The Misery Machine - Why Are California Parents Killing Their Kids?

Episode Date: September 12, 2021

This week, Drewby and Yergy continue their coverage of child related deaths and CPS failings across the country, this time highlighting three cases in California - two which were quite recent and one that shook LA County in the wake of the murder of Gabriel Fernandez. GoFundMe for Abby Coleman: https://www.gofundme.com/f/loving-abby-coleman?qid=97e3eaa76b3f926ebe29f96bb26d009a A very special thank you to Levi for supporting our show as our highest tier patron! Support Our Patreon For More Unreleased Content: https://www.patreon.com/themiserymachine Buy Us A Coffee! https://www.buymeacoffee.com/miserymachine Join Our Street Team! https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1HfRUPQhB6LOqVupZm92OdV5rLDQcIMpHudmUZwt0C24/edit?usp=sharing Levi's Adoption Fundraising Page: https://gofund.me/d658a3a7 Join Our Facebook Group to Request a Topic: https://t.co/DeSZIIMgXs?amp=1 PayPal: https://www.paypal.me/themiserymachine Instagram: miserymachinepodcast Twitter: misery_podcast Discord: https://discord.gg/kCCzjZM #themiserymachine #podcast #truecrime Source Material: https://losangeles.cbslocal.com/2021/06/30/sandra-chico-children-east-los-angeles/ https://losangeles.cbslocal.com/2021/06/28/east-la-mother-in-custody-3-children-found-dead-in-home/ https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/california/articles/2021-06-29/mother-arrested-in-deaths-of-3-children-in-east-los-angeles https://www.gofundme.com/f/ubszd-rodriguez-family-funeral https://losangeles.cbslocal.com/2021/06/29/east-la-mother-sandra-chico-arrested-for-murder-in-deaths-of-3-young-children/ https://www.mercurynews.com/2021/08/12/california-man-charged-with-spear-gun-killing-of-children/ https://people.com/crime/california-surfer-dad-accused-killing-kids-spear-gun-had-no-warning-signs/ https://people.com/crime/matthew-coleman-wife-told-cops-he-would-not-hurt-kids/ https://www.justice.gov/usao-cdca/pr/federal-criminal-complaint-charges-santa-barbara-man-murdering-his-two-young-children https://www.independent.com/2021/08/18/the-coleman-murders-a-community-in-shock/ https://www.gofundme.com/f/loving-abby-coleman?qid=97e3eaa76b3f926ebe29f96bb26d009a https://thecinemaholic.com/michael-lemos-carranza-and-david-martinez-now/ https://www.foxla.com/news/anthony-avalos-tortured-murdered-by-mom-her-boyfriend-death-penalty-off-table-under-da-gascon https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder_of_Anthony_Avalos https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lancaster,_California https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2019-09-03/anthony-avalos-death-gabriel-fernandez-dcfs-workers https://www.dailynews.com/2021/05/06/da-drops-death-penalty-bid-in-lancaster-torture-murder-of-anthony-avalos-10/

Hi, we're the Miser Machine. I'm Yergy. And I'm Drewby. And this week we're continuing our child case series across the country. And this week we're doing California, as we mentioned in our Gabriel Fernandez case. And if you're listening on YouTube, please hit like and subscribe. It's the best way to support our channel. Yes, it is. And also, we have kitties with us again today. This is Kytton and this is Kali doing a snooze. But without further ado, what the hell is going on in California? Anthony Avalos was born May 4th, 2008. Not much is known about his childhood, but he lived with his mother, Heather Barron, and her boyfriend, Corrine Lava, in Lancaster, California, which is a city in northern Los Angeles County. Anthony had recently told his mother that he liked boys and girls, which did not sit well with Barron or her boyfriend. The two allegedly used homophobic slurs in reference to Anthony in front of relatives, and Lava admitted that he did not feel comfortable being in near proximity to homosexuals. On June 21st, 2018, Anthony Avalos died at the hands of his mother and her boyfriend.

Leva was arrested after he made suspicious comments during an initial police interview. During his autopsy, Anthony's body showed clear signs of sustained abuse. He had bruises and burns all over his body, and he was extremely malnourished. According to court testimony, Anthony's aunt divulged to her therapist that Anthony's mother was beating, starving, and locking him for hours in a room without any access to the bathroom. He was six years old at the time. The therapist called a child abuse hotline to report this abuse. And for those that were here for Gabriel Fernandez case, this might seem a little bit similar so far. I'm telling you, that case is not the only case out there that happens.

like this. This is more common than you think. So caseworkers responded to 13 complaints of abuse regarding Anthony between February 2013 and April 2016 over three years and this included sexual abuse when he was four years old.

In a statement, Los Angeles County Deputy District Attorney John Hatami, who also prosecuted the Gabriel Fernandez case, stated and I quote, there were injuries to Anthony's side in his hip area. Both his left hip and his right hip and his arms and even injuries to his feet, end quote.

In another statement, he said, quote, at one point Anthony could not walk, was unconscious lying on his bedroom floor for hours, and was not provided medical attention and could not eat on his own, end quote. Over the last few days of his life, Anthony was tortured repeatedly. He was whipped all over his body. He was held upside down and dropped on his head, sprayed with hot sauce, and he was. sprayed with hot sauce in his eyes, nose, and mouth, and forced to kneel on rice for several hours. A 911 call was made one day before Anthony was murdered.

For more than four years, from 2013 to 2017, Anthony had been under the supervision of the Los Angeles DCFS. In that period of time, at least 13 known calls by teachers, counselors, relatives, and the police were made to the child abuse hotline regarding Anthony's welfare. DCFS followed up eight times. However, child protective workers missed numerous warnings of life-threatening abuse and repeatedly failed to intervene. On August 28, 2019, the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office announced it was seeking the death penalty against both Barron and Lava. Both pled not guilty to intentional murder with the infliction of torture to the victim. In addition to the murder with special circumstances charge, Barron was charged. Barron was with an additional abuse charge to one of her other sons.

The Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office under District Attorney George Gascon subsequently dropped the death penalty for Heather Barron and Kareem Lava. That's ridiculous. Anthony's extended family filed a lawsuit against L.A. DCFS in August 2019 after they alleged that his death was preventable due to criminal negligence. Matthew Taylor Coleman and his family were packing for a camping trip on August 7th. 2021, when he abruptly put his two children into his van and drove off, leaving his wife Abby alone and confused. Abby began texting her husband, but the messages were not going through. She became even more

worried when she realized Matthew had driven away from the couple Santa Barbara, California home, without car seats for the kids. Concerned, Abby called the police. She told authorities she didn't believe her husband would hurt the children, two-year-old Kaleo and 10-month-old Roxy. Authorities tracked Matthew Coleman's iPhone and saw that it had recently been in Rosarito, Mexico, a city about 20 miles south of the border in the Mexican state of Baja, California. The case was then handed over to the FBI. Even as she waited for answers, Abby told authorities that she and her husband hadn't been arguing in that there was no marital strife. She reiterated to authorities that she did not believe,

that the children were in any danger, and that she believed that Coleman would eventually return home with the kids, but Abby never saw her children again. Coleman, a 40-year-old surfing instructor, drove the children into Mexico on August 7th. They checked into a hotel. It's alleged that Coleman took the children to a ranch in Mexico early on the morning of August 9th.

There, he killed them with a spear fishing gun and returned to his hotel a few hours later. Mexican law enforcement was notified about the missing children, and police and Rosarito confirmed that two children matching the description of Coleman's were found dead that morning. He was arrested when he attempted to cross the border back into the United States. Coleman spoke to authorities about being enlightened by internet conspiracy theories, including that he had visions that his wife, quote, possessed serpent DNA and had passed it onto his children, end quote.

he later confessed to FBI specialists that he killed his daughter first by shooting a spear gun into her heart. Then he allegedly killed his son but said that his son did not die right away, so he had to be shot several times. Coleman claimed that he heard his hand in the process. He stated that he thought that they were, quote, going to grow into monsters, so I had to kill them, end quote. friends and family are trying to reconcile what exactly went wrong with Coleman. His friend Rachel Woodby told news sources, quote, It just doesn't compute. This is not the man I know.

But it's absolutely disgusting. It makes me sick to my stomach. I'm horrified. I thought he was a good person, end quote. Woodby, whose son once took surfing lessons from Coleman, says the 40-year-old surf instructor was affable, pleasant, and very good with his students. Quote, he was patient and kind.

This really comes out of the blue. He had no warning signs that he was capable of doing this. Such beautiful kids and such a senseless loss. It's just so sad, end quote. The Santa Barbara surfing community is a tight one. And the Christian surf community especially so. Calvary Chapel and Santa Barbara has held a surf ministry for years, which Coleman participated in, though he wasn't a member of the congregation,

An anonymous source close to Coleman in the surfing community stated that just a month ago, he said he had run into Coleman at a beach and they stood together watching their students surf. They talked about being dads and life in general, and Coleman seemed his usual cheerful self, speaking in terms of love and God and getting to teach his son to stand on a board. Santa Barbara's surfing tribe was heartbroken and shocked that someone who preached about right and wrong so frequently would all of a sudden do something so dark. who had taken lessons from Coleman in the early 2010's was shocked

the leader of his Christian serve camp would commit murder. Coleman had struck him as an adamant evangelical and also a typical Santa Barbara water guy, a sportsman, spearfisher, and a surfer. Quote, he was always very cheerful and upbeat, sometimes to the point of being a little unsettling, end quote. Coleman is due to be arraigned on August 31st and we'll be keeping an eye out for more details on this case as they emerge.

there are no records whatsoever of child protective services being involved with the Coleman family. A GoFundMe campaign has been set up to help offset the cost of funeral arrangements for the children and to help support Abby in her time of need, which we've linked in the description. And if you're wondering what the internet conspiracy group Coleman was linked to, I cannot say that word on YouTube because it is a banned word. It could get our video taken down. but it's a very, very popular one as of late, and I'm sure you probably know what it is.

It starts with the letter Q. On the afternoon of June 28, 2021, Los Angeles County Sheriff's deputies responded to a home on the 600 block of Ferris Avenue in the Belvedere Gardens area of East L.A. Four reports of two children not breathing. However, when deputies arrived, they found three children. Four-year-old, Mia, Camila,

Rodriguez, three-year-old Mason-Mateo Rodriguez, and one-month-old Milan-Meteas Rodriguez, unresponsive in a bedroom. Authorities attempted life-saving measures, but the children were pronounced dead at the scene. The children's mother, 28-year-old Sandra Chico, was subsequently arrested. Prosecutors filed three counts of murder and three counts of assault on a child against Chico. Her bail was originally sent at $2 million, but was increased to $6 million. authorities said there was no history of calls to the home. So far, investigators haven't released a cause of death and friends and neighbors dropped off flowers at a growing memorial outside the family home. Unlike in many child death cases we see, Sandra Chico's family appears to be supporting

her after her arrest. At a candlelight vigil held at the family's home, some of Chico's relatives came out and asked people not to pass judgment over the young mother, adding that she had been dealing with some mental health issues. So according to Necichaeli's, sources, the children's grandmother, Rosalba Flores Castillo, who does all of her interviews in Spanish, said that Chico has been suffering from depression and has not left the home. Quote, we still don't know the cause or the motive. All I know is she wasn't right. I won't criticize her. I wish her well. She is also a victim of her illness, which is depression. And even more so during these times that people couldn't go out. She never went out for

anything, end quote. Chico's brother-in-law, Arutro Zerzeo, stated, quote, I'm getting messages from a lot of people saying that they're judging my sister-in-law. They're telling her that she was a bad mother, but the only thing I ask is don't judge. I know it's hard, but don't judge, end quote. Her sister Elizabeth said her sister had been struggling after a miscarriage she had before becoming pregnant with her third child. Quote, she was depressed, she suffered a lot, she needed help. We all told her, Go to the doctor, go to the doctor. Her kids were her everything. She loved those kids, end quote.

According to Elizabeth, there were other adults inside the home when she made the deadly discovery. She ran over after receiving a call from her sister. Outside of the courthouse during Chico's arraignment, Elizabeth has been quoted as stating, quote, "'Sys, you're not alone. We are here for you. You will get the help that you need no matter what,' end quote. This story is still developing, and we'll be watching it closely as new details emerge. Family members set up a GoFundMe page in order to cover the cost of funeral arrangements

for the three children. In just over a month, the fundraiser collected over $31,000 before it was closed to new donations, and I want to be clear. There's obviously not a lot of information here, and I'm not trying to hold the perpetrator in any sympathetic light whatsoever, because I don't feel that way about her at all, but why this case stood out to us is, one, it's very recent, And two, a lot of people mentioned in the comment sections over past two videos we did for this about how parents are just killing their kids out of the blue seemingly without warning. And so when we found this case, that really, really, you know, fit that archetype. And I really wanted to put that out there that this is a case where a mother without warning just killed her three kids. Just no warning, no reason.

I felt we needed to put this one out there because things like this are happening. So what do we do now? DCFS has been involved with Anthony for four years with 12 known calls made, and they totally failed to save him and took the death penalty off the table for his killers. Should charges have been sought against DCFS workers that failed him, like the DA attempted to do in the case of Gabriel Fernandez? Did Los Angeles County learn nothing from Gabriel's death? Apparently.

And what about Sandra Chico? Could existing depression stemming from a previous miscarriage post-Age? Departime depression and depression over the pandemic then the culprit? If these findings are proven to be true, does she deserve prison time or should she be remanded to a psychiatric hospital? If you were one of her loved ones, would you be able to forgive her and not pass judgment? What of Matthew Taylor Coleman in his alleged internet conspiracy radicalization? Please let us know your thoughts in the comment section below. One thing that I found really disturbing about this with Anthony is just how little information there was out there.

There's all this information about Gabriel's case, and arguably they both suffered some severe torture. Yeah, their cases are quite similar. They're very, very similar, but, you know, it feels like he fell through the cracks, and the LA Times didn't really pick him up as much. And again, just like I said in the previous episode, when we talked about Gabriel, Gabriel's not the only one, and this is just proof of that. I mean, what other cases out there that we would find? find even less information on than we would have for Anthony.

I found one case where they found a boy that was dead inside of his closet wrapped up in his sheet that had been there for days. And he was so malnourished. It was ridiculous. And that was also in Los Angeles. And there was almost nothing on it. There just wasn't enough information to do it justice. This is absolutely terrifying to me to know that this is happening.

I would make the assumption that this qualifies as widespread. in California, at least, at least in California. Could I assume that's nationwide? Sure I could, but the evidence alone here where we're finding case like this, like, oh yeah, this child was tortured, malnourished, left in a closet for days and just found we have nothing on it. This is Sylvia Likens level stuff. Yes, it is.

Absolutely. Obviously missing some certain things, but this definitely qualifies. This is definitely in the same ballpark as Sylvia Likens, for sure. I just don't know how there's going to be a difference made in California. I mean, I hope that Gabriel's case, especially with a documentary, moves things forward a little bit better. But there's just so many Gabriel's. There are so many Gabriel's. And is it going to take more reporters doing these stories that their superiors don't want them to do

and getting DCFS workers to risk their jobs to go on a record? I just don't know. I hope that this helps, but I'm scared that they're. things are going to revert back to what they were before. Also, if you appreciate this episode, you want us to keep doing more cases like this in different states. You know, we're only from Maine. We've lived in other areas, too, but we need help from locals to shine a light on

these cases that the media isn't covering. So please send us an email, Miserymachinepodcast.g.mail.com or leave us a comment, reach out to us on social media with these cases you think we should cover in different states. We also have a very wonderful group of people that have gotten that extra. step to support us on Patreon, so let's thank those people now. Yes, so thank you, Eddie Rowan, Mark, Markey, Markey, Neal and Karen, Dave and Carina, Dakota and Kitty, Jen Mo, Jenny, Robin, Tom, Kaylee, Alex, Jacob, Bailey, Steven Ciaia, Amanda Patricia, Alexis, Carine, Catherine, Jody, Jacqueline, Lawton, Crystal Nat, Cooper, Blue Unicorn, Michelle, Catherine, Rondie, Janice, Andrea,

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