Pearl Fernandez

On May 24, 2013, Gabriel Fernandez, an eight-year-old boy from Palmdale, California, who had been abused and tortured over a period of months, was murdered by his mother, Pearl Sinthia Fernandez, and her boyfriend, Isauro Aguirre, from whom he had received a beating two days earlier. Pearl Fernandez and Isauro Aguirre were charged and convicted of first-degree murder with special circumstances of torture. Fernandez was sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole and Aguirre was sentenced to death.

Throughout Fernandez's eight-month stay with his mother and Aguirre, multiple people reported signs of abuse to social workers with the Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services and the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department. However, Fernandez was never removed from the household. This led to concerns over the effectiveness and efficiency of social services in Los Angeles County, and led to four social workers being criminally charged in Los Angeles Superior Court. All charges were later dropped.

Victim

Gabriel Daniel Fernandez was born on February 20, 2005, to Arnold Contreras and Pearl Fernandez. Shortly after birth, Gabriel was put in the custody of his great-uncle on his mother’s side, Michael Lemos Carranza, and his partner David Martinez. They continued to raise Fernandez for four years. 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 despite concerns for his welfare expressed by the family.

Abuse and murder

Throughout his eight-month stay in the household of Pearl Fernandez and Isauro Aguirre, 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 with a BB gun in various areas of the body, including the face and groin, being pepper-sprayed, being forced to wear women’s clothing, having to sleep bound and gagged in a small cupboard, and having his teeth knocked out with a bat. According to Fernandez's siblings, while Fernandez was being abused, his mother and stepfather would laugh. According to prosecutors, Aguirre was allegedly motivated to abuse Fernandez because he believed Fernandez was gay. The abuse and torture extended to Fernandez's siblings, except it was directed more towards Fernandez.

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. Aguirre explained to them that Fernandez was "gay". 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 that coincided with neglect and malnutrition.

Perpetrators

Pearl Fernandez

Pearl Sinthia Fernandez was born on August 29, 1983, to Robert and Sandra Fernandez. During her childhood her father was in and out of jail, and Fernandez has claimed that her mother did not love her and would hit her as a child. At the age of nine, Fernandez began using methamphetamine and drinking alcohol, and at the age of eleven, Fernandez decided to run away from home. She dropped out of school in the 8th grade. As a teenager, Fernandez claimed that her uncle attempted to rape her and that some men had held her hostage for a period of days taking turns raping her, which led to her having suicidal thoughts while at the hospital recovering. She has four children with Arnold Contreras, including Gabriel. When Gabriel was born she abandoned him at the hospital three days after his birth; however, she regained custody of Gabriel in 2012. Additionally, she claims that many of her romantic partners, including Aguirre, were abusive to her. However, Elizabeth Carranza, Fernandez's aunt, and her husband claim that Fernandez falsely portrays herself as a victim and that it was Fernandez who was abusive and controlling towards her romantic partners. Additionally, Fernandez had pending charges against her for threatening to stab Arnold Contreras. In the months following Gabriel's death, Pearl reported abusing the opioid drugs Oxycodone and Norco.

Fernandez has been diagnosed with several mental health issues including a depressive disorder, developmental disability, a possible personality disorder, and post-traumatic stress disorder. In 2011, Fernandez took a cognitive ability test, scoring in the 3rd percentile in the verbal comprehension portion of the test, which is on par with a typical 2nd-grade student. Clinical psychologist Deborah S. Miora stated that Fernandez is "virtually unable to use thoughts to guide her behavior and control her emotional reactions."

Currently, Fernandez is serving a life sentence without the possibility of parole for first-degree murder with special circumstances of torture at Central California Women's Facility. She was admitted to the facility on June 21, 2018.

Pearl Fernandez filed a petition on April 8, 2021 which requested being re-sentenced but this was dismissed by the Los Angeles Superior Court Judge George G. Lomeli. Lomeli said he carefully reviewed her petition for re-sentencing, but concluded that she was “not entitled to re-sentencing relief.”

Isauro Aguirre

Isauro Aguirre, also known as Tony Aguirre, was born on June 13, 1980. Aguirre repeated two grades in school and ultimately dropped out, implying a possible learning disability. He worked for Woodland Park Retirement Hotel where he was a caregiver and a driver. Executive director of the retirement home and former boss of Aguirre, Susan Weisbarth, described him as a "quiet, down to earth nice person, always willing to help.” She also commented that throughout his three-year employment he was patient and loving, and would commonly change the diapers of elderly residents at the facility. Staff at the facility nicknamed him "Shaggy," which was, according to Weisbarth, a term of endearment. Ex-coworker Sherline Mille, who also worked for Woodland Park Retirement Hotel, noted that while Aguirre was driving residents he would often drive them the scenic route so they could get to see views other than the freeway. In October 2012, Aguirre began working as a security guard for AVL Private Security; through AVL he worked at the Vallarta Market in Palmdale, California. Aguirre met Pearl Fernandez roughly a year and a half to two years before they took custody of Gabriel Fernandez.

Aguirre was charged with first-degree murder with special circumstances of torture for murdering Gabriel Fernandez. He pled not guilty; however, the jury found him guilty and recommended he be sentenced to death, which was accepted by Superior Court Judge George G. Lomeli. He was admitted to San Quentin State Prison on June 13, 2018, awaiting execution. However, his execution has yet to be set in accordance with the moratorium on capital punishment issued by California governor Gavin Newsom. In March/April 2021, Aguirre was transferred to Richard J. Donovan Correctional Facility

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