, Noah was walking, talking, and singing. His favorite song was Old McDonald. He'd love cuddles and would hug his great-grandmother and say, You know what time it is, grandma?

Starting point is 01:13:53 it's time for you to hold me and tell me you love me. Even though Evangeline once again had temporary custody of Noah, his parents were granted visitation. They were allowed to take him for a few hours at a time, which broke Evangeline's heart. Noah would scream and cry for up to 45 minutes before and after each visit and kept telling her that he didn't want to go. It didn't even really seem like Ursula and Jose were that enthusiastic about being with her son either.

Starting point is 01:14:23 The couple never made their son a priority. Oftentimes they bailed on visitation, much to Noah's benefit. But when it came to the DCFS investigations against them, the couple made it seem like they really wanted Noah back and fought to get their way. In 2017, the DCFS investigation that had Noah removed for the second time lasted a year and a half. Noah would be returned to his parents,

Starting point is 01:14:48 but Ursula and Jose were given stipulations, including enrolling Noah in daycare and therapy. He needed to show up at his doctor's appointments, and the couple needed to complete a parenting program with a focus on parent-child bonding. All of this would be arranged with the help of DCFS, and they would have a specific social worker to help them oversee the process. Since Evangelinea no longer had legal custody, all she could do was stand by her great-grandson and try to advocate for him. There were a lot of new social workers coming in and out of the picture, so she made it her duty to make sure they were all informed about what was really going on. with Noah. Eventually, DCFS social worker Susan Johnson was assigned to Noah's case. She was the person who fought harder for the boy than anybody else. Her job as a continuing

Starting point is 01:15:35 services child social worker required her to oversee the reunification of the family and report back to the courts. Her colleagues had warned her that Ursula and Jose were manipulators and proven liars. Ms. Johnson read through all of Noah's case files and made it a point to listen to the concerns of Evangelina, who at this point felt pretty dismissed by the system. In addition, Ms. Johnson made a number of visits to the family home where she was able to make contact with Noah. Ms. Johnson expressed a lot of concern regarding Noah. He seemed to exhibit telltale signs of CA and neglect.

Starting point is 01:16:10 She noticed this in some of the other children as well, but no one really seemed to be as bad off as Noah. Johnson was worried that Noah was being used as a scapegoat in his family. According to psychologists, some families will, adopt the method of a scapegoat to cope with their dysfunctional families, whether it's consciously or subconsciously. They will sometimes choose one member of the family to inherit all of the blame for their problems. Anything bad that happens within the family is assigned to one of the children and they take the biggest punishment mentally and physically. Several months into the

Starting point is 01:16:45 reunification plan, Ursula and Jose failed to enroll Noah in therapy or daycare. They never completed the parenting classes they were supposed to take. In fact, they ignored everything the court was requiring them to do. Noah was never placed in therapy or daycare, and he was telling family members and social workers that he didn't want to be with his parents. Despite Ursula and Jose's unwillingness to cooperate, the courts decided to keep moving forward with a reunification plan. Ms. Johnson told the court that Ursula and Jose had lied to her multiple times. They continue lied about obtaining medical insurance and they still weren't getting no medical attention that he needed. Ursula even lied about being pregnant. She denied two pregnancies only to give birth both times.

Starting point is 01:17:35 Allegedly, Ursula tried to sneak out of the hospital with her baby because she knew that DCFS was going to be called and that would open a new investigation. Susan Johnson would try to make unannounced home visits to the family, but most of the time they wouldn't answer the door. They would make excuses such as claiming that they weren't home at the time. It was impossible for Susan to enter the home and she didn't have an official warrant. By the spring of 2019 when Noah was four years old, his life hadn't gotten any better. He was no closer to a normal childhood and the few advocates he had looking out for him seemed to be meeting constant obstacles in their way. In March of 2019, Ms. Johnson showed up the address Ursula and Jose claimed to live at to find they didn't actually live

Starting point is 01:18:21 there. Jose's sister answered the door instead. She said her brother and his kids had not lived there for at least four months. Jose's mother, Nuvia Barios, said the family occasionally stayed there and confessed to being worried about her grandkids. Noah was always hungry, according to Ms. Barrios, who also worried about her grandchildren not being in school. In March of 2019, Noah's aunt Maggie Hernandez called the hotline to report a troubling conversation that she had with Noah. In this conversation, Noah told her some things that led her to believe that he was not only the victim of CA, but essay as well. She said that it wasn't just this conversation that made her think that he was experiencing essay, but also a change in his entire personality. His demeanor was completely different.

Starting point is 01:19:10 During an overnight stay, Noah had night terrors and complained that his butt was hurting him. Above all, Noah was changing from an exuberant boy to quite a fearful one. She said she was very worried that nobody else would be willing to advocate for him. Susan Johnson learned about this report as well. She read it, she immediately paid a visit to the home to investigate. What she found on this visit was the last straw for her. Noah's arms and neck were covered in bruises and his back was completely lathered in some thick white cream. Ursula tried to explain that the bruising on his neck and upper arms was just because Noah was clumsy.

Starting point is 01:19:46 She also said that the cream on his back was for ever. This visit raised every red flag, and Ms. Johnson immediately shared the information with her superiors. She told them about his extensive bruising and that it seemed like Noah was being coached about what was happening to him. He told Ms. Johnson that he was being hit, but then later recanted his statement, which is something often seen in victims of CA and DV, and something we saw with Anthony Avalos before him. His parents had also been given countless opportunities to give him medical attention and enroll him in school and therapy, which they were court ordered to do. However, they were not doing anything to help Noah, and his condition was only getting worse. Ms. Johnson argued that Noah needed to be taken away from his parents for a third time, but when she brought this up, she was told that she needed a warrant, which wasn't going to be easy to obtain. It seemed that her superiors were not paying much attention to her concerns.

Starting point is 01:20:44 The only thing Susan could do was file a report and let investigators look into the case. However, as we've seen in other cases such as that of Gabriel Fernandez and Anthony Avalos, as soon as investigators got involved, a new caseworker is brought in to take the lead on the case. This new caseworker was Maggie Vasquez Dukos. As soon as she entered the picture, she started to undo all of Ms. Johnson's work. She did not read any of Noah's reports. The very first time she showed up at the residence, she found a smiling Ursula and Noah covered in bruises.

Starting point is 01:21:22 Ursula and Jose immediately began explaining that he had fallen from his bunk bed. Ms. Dukos believed them right away. They went on to explain how the previous social worker, Susan Johnson, and the rest of DCFS were out to get them. They told her they were being targeted due to racism and that DCFS had already done enough to break her family apart. Ursula also said, why would we hurt our baby when we just got him back?

Starting point is 01:21:50 I've had this case open for four years, and I have been told I'm good enough to only have my two kids, but not Noah. How does that make sense? It didn't take much to fool Ms. Dukos into believing that they were honest. When she talked to Noah, he denied any claims of CA or essay. As such, she decided that none of the previous reports were truthful either and closed her investigation as inconclusive. At the same time, Susan Johnson still hadn't given up on Noah and was desperately working to get him out of his toxic household. She filed a complaint with the courts resulting in a petition to remove Noah from his parents' custody for a third time.

Starting point is 01:22:31 She also followed through on her superior's challenge to get the warrant. Juvenile court granted the order to remove Noah and have him examined to determine to determine, if SA had occurred. The petition was signed by a juvenile court judge in the early summer of 2019. When her superiors heard that she had actually gone ahead to obtain the warrant to remove him from the household, they called their own emergency meeting where Susan Johnson, Maggie Vasquez Dukos and DCFS leaders discussed Noah's case and whether or not they were going to follow through. Ms. Johnson later recalled trying to advocate for Noah in this meeting. She tried to warn everyone that if they didn't act on this court order, they could have a dead kid.

Starting point is 01:23:09 on their hands. One of the members told Ms. Johnson to stop talking while Ms. Ducose said she believed the boy was fine and that there was nothing, absolutely nothing wrong with the family. Ms. Ducose also accused Ms. Johnson of siding with Evangeline Hernandez in an attempt to sabotage the family and keep them away from Noah. She also said that she was concerned that if DCFS had any more involvement, they would be guilty of discrimination due to Ursula and Jose being Latino. Despite there being an active court order to remove Noah from his parents' custody, no one ever followed through with it. As Duco's, her superiors, and DCFS decided they needed to conduct a more thorough investigation before they could justify such drastic measures as removing Noah for a third time. At this point, Susan Johnson is completely removed from the case.

Starting point is 01:24:02 Maggie Vasquez, DuCose, and another social worker are once again assigned. Social workers have 10 days to take children from their homes after a commissioner issues a removal order. Otherwise, they must alert the court if they don't plan to do so. But by mid-June, 29 days had passed and no one ever told the juvenile court that he remained with his parents. In the summer of 2019, the Quattres were living in an apartment in Palmdale, California. Now, around this time, Maggie Vasquez, Dukos, and other social workers paid visits to their apartment. They found Noah with a cut across his face. Ursula and Jose provided three different explanations for how Noah received this injury.

Starting point is 01:24:43 Allegedly, Noah came running up to them a number of times to announce things like, They gave me lots of food and they take good care of me. These were obvious signs that Noah had been coached to cover up what his parents were doing. After these visits, Ms. Dukos reported to the courts that she still needed more time. It was granted an additional 30 days to investigate. the case. She emailed her supervisors saying that even though it was court-ordered, Noah didn't need an examination because there were no reports of essay. Ms. Dukos tried to visit the family several more times but was denied and verbally attacked by Jose and Ursula. Despite being

Starting point is 01:25:22 Latina herself, they claimed that she was racist and wanted to take their child. Still, Ms. Dukos kept defending them. She went on to claim that they were just overwhelmed by their previous experiences with social services. Sometime on July 5th, 2019, a neighbor at the Mountain Shadows apartments in Palmdale walked by the family apartment and heard a child's cries, no, daddy, no, mommy. Just after 6 p.m., 9-1-dispatchers received a call from the Palmdale apartment complex. It was Ursula, she told the dispatcher that they needed an ambulance and that her son Noah had been found unresponsive in the pool. Allegedly, according to her,

Starting point is 01:26:04 Four-year-old had been swimming in the pool and drowned as a result of a terrible accident. She said that they were trying to revive him but were unsuccessful. When the paramedics arrived on the scene, their story did not add up. Noah was fully clothed and he was completely dry. He didn't look like a boy that was just pulled from a pool. Noah was taken to the hospital first at the Palmdale Regional Medical Center and later at Children's Hospital, Los Angeles. No family members made it to Noah's bedside. Dr. John Markham, who treated No.

Starting point is 01:26:34 Noah said he joined a group of doctors and nurses who held the boy's hands in his final moments. He said, we were with him as he left the earth. Noah Quatro was pronounced dead the following morning. He was one month shy of his fifth birthday. Noah's body revealed clues that were inconsistent with an accidental drowning, and a medical examiner would later find that he didn't have any water in his lungs. In fact, his autopsy reported bruising all over his body. He had multiple broken ribs that were in various stages of healing, pointing to prolonged chronic beatings.

Starting point is 01:27:10 The autopsy also revealed undeniable evidence of assay. They found trauma to Noah's rectum but could not determine what had caused it. Noah was killed by means of extensive torture. Noah's cause of death was strangulation and blunt force trauma and the manner of death, a homicide. side. Police had their eyes on only one pair of suspects. Now to eyewitness news investigation, new video and frantic calls to 911 after the death of four-year-old Noah Quattro last summer. Noah's parents told police the boy drowned in a swimming pool, but according to grand jury testimony just released, the parents staged this scene to derail

Starting point is 01:27:52 investigators. Our mayor, Hernandez, has the story you're seen first on eyewitness news. The 911 call, four-year-old's Noah Quatro, unconscious on the living room floor, His parents telling first responders they had just pulled him from the swimming pool. We brought him up there because we're trying to get here. We were trying to think like maybe he will wake up. Where are you at right now? His pet is that way. Where?

Starting point is 01:28:23 Where in the house? In the house? In the house. Okay, so you're in the living room. And I blam down. Noah's father, Jose Cuatro, reenacting his desperate CPR attempts at their Palmdale apartment on July 5th last year. And I was just like, no, no, mom. Come on, some, please, breathe.

Starting point is 01:28:41 Their story soon unraveled. Jose Cuatro and Noah's mother, Ursula Juarez, are charged with the torture and murder of Noah. The case has the Department of Children and Family Services under fire, too. Just eight weeks before Noah's death, a DCFS worker, Susan Johnson, had obtained a judge's order to remove Noah from his home. But Johnson's supervisors intervened. Noah died in a home DCFS itself had deemed high risk. A deputy responding to the 911 call describes how in the hospital the parents' lies were exposed. He was transferred to the hospital.

Starting point is 01:29:17 No signs of drowning at all, no water in the lungs, but there's signs of physical. What doctors and the coroner did find were bruises all over, healing rib fractures, brain swelling, and injuries consistent with sexual assault. Cause of death, asphyxiation, and blunt force trauma. It's looking like there's some sort. of like strangulation of some sort and softization. Noah and his siblings had been in and out of foster care. Prosecutors alleged Jose Cuatro targeted Noah believing the boy was not his son,

Starting point is 01:29:52 that at age two, back with the parents, Noah weighed 17 pounds and could not walk on his own. Noah's mother sent a chilling text message. Almost killed him so many times. I had to do CPR for him to wake up and stay alive, A check of security cameras at the pool showed no sign of Noah or his family that day. And about the frantic effort to revive Noah, there's evidence that Noah was unconscious hours before the parents called 911. The day after Noah's death, Ursula and Jose were both arrested and his remaining siblings were put into protective custody.

Starting point is 01:30:30 Both Ursula and Jose were charged with CA and homicide. It was set at $4 million for Jose and $3 million for Ursula. Their case was brought to a grand jury in 2020. The two of them were indicted on counts of homicide and torture, and Jose was charged with essay against a minor resulting in death. If convicted as charged, Jose faced a possible maximum sentence of 47 years to life in state prison, and Ursula faced up to 32 years. As we mentioned previously, the death penalty was off the table, thanks to Los Angeles

Starting point is 01:31:01 County District Attorney George Gascon, who didn't do any favors for Anthony Avalos either. 2020, Evangeline Hernandez filed a wrongful death lawsuit on behalf of herself and Noah's surviving siblings. He stated that instead of protecting Noah and his siblings, DCFS continued to place the children with her violent parents, where the children continued to be mistreated over the course of several years. It also claimed that after Noah's death, DCFS social workers made threats against Evangelina in an attempt to silence her. They told her that if she made any public statements about Noah's case and her potential lawsuits, she would lose her request for guardianship of her other three great-grandchildren and would never see them again. They actually

Starting point is 01:31:42 said this to her. The lawsuit was settled in December of 2024, but the details of the settlement have not been made public. Hathaway Sycamore's Child and Family Services, who also remember from the Anthony Avalos case, was named as an additional defendant. The agency knew of or suspected the misconduct occurring in Noah's home after the boy was sent to them by DCFS for mental health services but failed to report the misconduct. In February of 2023, social worker Lisbeth Hernandez Avila testified that a property manager at the family's apartment told her that he had heard crying coming from inside and suspected DV going on. Social worker also testified that the children all slept on one mattress in the living room and that the home was filthy and emanated a foul

Starting point is 01:32:27 odor. On March 29th, 2024, both Ursula Juarez and Jose Quatro Jr. led no contest to their charges, which included one count each of first-degree murder and torture for Jose, and one count each of second-degree murder and torture for Ursula. On April 30th, 2024, Superior Court Judge Robert Chu sentenced Jose to 32 years to life in prison, and Ursula to 22 years to life. As part of their plea deal, the disgraced parents waived their appellate rights. At the hearing, great-grandmother of Angelina told the couple, Why, my God, why is there such evil in you, Ursula?

Starting point is 01:33:04 What kind of monster are you, Jose? You're both very sick. You are the worst kind of sickos. As of the date of this recording in December of 2024, Ursula is currently being housed at the Central California Women's Facility in Chow Chila, alongside Pearl Hernandez and Heather Barron, while Jose is being held with the substance of treatment facility in state prison in Corcoran. It should be noted out of all her.

Starting point is 01:33:30 three of those cases that we've just covered. This case is the only one where the parents did not get life in prison. In the wake of Noah's death, Deputy District Attorney Jonathan Hattami summoned several DCF staffers who worked on Noah's case, including Maggie Vasquez Dukos and her supervisor. Both acknowledge they had not actually read Susan Johnson's 26-page filing to the juvenile court to remove Noah despite opposing it. stunned, the prosecutor asked Ms. Dukos, you're telling this jury that you decided not to follow the removal order that you never read. Is that accurate?

Starting point is 01:34:10 She said she had, but then further explained that she read it after Noah passed away. None of the high-ranking DCF administrators testified. Noah Alejandro Quatro was laid to rest at the San Fernando Mission Cemetery in Mission Hills, California. During a private service, loved ones remembered the little boy who loves Spider-Man, ponies, and PJ May mask, and was excited about starting school. Allegedly, his beloved great-grandmother Evangeline was banned from attending his funeral. His gravestone decorated with the little boy's picture in a guitar for the inscription, a hug, a kiss in heaven's bliss, gone too soon, our baby. So why did this happen?

Starting point is 01:34:56 Why were claims made for change and nothing happened as a result? What other cases do we not know about? Because these cannot be the only ones. What if the reporter gave into the immense pressure to stop and decided not to dig into Gabriel's case? Would we have known about any of these boys? If you've seen the Netflix documentary, the trials of Gabriel Fernandez, I think we have a good idea what the answer is

Starting point is 01:35:20 because before Gabriel's case was blown wide open by the LA Times, He was little more than a blurb in the homicide docket. He was swept under the rug like some sort of statistic, and nobody cared about him outside of those that actually knew him. Sadly, this is the fate of many children that die at the hands of their violent parents or caregivers. Cases where those meant to protect them want to turn a blind eye and pretend it didn't happen on their watch. Governing bodies who overload caseworkers, or in the case of Susan Johnson, punish those for doing what's in the best interest of children. Given what we've seen with these

Starting point is 01:35:57 three cases, it is likely that there are other children just like them who are never reported on. Until massive change happens in L.A. County, there will be more Gabriel's, more Anthony's, and more Noah's.

The Misery Machine - The Cases of Gabriel Fernandez, Anthony Avalos, and Noah Cuatro

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