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 the 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 the amount of people who tried to help the poor boy we’re 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 into 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 yes that’s right most murders even those involving children end up being nothing more than a small obituary 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 LA 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 have known better a county that openly told

us that it knew do 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 your’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 contas 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 3

days after he was born shortly after Gabriel was placed in the care of Michael lamos coranza his great uncle on his mother’s side and his partner David Martinez in recent years Gabriel Fernandez has become something of a household name thanks to LA Times Reporter Garrett theol 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 push back workers

from inside LA 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 Garrett and The Whistleblower for coming forward even despite the serious risk of doing so in 2009 when Gabriel was 4 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 and Gabriel although this is never proven to be true it was possibly employed to remove the boy from their custody Gabriel remained in his grandparents care until 20 2 despite objections from the family regarding Gabriel’s well-being his mother Pearl and her new boyfriend isaro Ager regained custody to gain welfare benefits at the time Gabriel was just 8 years old Pearl Cynthia Fernandez was born on August 29th 1983 to 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 according to Pearl she started drinking and using Crystal by the age of 9 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 in 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 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 thought to guide her behavior and control her emotional reactions according to family members including her own Aunt Elizabeth coranza Pearl had a difficult time accepting responsibility for her actions and enjoyed falsely portraying herself as a victim she claimed that many of her romantic Partners including Naro 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 air was born on June 13th 1980 the time of our story Pearl and isaro had been together about a year prior to regaining custody of Gabriel isaro 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 Weiss Spar isaro was quiet down to earth nice person always willing to help he had worked for Woodland Park for 3 years and was described as patient and loving and would often change the adult diapers of elderly residents at the facility isaro was well loved by his residents according to his cooworker Shirlene Mill isaro 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 isar was working as a security guard for AVL private security and where he was posted up at the viarta market in Palmdale now after hearing all of this one would think that isaro was just a huge teddy bear that’s what makes what happened next so shocking 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 clothes clothing to school 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 8ye old like 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 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 inhome 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 in risks 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 antalope Valley Youth and Family Services that could 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 2023 allegedly Gabriel had failed to pick up his toys after he was done with them which led to the couple beating him except this time Gabriel wasn’t

breathing Pearl called 911 in Emergen Services were dispatched the couple’s apartment located in a 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 8-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 2 days later on May 24th

2013 at autopsy his cause of death was determined to be blunt force 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 agir 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 plan 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 2018 as part of the agreement the death penalty would be removed from the table and pearl would plead guilty in exchange for life imprisonment without the possibility of parole isaro 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 Ami 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 isar 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 iso’s Attorney John Allen painted his client as a kind and compassionate man with a clean criminal record before meeting Pearl well prosecutor hatami portrayed him as simply pure evil who

deserve the death penalty even though it and I quote doesn’t even compare to what he did to Gabriel November 14th 2017 the 12 jurors began their deliberations which went on until the following afternoon ultimately isaro air was found guilty on all counts the sentencing phase began December 11th of the same year it appeared the jury was deadlocked but on De 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 I want to say I’m sorry to my family for what I did I want to say I’m sorry for this what happened I wish every was alive every day I I wish that I made better choices I’m sorry to my children and I want them to know that I love them and I hope one day they will forgive me and I hope one day they would come to their s come to me I wish I wish but thankfully Superior Court Judge George lelli wasn’t moved and had harsh words for both Pearl and esaro privy to this case I sat through it and I heard

the evidence uh I was privy to the photographs coroners photographs extend of the injuries and what have you and this almost demands that comment be made uh about this case it goes without saying that uh the conduct was horrendous inhumane and nothing short of evil uh the repeated beatings burning starving binding uh shooting Gabriel with the BBS that were embedded in different parts of his body knocking his teeth out with a bat uh locking him in a dark cabinet while he’s bound and starving this this poor child I I it is

unimaginable the pain that this child probably endured and uh from what I heard Gabriel was a kind loving individual who just wanted to be loved and so uh you know you want to say that the conduct was animalistic but that would be wrong cuz even animals know how to take care of their young some to an extent that they will sacrifice their own lives uh in caring for their young um I I remember saying years ago a report on the news that that uh and this at least sent the point home to me about animals and there was this cat who had

given birth to a literary cats and the house wherein the kittens were in um 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 a kitten and she would emerge from the house uh by the Scruff holding a kitten by the Scruff uh and and uh would manage one by one to to bring him uh or her to safety and the last time uh the house was lost and the fire department tried to keep this this cat from going into the house but it managed to loot them

went into the house and they thought well she’s lost and uh I never forgot thinking that she she made it out of the house she had the cat by the Scruff except that she was singed burning her face but the 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 of that kitten and so when you want to say first instinct is to say you know what this is animalistic no it’s it’s beyond animalistic as animals know how to take care of their young you know I can only

wish I I really do that you both in the middle of the night you wake up and you think of the injuries that that you subjected this poor young man this poor 7-year-old um 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 um but that’s my wish on June 13th 2018 isaro was transferred to San Quinton State Prison to await his execution should be noted that California governor Gavin duum

placed a moratorium on executions in 2019 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 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 nightstalker Richard Ramirez in the spring of 2021 isaro air 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 in Chowchilla April 8th 2021 Pearl attempted to be resentenced 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 lelli 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 something that we surprisingly rarely see happen to perpetrators when we research these stories 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 bomb 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 crack 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 his injuries to family members to a security guard at the Los Angeles County Welfare Office into mandated reporters at his school the very first hotline call 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 he’s like well sometimes my mom makes me bed and I said well where do you bed and he said on my bottom cuz she hits me with a belt and he’s like you know that part with the metal on it he’s like that part after Jennifer’s call case worker Rodriguez was assigned to Gabriel’s case but the violence suffered by the first grader just seemed to be

getting worse Jennifer watched as Gabriel came to her classroom with a fat lip and 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 followup Gabriel should have been brought to a c a medical hub for

examination but he wasn’t Gabriel’s great aunt Elizabeth coranza called the hotline on three separate occasions 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 inhome 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 as you’ll find out later Gabriel would not be the last child who would die from her negligence sadly the C charges were dropped in 2020 by California’s Second 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 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 Paca where he attended school for 2 years 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 14th 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 he hadn’t lived in for 38 years according to prosecutor hatami he should have been allowed to stay in the US very very unfair David’s funeral was held on July 16th 2020 the same day California’s Second District Court of Appeals threw out 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 and Los Angeles County would not want this level of heat on them again 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 because LA 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 aalos 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 he was born to parents Heather Maxine Baron 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 construction worker had to take off to Mexico Victor was able to keep in contact through video calls but

Heather had a difficult time making n’s 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 Baron 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 he loved the Cowboys he loved going to the park he was good good at playing video games he always enjoyed eating

papo’s when his mama would 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 excon 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 came out soon enough now according to Heather she and her sisters were repeatedly essayed by their stepfather you 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 4 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 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 case worker 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 sa furthermore his siblings told them that Heather was beating him case workers believe 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 casew workers placed Anthony into the program even though he was considered a high-risk case there is 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 case workers assigned to Anthony was Matthew Mansfield a veteran DCFS supervisor who also played a role in Gabriel’s placement in the voluntary program in Anthony’s case Mansfield and College Mark milman brought in counselors from the children’s center of the analou 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 Luise Ramirez based solely on the information provided by Ms Baron 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 ISS issues 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 hair pin trigger she would hit the children

with whatever object was close by a wooden spoon a pingpong paddle belts shoes or a hanger alleged ly 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 she was 24 with four kids and she was pregnant again case workers in Los Angeles County weren’t taking what Anthony was going through seriously they

refused to remove him from Heather’s care even after the 6-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 14 to report that Heather grabbed one of 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 M Wright told the hotline operator that Mark milman 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 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 um and I was there a very long time um I saw nothing but anger towards those children verbal emotional she showed absolutely no affection towards any of them okay even the two week at that time the baby was two weeks old okay she seemed completely detached Shane bulkley another DCFS worker who is a signed 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

milman is saying given the children and their age and their behavior she is doing all she can however both Shane bulkley and Mark milman later declined to comment on that particular statement on November 5th 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 Mark milman did follow up with Miss G but the conversation was brief at best now we’ve mentioned in previous episodes a scoring system that DCFS uses to rate

the children that enter their program the voluntary family maintenance program was supposed to service lowrisk cases despite Anthony being considered highrisk 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 at the close of 2014 Mark milman and his supervisor Matthew

Mansfield took the Children’s Center off the case and enlisted a new agency hathway sycamore’s Child and Family Services which again had provided similar services to Gabriel for herandez through its counselor Barbara Dixon it’s unclear why the switch was made and Crystal G considered her removal in 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

crminal case against Gabriel’s case workers she claimed she witnessed extensive injuries but with hel the information from the hotline despite a state law requiring her to report all suspected violence in exchange for 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 counsel him to listen to his mother more attentively and to finish his homework I wonder if she tell a battered woman that she wouldn’t get hit if she didn’t burn dinner I digress 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 in 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 Lea A co-worker 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 Lea household

as it is somewhat confusing 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 kareim the family of 10 all lived together in a three unit at the Village Point Apartments off of East Avenue K in Lancaster within months of their introduction the father of one of Heather’s younger children told police that kareim was hurting his son on April 27th 2015 Sheriff’s deputy Elijah gagan interviewed the boy then 2 years old who

told him that his mother’s boyfriend had violently grabbed him by the ear leaving it bruised and cut Deputy wrote that he saw the wounds himself when Sheriff’s Detective Chris Wyatt got the report he made no attempt whatsoever to find Karim and recommended no charges and thus ended the investigation DCFS workers also did not locate and interview Kareem at any point over the 3 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 as the relationship progressed Heather told case workers 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 case workers an a scoro 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 12th 2015 Miss scoro 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 are you alleging more neglect or alleging more physical by an

unknown perpetrator or no which what’s what’s our allegation would you say I know you have to have to put up 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 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 grow had become increasingly concerned he told M grow that his mother beat him and locked him in a room with no access to food water or a bathroom he shared that his mother’s boyfriend forced him to kneel on uncooked rice and pushed on his knees as he knelt so that 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 arm arms outstretched appalled by what Anthony shared she called the hotline on September 18th um a little boy told a um 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 um let me look at my not um thanking them putting them to do Captain’s chairs in the corner the

corner okay what is that that captain’s chair Captain’s chairs he demonstrated it for me where he has to put his back up against the wall and kneel down like spend down so it’s like I mean it’s a it’s a spy strengthening exercise so could also be considered like discipline if you’re making a child do that for a long time okay they’re hurting their thigh okay and you said locking them up where in the um their rooms for hours on in and so the aunt went and took them okay and they’ve now gone to go live with the

aunt around the same time Anthony’s Uncle David Baron 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

gardo responded called the hotline to report what had happened according to Deputy gardo they seemed pretty shaken up when I talked to them about it I stuck in and talked with a couple of the kids and a couple of the kids has told me some things that uh make me not want to release them right now um I’m not going to release him uh basically they’re saying that the guy Kareem that I referred to earlier he um he’s been pretty physically to him hit him with belts in the face hit him with belts on the legs uh he put him in like a seated

squat position against the wall for tons of time on in he locked him in the bedrooms um apparently he held the youngest by his ankles over uh the flight of stairs and that wasn’t even from that was some gave me that information and uh I tend to believe the kids they seem pretty shooken up when I talked to them 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 leaving them with the brother for um for how

long um I guess until you guys come out and uh do that referral that you guys have open right now that 5day referral next day David called the hotline himself 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 when their mother’s boy 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 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 MS13 gang and that he was afraid of what he would do next um he said Kareem dragged him on

the floor he slammed him to the floor like he’d pick him up and throw him on the floor are they like rough playing or is he doing this intentionally to call um he he’s admitted he doesn’t like the kid so he just treats him like crap just because he doesn’t like him cuz he’s too and stuff so he he locks them in the rooms and he was grabbing them by his ankles cuz they have a two-story house and he would hang them upside down by his ankles and start shaking him like oh I’m going to drop you if you don’t stop and like I was thinking if he

slipped one time that’ kill the baby the kid so okay when did all of this happen what the um we just found out about it but I guess it’s been going on for months now and then they U my sister and 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 couldn’t just say the same story and they all told me the same exact thing he wouldn’t

feed him until Mommy came home he would give him cold showers and then do you know what an Indian burn is no is that like a carpet No it’s like a you grab somebody’s arms and you just start twisting your arms really hard okay and is doing that to him also and then throwing dirty diapers at their heads and so sis your sister kareim stated that if they towed anyone they would be they would be in trouble yes and then um after told us uh we we let my sister know like do you know that cream’s your child and she’s like no no

no it’s not true and then when she took her home she um she kept telling her you need to say it’s not true it’s not true and he said I’m not going to lie I need to tell the police the truth cuz we told her we were 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 I am part of the baren family

now I’m never going to see Heather again she locks us up in our rooms and makes us starving Miss Vernon then called Barbara Dixon and two other Hathaway sycamore’s counselors who had been working in the home for 7 months they were supportive of Heather’s parenting during the discussion according to miss Vernon’s case notes each service provider reported that he had never heard anything from the children about violence and neglect Akia 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 Baron showed up at the DCFS office for answer about the investigation Miss 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 where she does not lock the bedroom door anymore a month later Anthony and his siblings recanted their allegations against Heather and kareim in December 2015 ikia Vernon marked the allegations from Gia grow deputy gardo and David Baron 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 Miss Vernon and her superviser however decided against

taking any further action she later stated that her decision Rel lied on the children recanting their prior claims and was unaware that victims often retract their accounts the following month barar 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 laa household on April 28th 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 case workers 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 bl’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 conduct independent investigations of CA and not

rely solely on DCFS is 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 case workers marked it as unsubstantiated once again between February 28th 2013 and 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 time Heather cut ties with her brother David her 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 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 to move to a neighboring seat hoping to be the friend the newcomer needed according to miss Bell Anthony was often nervous about something he held his Bible tightly throughout the day once quaking with 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 6 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 he is so

kind and considerate to others arrives 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 Miss Bell ever again on June 18th Anthony allegedly confided to his mother that he liked boys something that his Aunt Maria with 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 DCFS

caseworker that Kareem overheard this conversation the following night Kareem 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 on June 20th 2018 Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies responded to a 911 call from Heather at about 12:15 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 analou 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 Maria crouched at her feet on her hands and knees on the lenium 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 sensors were taped around his skull recording his diminished brain activity he was 4 6 in tall and weighed 77 lb 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 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 his six other siblings were finally removed from Heather’s care 29-year-old Heather Baron and 32-year-old Kareem Lea were arrested on June 20th 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 some sources claimed that the two were denied bail others State they had a bail set at $2 million each on the day of anony death Deputy district attorney Jonathan hatami and a couple of Sheriff’s Department homicide detectives spent 2 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 in 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 during her interrogation the LA County Sheriff’s Special Victims Bureau in Lancaster prosecutor hatami said he experienced an overwhelming sense of deja vu at 5’2 160 lb with black hair pulled back in a tight ponytail Heather looked like someone he became familiar with 5 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 at trial Anthony’s 8-year-old sister and 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 he’ 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 she said so the boys would be in trouble so Kareem would have me and my other brother beat up Anthony 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 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 all together 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 knel on rice and that Kareem sometimes used his foot to put pressure on their knees causing them to bleed afterwards 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 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 authorities 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 in 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 Baron and Kareem Lea’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 kareim Ernesto Lea 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 Lea pursuant to Peno code section 19 90.2 subdivision a paragraph 18 to be true the court finds defendant Heather Maxine Baron 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 Baron pursuant aeno code section 190.

2 subdivision a paragraph 18 to be true on this count defendant Lea’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 Lea’s own admissions made on September 27th 2018 defendant Lea’s flight from the apartment when 99 911 was called on June 20th 2018 defendant Lea’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 and the various tape interviews

of ranging from June 20th 2018 to June 28th 2018 at sentencing 4 years later Heather and Kareem 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 who would like to speak and then there’s six or seven that they want me to read read their

statement you may begin thank you we’re going to start with uh the juvenal genre the first is uh first initial of the last name is O and she’s with her uh family members is an assist it’s okay honey you can stand right here and you can open that you want or you can read it whatever you want you tell the judge whatever you want to say take your take your time it’s okay me to do

it how about this why don’t you have other people go okay so that can see how it goes and then if she wishes to make the statement herself she could do so thank you she sit there for a little while okay thank you and and here’s the thing you’re just you’re making a statement to the judge that’s it and it there no wrong or 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 going do it you want talk okay you first initial of the last name is be your honor Anthony’s cousin and

you can hold this if you want Maria can help you too no you want to hold it okay don’t hold it and you see the judge he’s up there and you can tell the judge wherever you want okay do you have his paper yes you mean doesn’t have it memorized you didn’t memorize it I I could have read the paper okay that your okay I’m good okay do you your judge my name is I am 8 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 with me and 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 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 how to play he baseball or play catch with him Heather who’s supposed to be my own 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 cousin life and I hope she gets beat up in jail because I just wanted to meet Anthony I hope Heather has a horrible life Anthony is in a better place and someday we’ll be together we and again and we will be able to make new memories I always carry you in my heart Anthony 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 O Anthony was everything to me and my

family Anthony was a ball of sunshine to everyone and sadly because these two monsters he is not here anymore Anthony did not deserve any other the things that happened to him nor me and I am a 13-year-old girl I should not have to be here doing all this I should 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 I can’t sometimes I wish I could turn back time and speak up to a

teacher or anyone at these but I can’t I wish that Maria introduced K to you or us Heather you and Kem ruin not only Anthony’s life mind Noah David’s priscillas Evelyn and even your own lives you decided to choose and live you decide to choose and live and a man over us your own children you decided to let that horrible man into our lives and that ruined everything you stopped loving and protecting us and that hurts hurts a lot kareim you came into our life and ruined everything

I don’t know why you did it but you did you tortured us and hurt us very badly if it wasn’t for you Anthony would still be here and none of us would be 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 a mother 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 to me you are both monsters and Heather you are not my mother nor family if I knew that the ab would have

ended with me losing my brother I would have said something but I didn’t because I was not scared because I was scared and terrified but I am not anymore because this is all finally coming to an end and you both will get what has 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 and 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 it would be me not Anthony thank

you thank you 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 31st 2022 this means that in 2026 Barbara Dixon is free to fail children in Los Angeles once more on April 25th 2023 Heather Maxine Baron and Kareem Ernesto Lea were sentenced to life in prison both were denied

probation in ordered to pay $7,500 in victim’s compensation funds they had initially faced the death penalty but Los Angeles County district attorney George gascan 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 kareim is being

held at The Mule Creek State Prison in ioni should also be noted that in the wake of anony death his family along with prosecutor Jonathan hatami held protests with the intention to ous Da gcan due to his inability to put victims in their families first protests were held in Sam yelen 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 anthon’s funeral service was held at St Junipero Sarah Parish in

quartz Hills California on July 20th 2018 his father Victor served as a Paul Bearer he was laid to rest in a small blue casket at the Good Shepherd Catholic Cemetery in Lancaster California his headstone engraved with the image of a Sleeping Angel or the inscription you don’t have to have superpowers to be a superhero now you would think this would be the end of the video surely LA 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 LA County was content to let him die and as a further insult removed 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 but what you’re about to find out is that it is far more horrifying than that Noah Alejandro Quattro was born on

August 20th 2014 in Palmdale California to parents Ursula elain harez and Jose Maria Quattro 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 2 years later followed by a daughter and another son from very early on the couple had already racked up a long history with social services in fact LA 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 often times

skull fractures in infants and toddlers point to shaking baby syndrome DCFS social worker Jennifer Montan wasn’t going to allow Ursula to have another opportunity to harm another child she launched a full investigation and knew that 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 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 great grandmother Evangelina Hernandez who he would go on to stay with for 9 months she 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 wellfed she made sure he had plenty of age appropriate toys and enriching activities throughout the day NOA 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 they felt that DCFS had robbed 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 scul 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 DC FS radar

in November of 2016 when Noah was just a little over 2 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 atrisk children babies and toddlers need to reach a lot of Developmental Milestones if 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 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 Boyce’s age at 2 years old he weighed just 17 lb the average weight for a 2-year-old boy

should be between 27 and 30 lbs he was almost half that Jennifer Montano 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 EXP explain that he was a troublemaker and would run around the house eating everything until he couldn’t take anymore and threw up once again Noah was removed from his parents’

custody this time he was placed in a treatment center called beas 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 claimed such as vomiting or naughty Behavior the administrator of AAS House Michelle Thompson said said he was not quite caught up but almost there he was running around he was sliding on the slide he would call himself no no afterward Noah was returned to the care of his great grandmother Evangelina

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 loved cuddles and would hug his great grandmother and say you know what time it is Grandma it’s time for you to hold me and tell me you love me even though Evangelina 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 evangelina’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 their son either the couple never met made their son a priority often times they bailed on visitation much to knowah his 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 but Ursula and Jose were given stipulations including enrolling Noah in daycare and therapy he needed to show up at his doctor 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 Evangelina 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 event 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 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 M 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 Miss Johnson made a number of visits to the family home where she was able to make contact with Noah Miss Johnson expressed a lot of concern regarding Noah he seemed to exhibit telltale signs of CA and neglect 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

psychologist some families will adopt the method of a scapegoat goat 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 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 no 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 ursul and Jose’s unwillingness to cooperate the courts decided to keep moving forward with a reunification plan Miss Johnson told the court that Ursula and Jose had lied to her multiple times they continually 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 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 4 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 Miss Johnson showed up the address Ursula and Jose claimed to live at only to find they didn’t actually live there Jose a sister answered the door instead she said her brother and his kids had not lived there for at least 4 months Jose’s mother new VI

aario said the family occasionally stayed there and confessed to being worried about her grandkids Noah was always hungry according to miss baros 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 beli that he was not only the victim of CA but sa as well said that it wasn’t just this conversation that made her think that he

was experiencing sa but also a change in his entire personality his demeanor was completely different 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 ad vate 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 the bruising on his neck and upper arms was just because Noah was clumsy she also said that the cream on his back was for eczema this visit raised every red flag and Miss Johnson IM 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 Miss 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 Miss 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 seemed that her superiors were not paying much attention to her concerns the only thing Susan could do was file a report 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 case worker is brought in to take the lead on the case this new casew worker was Maggie Vasquez ducos as soon as she entered the picture she started to undo all of Miss 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 Ursula and Jose immediately began explaining that he had fallen from his bunk bed Miss Duos 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 I’ve had this case open for 4

years and I have been told good enough to only have my two kids but not Noah how does that make sense it didn’t take much to fool Miss Duos into believing that they were honest when she talked to Noah he denied any claims of CA or saay 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 tox household she filed a complaint with the courts resulting in a

petition to remove Noah from his parents custody for a third time 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 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 Duos and DCFS leaders

discussed Noah’s case and whether or not they were going to follow through Miss Johnson later recall 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 on their hands one of the members told Miss Johnson to stop talking while miss Duos said she believed the boy was fine and that there was nothing absolutely nothing wrong with the family Miss ducos also accused Miss Johnson of siding with Evangelina 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 this Duos her superiors in DCFS decided they needed to conduct a more thorough investigation before they could justify such drastic measures as remov in Noah for a third time at this point Susan Johnson is completely removed from the case Maggie

Vasquez Duos 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 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 19 the quattas were living in an apartment in Palmdale California now around this time Maggie Vasquez ducos 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 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 Miss Duos reported to the courts that she still needed more time it was granted an additional 30 days to investigate the case she emailed her supervisor saying that even though it

was court ordered Noah didn’t need an examination because there were no reports of saay Miss Duos tried to visit the family several more times but was denied and a verbally attacked by Jose and Ursula despite being Latina herself they claimed that that she was racist and wanted to take their child still miss ducos 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 600 p.m. 911 dispatchers received a call from the Palmdale apartment complex it was Ursula she told the dispatcher that they needed an ambulance that her son Noah had been found unresponsive in the pool allegedly according to her the 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 no was taken to the hospital 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 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 and no aqu Quattro 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 in the medical IAL 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 the autopsy also revealed undeniable evidence of aay they found trauma to Noah his 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 police had their eyes on only one pair of suspects now on iwitness 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 the scene to derail investigators our May has a story you’re seen first on Eyewitness News you have to go FAS 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 7 8 9 2 1 the

911 call four-year-old Noah Quattro unconscious on the living room floor his parents telling First Responders they had just pulled him from the swimming pool we brought him upstair cuz we were trying to get him we were trying to think like maybe he he’ll wake up where are you at right now his pet is that way where right in the house in the house yeah in the house where in the house in the living room okay so you’re in the living room and I L down Noah’s father Jose Quattro reenacting his desperate CPR attempts at their Palmdale apartment

on July 5th last year and I was just like Noah Noah Come On Son please breathe their story soon unraveled Jose Quattro and Noah’s mother Ursula wates are charged with the torture and murder of Noah the case has the Department of Children and Family Services Under Fire too just a 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 no signs of drowning at all no water in the lungs but there are 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 asphixiation and blunt force trauma it’s looking like there’s some sort of uh like strangulation of some sort and station Noah and his siblings had been in and out of foster care prosecutors alleged Jose Quattro

targeted Noah believing the boy was not his son that at age two back with the parents Noah weighed 17 lbs 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 right 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 both Ursula and Jose were charged with CA and homicide they 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 County district attorney George gascon who didn’t do any favors for Anthony aalos either 2020 Evangelina Hernandez filed a wrongful death lawsuit on behalf of herself and Noah’s surviving siblings stated that instead of protecting Noah and his siblings DCFS continued to place the children with their 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 said this to her the lawsuit was settled in December of 2024 but the details of the settlement have not been made public halfway sycamore’s Child and Family Services who you’ll 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 Elizabeth Hernandez AAS 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 odor on March 29th 2024

both Ursula Warz and Jose Quattro Jr pled no contest to their charges which included one count each of first-degree murder and torture for Jose and one count each of second deegree 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 the disgraced parents waved their appell at rights at the hearing great grandmother of Angelina told the couple why my God why is there such evil in you Ursula what kind of monster are you Jose

you’re both very sick you are the worse kind of sickos as of the date of this recording in December of 2024 ursulo is currently being housed at the central California women’s facility in chiao Chilla alongside Pearl Hernandez and Heather Baron while Jose is being help the substance abuse Treatment Facility in state prison in corkran should be noted out of all 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

hatami summoned several DCF staffers who worked on Noah’s case including Maggie Vasquez ducos and her supervisor both acknowledged they had not actually read Susan Johnson’s 20 26 page filing to the juvenile court to remove Noah despite opposing it stunned the prosecutor asked Miss ducos you’re telling this jury that you decided not to follow the removal order that you never read is that accurate 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 Quattro 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 mask and was excited about starting school allegedly his beloved great-grandmother Evangelina was banned from attending his funeral his gravestone decorated with a 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 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 fernandz I think we have a good idea what the answer is 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 case workers 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 three cases it is likely that there are other

children just like them who were never reported on until massive change happens in LA county there will be more Gabriels more anthonies and more Noah