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The horrific death of 8-year-old Gabriel Fernandez in 2013 triggered shock waves through Los Angeles and beyond that still linger to this day.
Now, a new Netflix series examines the unsettling case. Directed by Brian Knappenberger, “The Trials of Gabriel Fernandez” is a six-part documentary series that delves deep into the death of the Palmdale boy, who was brutally abused and tortured by his mother and her boyfriend.
Former Times reporter Garrett Therolf extensively chronicled the case for the Times and elsewhere. His reporting serves as a springboard into the series, which weaves together a portrait of the horrors Gabriel suffered and an examination of systemic breakdowns of local government in protecting him. (Therolf, who is now a reporter for the Investigative Reporting Program at UC Berkeley, is a producer on the series.)
A boy’s brutal murder and the public trials of his guardians and social workers prompt questions about the system’s protection of vulnerable children.
Here is a timeline of key developments in the case, as reported by the Times.
May 24, 2013: Gabriel Fernandez dies
Gabriel Fernandez, an 8-year-old Latino boy in Palmdale, dies two days after being severely beaten. Paramedics found Gabriel naked and not breathing, with a cracked skull, three broken ribs and BB pellets embedded in his lung and groin.
May 29, 2013: Palmdale boy’s torture death triggers L.A. County probe
Officials launch an investigation into Los Angeles County’s handling of abuse complaints involving Gabriel. Four social workers are placed on desk duty pending possible disciplinary action. “We need to know where the breakdown was in the services recommended and why this child was not removed from those living conditions,” county Supervisor Michael D. Antonovich said at the time.
May 30, 2013: Signs of boy’s abuse missed by L.A. County social workers
A Times review of confidential documents reveals that county Department of Children and Family Services left Gabriel in the care of his mother and his mother’s boyfriend despite six investigations into abuse allegations involving the mother over the previous decade.
June 25, 2013: Citizens commission to investigate Dept. of Family Services
In the wake of Gabriel’s death, the county Board of Supervisors votes to create a blue-ribbon commission to investigate the child welfare...