Fallen Angel- Gabriel Fernandez

The beginning of his end

Gabriel Fernandez was born on February 20th, 2005 he was born to Pearl Fernandez and Arnold Contreras. Gabriel's mother pearl didn't want him and gave him away to great-uncle on his mother's side, Michael Lemos Carranza, and his partner David Martinez. They continued to raise Gabriel for four years. Pearl left and got with her new found partner Isauro Aguirre who took part in Gabriel's death, beating him with pearl.

In 2009, four-year-old Gabriel moved in with his grandparents, due to his grandfather's objection to Carranza's and Martinez's same-sex relationship. He lived with his grandparents until 2012, when his mother, Pearl Fernandez, and her boyfriend, Isauro Aguirre, regained physical custody of him.

During his eight month stay at his moms Gabriel Fernandez was systematically abused and tortured. The abuse included regular physical beatings causing broken bones, being forced to eat cat litter and feces, his own vomit, and spoiled or expired foods, being burned with cigarettes, being shot in various areas of the body, including the face and groin, with a BB gun, being pepper-sprayed, being forced to wear women's clothing, to sleep bound and gagged in a small cupboard, having his teeth knocked out with a bat, and to take ice-cold baths.

On May 22, 2013, Pearl Fernandez called 9-1-1 to report that her child, Gabriel Fernandez, was not breathing. Fernandez had been fatally beaten by his mother and Aguirre after failing to clean up his toys. When first responders arrived, they found him on the ground naked with several injuries.

Paramedics rushed him to the hospital where doctors declared him brain dead. He passed away two days later on May 24, 2013 at the Children's Hospital Los Angeles. He died at the age of eight years old, and the official autopsy declared he died of blunt force trauma coincided with neglect and malnutrition.

On May 23, 2013, Pearl Fernandez and Isauro Aguirre were arrested; Fernandez was arrested for felony child endangerment while Aguirre was arrested for attempted murder.
However, when Gabriel died, Fernandez and Aguirre were both charged with first degree murder with special circumstances of torture; prosecutors pursued the death penalty.

In the months preceding his death, Fernandez showed his injuries or reported the abuse to a security guard, family members, and a teacher, which led to several calls to social services to no avail. After being hit with the metal buckle side of a belt, he asked his teacher, Jennifer Garcia, if it's "normal to bleed." In response, Garcia called social services and was later called by social worker Stefanie Rodriguez informing her that she was assigned to the case.

On another day, Fernandez came to class with chunks of hair missing and a lump on his lip. When questioned about it by Garcia, Fernandez said his mother had punched him in his mouth. After discussing with the principal, Garcia called Rodriguez back and informed her of the recent signs of abuse.

Later when Fernandez reported to his teacher that he was shot in the face with a BB gun by his mother, she once again informed social services of the new sign of abuse. After Fernandez missed thirteen days of school, he returned and his teacher noticed his condition had worsened. She attempted to call Rodriguez, but her call was never returned. Fernandez's great-aunt Elizabeth Carranza and her husband called social services three times and talked to sheriffs twice regarding the welfare of Fernandez.

Twenty-nine days before his death, a security guard, Arturo Miranda Martinez, at a Los Angeles County Welfare Office noticed extensive injuries on Fernandez's body which prompted him to call 9-1-1, risking his job to report the injuries to sheriffs. Overall, between 2005 and 2012, sixty complaints were filed against Pearl Fernandez and Aguirre to the Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services.

Two social workers, Stefanie Rodriguez and Patricia Clement, and two supervisors, Kevin Bom and Gregory Merritt for the Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services, were fired and charged with child abuse and falsifying public records.

The unprecedented charges held significant consequences, including up to eleven years in prison. However, these charges were ultimately dismissed by California's 2nd District Court of Appeal for lack of probable cause. In January 2020, prosecutors attempted to get a rehearing for the case but eventually decided to drop the charges.