Gabriel Fernandez Update: Memorial service held for 8-yr.-old Calif. boy who allegedly died of abuse
(CBS) SYLMAR, Calif. - A memorial service was held Wednesday night in Sylmar, Calif. for an 8-year-old Palmdale boy who was allegedly beaten to death by his mother's boyfriend, CBS Los Angeles reports.
Gabriel Fernandez died at an L.A.-area hospital on May 24. He had a fractured skull, broken ribs and two teen knocked out. CBS Los Angeles reports the boy also had cigarette burns on his body, abrasions on his ankles and bruises all over his body.
Gabriel's mother, 29-year-old Pearl Fernandez, and her boyfriend, 32-year-old Isauro Aguirre, were arrested May 23 and are charged with capital murder and a special-circumstance allegation of torture.
Gabriel's mother was reportedly present during periods of assault and did not intervene.
Just before Gabriel's service last night, his grandfather, Robert Fernandez, broke down in tears in an interview with CBS Los Angeles.
"It could have been a child abuse [case] but now we're talking about a homicide," Fernandez told the station.
Fernandez says laws need to be changed and more needs to be done to protect children in abusive households.
Last month, county documents obtained by the Los Angeles Times, showed social workers appeared to miss numerous warning signs at the home and failed to intervene even after the boy's teacher told authorities he often appeared bruised and battered.
The documents also showed that the 8-year-old had written a note saying he was thinking about suicide.
CBS Los Angeles recently obtained a 121-page filing released by the Department of Children and Family Services that further illustrated allegations of abuse in the household dated back to 2003.
According to the documents, most of the allegations investigated by social services were deemed unfounded or inconclusive.