Gabriel Fernandez, an eight-year-old boy from Palmdale, California, mysteriously died on May 24, 2013. However, investigators soon realized that the child’s death resulted from eight months of abuse.
The investigation revealed that Pearl Fernandez, the mother, and her boyfriend, Isauro Aguirre, used to physically abuse Fernandez. Things became more clear when multiple people reported signs of abuse to the social workers of the Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services. However, authorities never removed Fernandez from the household.
In May 2023, authorities arrested Pearl and Isauro, and they faced trial. Pearl pleaded guilty to avoid the death sentence and received a life imprisonment sentence. Meanwhile, the court found Isauro guilty of first-degree murder and sentenced him to death. But where are they now? Let’s learn more about their whereabouts and how authorities caught the duo.
Gabriel Fernandez’s killers: How were they caught & where are they now?
Authorities arrested Pearl Fernandez and Isauro Aguirre on May 23, 2013. Reports indicate that on May 22, 2013, Pearl called 9-1-1 to report that her child, Gabriel Fernandez, was not breathing. When the first responders arrived, they discovered him on the ground naked with several injuries. Doctors declared Fernandez’s brain dead upon his arrival at the medical facility. He passed away two days later, on May 24. Authorities arrested Pearl and Isauro after learning about the abuse. Initially, authorities took them into custody for abuse and attempted murder. However, when Gabriel died, the police charged Fernandez and Aguirre with first-degree murder, including special circumstances of torture.
More and more details about the abuse emerged as the trial began. According to the autopsy report, Fernandez had a broken skull, swelling on the brain, neck swelling, and many more injuries. But the most shocking aspect of the case was that some social workers knew about the abuse and still didn’t take any action. Authorities charged four social workers in 2016 with one felony count each of child abuse and falsifying public records in connection to their May 2013 deaths.
When the trial of Gabriel Fernandez began, Pearl accepted a plea deal and pleaded guilty to avoid the death sentence. The court imposed a life imprisonment sentence on her without the possibility of parole. On the other hand, Isauro entered a plea of not guilty to the charge of first-degree murder with special circumstances of torture. The prosecutors presented a lot of evidence that indeed clarified Isauro’s role in the murder of Gabriel Fernandez. According to Gabriel’s brother’s testimony, he described the daily barrage of beatings Gabriel endured at the hands of both Aguirre and Pearl Fernandez. The teen stated that Aguirre would hit Gabriel with his fist and kick him.
Gabriel’s brother also mentioned that Aguirre would pepper-spray Gabriel in the face and strike his naked body with a belt buckle and a metal hanger. He also disclosed that Pearl and Isauro made Fernandez eat expired stuff, cat faeces, cat litter, and even his own vomit.
As the trial came to an end, the jury found Isauro guilty and imposed a death sentence. Currently, Pearl is serving her death sentence at Chowchilla State Women’s Prison in Central California. Meanwhile, Isuaro Aguirre is currently on death row at San Quentin.
Charges against social workers dropped
As far as the cases against the social workers are concerned, all the charges against the social workers were dismissed. The court ruling found that the social workers were “factually innocent” of the crimes.
A documentary based on the Gabriel Fernandez case, titled ‘The Trials of Gabriel Fernandez,’ is currently streaming on Netflix and digs deeper into the various aspects of the gruesome case.
