Murder of Gabriel 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.

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.

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, expert witness for the defense at the trial, 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.

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.

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, heated spoons and lighters, 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, being forced to take cold showers, having to sleep bound and gagged in a small cupboard, and having his teeth knocked out with a bat.

According to Gabriel's siblings, while Gabriel 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.

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.

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, died due to a beating from his mother, Pearl Fernandez, and her boyfriend, Isauro Aguirre, two days earlier.

Pearl Fernandez and Isauro Aguirre were charged and convicted of first-degree murder with special circumstances of torture.

According to prosecutors, Aguirre allegedly abused Gabriel due to his perceived homosexuality.

Pearl 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.

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 initially said to them that Fernandez was "gay".

Paramedics rushed him to the hospital where doctors declared him brain dead.

He died 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.

She was admitted to the facility on June 21, 2018.