Content Warning: This article contains sensitive content and graphic depictions of violence and child abuse. Read at your discretion.

Gabriel:

Gabriel Daniel Fernandez was born on February 20, 2005, in Palmdale, California to parents Pearl Sinthia Fernandez and Arnold Contreras. Just three days after he was born, his mother  placed him in the care of his great-uncle, Michael Lemos Carranza, and his partner, David Martinez. In the Netflix documentary, Trials of Gabriel Fernandez, Martinez expressed how, “She didn’t want him and the family didn’t want her to have him.” These two men would go on to provide a loving environment throughout Gabriel’s first four years before his grandparents, Robert and Sandra Fernandez, would take custody of him because they didn’t like the idea of him being raised by two gay men. He would continue to live in the hands of those who loved him dearly before being exposed to Pearl and her boyfriend, Isauro Aguirre. Robert even testified during Aguirre’s trial that he cared for Gabriel every single day for the first seven years of his life, adding how “he was like a son.” Throughout this period and even after he was in custody of Pearl and her boyfriend, Gabriel was known to be a smart, loving, and playful child who desired the love and approval of his mom. He expressed to his mom how he would ”start being good” and tried to be loving towards her. Covered in bruises, he delivered a Mother’s Day card to Pearl.

Perla (Pearl) 

Pearl Cinthia Fernandez was born on August 29, 1983, in Los Angeles, California, to parents Robert and Sandra Fernandez. Pearl had what could be described as a turbulent childhood, with her father being in and out of prison. She had reported her mom being abusive and neglectful towards her and that her uncle tried to rape her when she was a teenager. The Netflix documentary, The Trials of Gabriel Fernandez, also reveals that she was once captured by men and was raped continuously. All this prompted her to run away and encounter a bad streak with her own behaviors. By the age of 9, she began to smoke and use methamphetamine, and many family members expressed how Pearl herself was controlling and violent towards her boyfriends. She had reportedly abused and scratched Aguirre while accusing him of being abusive towards her. Gabriel was one of four children that Pearl had with Contreras; Ezequiel, Virginia, and another child were Gabriel’s siblings. These children would testify in court and would express that they were abused around the same time as Gabriel. Additionally, Fernandez had charges against her after she threatened to stab Contreras. Deborah S. Miora, a clinical psychologist who interviewed Fernandez for defense, expressed that Pearl was unable to use thoughts to process her emotions or control her behaviors.

Aguirre: 

Isauro “Tony” Aguirre was born on June 13, 1980. Like Fernandez, Aguirre had possible learning disabilities as he had repeated two grades in school and ultimately dropped out. Aguirre worked at Woodland Park Retirement Hotel as a caregiver and a driver. His former boss, Susan Weisbarth, who now goes by another name, had expressed to the producers of the Netflix documentary that Aguirre “was quiet, he was just a down to earth nice person, always willing to help.” For three years, Weisbarth oversaw his work and would describe him as patient and loving. Staff at the hotel also affectionately named him “Shaggy.” Aguirre met Fernandez about 18-24 months before taking custody of Gabriel. In 2012, Aguirre became a security guard for AVL Private Security at the Vallarta Market in Palmdale, California. 

Bruised: 

Gabriel would go on to endure abuse from both Pearl and Isauro for a total of eight months leading up to his death. The abuse he endured ranged from kicking to being shot in the face with a BB gun. During prosecution, they rolled out a cabinet that Aguirre and Fernandez would lock the boy in, gagged and bound, without access to the bathroom, water, or food. Gabriel’s brother, Ezequiel, who would go on to testify multiple times how Aguirre would fist and kick Gabriel, grabbing him by the neck and dropping him to the ground until he lost consciousness. He also expressed that Aguirre would pepper spray Gabriel in the face and strike his body with a metal belt and hanger. Aguirre shot Gabriel in the face, chest, legs, and groin with a BB gun. Ezequiel also depisted a time where Aguirre struck Gabriel so hard that his head left an indent on the wall. During the same testimony, Ezequiel said that “my mom and her boyfriend made Gabriel eat spoiled stuff or expired stuff. One thing I remember is the expired spinach. He threw it up, and they made him eat it off the table.” Aguirre and Fernandez would also make Gabriel eat cat feces and cat litter. 

May 22, 2013:

On May 22, 2013, 9-1-1 was called by Pearl about her son being unresponsive. Paramedics arrived to see Gabriel naked on the floor with severe injuries, such as a cracked skull, broken ribs, burn marks, and BB pellets lodged into his body. They described the scene as an unbelievable amount of trauma. Gabriel was then taken to Antelope Valley Hospital where he was declared brain dead. After, he was taken off life support and passed away at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles two days later. The autopsy would reveal that Gabriel passed from a result of blunt-force trauma, neglect, and malnutrition. The motive behind the beating: Gabriel hadn’t picked up his toys and was hit until he bled and then was dragged into the bedroom, where bangs and screams could be heard until everything went quiet, according to Ezeqiuel. Phone calls and evidence presented in court expressed that, before paramedics could get to the scene, Aguirre was instructed to give CPR to Gabriel. When the paramedics showed up, both Aguirre and Fernandez were nowhere near the boy and began to argue, expressing, “The boy is a liar. Whatever he says he is lying.” 

Trial:

Pearl was arrested for felony child endangerment while Isauro was arrested for attempted murder. They were both charged with first degree murder with prosecutors pursuing the death penalty for both of them. On February 15, 2018, Pearl was sentenced to life in prison without possibility of parole after pleading guilty to avoid the death penalty. She stated in court, “I want to say I’m sorry for what happened. I wish Gabriel was alive. Every day I wish that I would have made better choices. I’m sorry to my children, and I want them to know that I love them.” As for Isauro, he pleaded not guilty. The case was prosecuted by Jonathan Hatami and Deputy District Attorney Scott Yang. Jury selection had begun in September 2017, and ultimately the jury was composed of seven women and five men. Jurors were given details about the external and internal abuse that Gabriel had endured, with Prosecutor Hatami calling Aguirre “pure evil”, expressing how he deserved the death penalty even if it didn’t amount to his actions. The jury would find him guilty of first degree murder and guilty of circumstances of torture charges. On December 11, 2017, the sentencing phase began and he was sentenced with the death penalty on June 7, 2018. Social workers were also charged; they allegedly failed to protect Fernandez and falsify records. Evidence presented and calls from Gabriel’ s teacher qualified as enough evidence to charge them for not getting Gabriel out of the home. The charges would be dropped in January 2020. 

Conclusion:

After Gabriel’s death, The Gabriel Fernandez Foundation was established, as, according to their mission, “to raise awareness on child abuse. To provide hope, courage, and help to educate communities to know the signs of neglect or abuse.” The website to the foundation is linked after these couple of sentences. If you are aware of someone, such as a family member, a friend, a friend’s sibling, or anyone else who you suspect might be going through child abuse, call 1-800-25-2873. For Gabriel: if you see something, say something. 

https://thegabrielfernandezfoundation.org/home

References:

Biswas, S. D. (2024, July 6). Pearl Fernandez: Where is Gabriel Fernandez’s mother now? The Cinemaholic. https://thecinemaholic.com/where-is-pearl-fernandez-now/

Greene, R. R. (2020, March 6). The Case of Gabriel Fernandez: Social Work and Public Responsibility. The Prindle Post. https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1550&context=lpsc_facpub

Staff, ABC. com. (2017, November 14). Man tortured girlfriend’s son because he thought 8-year-old was gay, prosecutors say. ABC7 Chicago. https://abc7chicago.com/post/prosecutors-man-tortured-girlfriends-son-because-he-thought-child-was-gay/2642235/

Staff, ABC7.com. (2017, October 19). Slain Boy Pepper-sprayed in face, forced to eat vomit, cat feces, brother testifies. ABC7 Chicago. https://abc7chicago.com/post/slain-boy-was-forced-to-eat-vomit-cat-feces-brother-testifies/2549861/

Velarde, A. R. (2020, July 16). Charges dismissed against social workers linked to Gabriel Fernandez’s killing. Los Angeles Times. https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2020-07-15/charges-against-the-social-workers-linked-to-gabriel-fernandez-killing-will-be-dropped