Bianca Harkless
Editor-In-Chief
The Netflix docuseries on the tragic murder of Gabriel Fernandez, an eight-year-old boy, came out just over a year ago and it is still breaking my heart. How could a mother, someone who is supposed to protect their child, stand around and watch as their child is beat to death and subjected to torture by their significant other? Honestly, the whole event is just disgusting.
Before the story goes any further, I have a disclaimer. I am not sensitive to things like abuse, murder, or anything else that rears its ugly head in a true crime case, but this case had me emotional and disturbed me greatly. In the case, Grabiel’s mother’s boyfriend, who was said to do most of the abuse, was convicted of first-degree murder and was sentencedto die for the abuse. This case was horrific, brutal, and in my opinion, completely avoidable. If you can not handle the topics that come along with that description, do not read this. I get it. It is a terrible topic, but it needs to be talked about.
On May 22nd, 2013, a call came to 911, claiming that Gabriel had slipped in the shower, leaving him bleeding from his head. The callers had claimed they moved him to the bathroom but they did not know if he had a pulse. His younger sister used a towel to clean up the blood that had dripped from his wounds onto the bathroom floor. When first responders arrived, he was showing signs of being beaten, restrained, being shot with a BB gun in the groin, and other types of torture.
I will give another disclaimer here as I will be discussing the autopsy report for Gabriel. His legs were covered in open wounds and were burned. His ankles had marks showing he was bound. His arms were bruised and there were 1 cm X 3 cm and 2 cm X 3 cm abrasions on his shoulders. The skin under his chin was missing. It has also been reported that he was missing two teeth as they were knocked out with a baseball bat and that his skull fracture felt like “rice krispies.”
A nurse, Alison Segal, testified on the severity of his injuries. During the testimony, she described the injuries such as cuts and marks to his head, cheeks, lips, and neck. “There were abrasions. There were open wounds. There was abuse. There was swelling. There were marks on the legs. There was skin missing off the top of the neck so there were multiple injuries on Gabriel….head to toe.” She said.
As the trial continued, testimony in court also revealed that he was beaten with bats, a club, was shot with a BB gun, and pepper-sprayed. He also was beaten with the metal part of a belt. All of this took place over an eight-month period.
If you are like me, you were questioning why was Child Protective Services (CPS) not involved? They were. They were notified multiple times. The final time his case was looked into, he was placed back into his parents' care before the case was ultimately closed by Geogory Merrit, a DCFS (Department of Children and Family Safety) supervisor. When they went to charge them for negligence, the 4 pleaded not guilty and ultimately got off. The prosecutors claimed that the social workers had a ‘willful disregard for Gabriel’s well-being.
While this did not even begin to scratch the surface about what is actually wrong with this case, the rest of the case is honestly too brutal for me to talk about in a school newspaper. If you can handle the mature content and the news about the tragic passing of a loving eight-year-old boy, Gabriel Fernandez, please, please, please, watch the Netflix docuseries: “The Trials of Gabriel Fernandez” or look into the case. His story deserved to be told, and serve as a brutal reminder of just how precious human life is. Do not let him be forgotten.
Image Credit: truthfinder.com
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