In a brief statement to The Atlantic, Rodriguez said that at the time she was responsible for Gabriel, she was overseeing other children whose conditions she felt were equally or more dangerous.Īs the school year went on, the abuse Gabriel endured worsened.
Prosecutors would later charge Rodriguez and three other social workers with child abuse and falsifying records in Gabriel’s case. And although Rodriguez and other representatives from agencies designed to protect children visited Gabriel’s home multiple times, the social workers never found signs of abuse strong enough to warrant removing him from his home. County Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) records to show that Rodriguez never received information that showed Pearl Fernandez had a history of abusing or neglecting her other children. A 2018 investigation into Gabriel’s case published in The Atlantic by the journalist Garrett Therolf, who also appears throughout the series, cites L.A. According to the documentary, Rodriguez never adequately made the inquiries needed to determine the condition of Gabriel’s home life. Garcia reported the exchange to the Los Angeles County child abuse hotline and the case ended up with a social worker, Stefanie Rodriguez. “Is it normal for you to bleed?” he asked, according to Garcia. Garcia, who appears throughout the six-part series, says that a couple weeks after he started in her classroom, Gabriel asked her, “Is it normal for moms to hit their kids?” When she pressed him, Gabriel asked if it was normal to be hit with a belt buckle. Shortly after starting there, his teacher, Jennifer Garcia, sensed that things were not okay at home. Gabriel’s well-being took a devastating turn in 2012, when Pearl Fernandez took him in, reportedly to gain welfare benefits, despite concerns from her family that she was neglectful toward her other children.Īfter joining his mother and Aguirre, Gabriel landed at a new school. Footage of his time with his uncles shows an apparently happy and healthy child. As the documentary depicts, Gabriel lived with an uncle and his partner for a time, and also lived with his grandparents before going to live with his mother. Prior to moving in with his mother, Pearl Fernandez, her boyfriend, Isauro Aguirre, and two siblings in Palmdale, located north of Los Angeles, Gabriel was shuffled between the homes of his relatives.
#Pearl fernandez series
Who was Gabriel Fernandez?īy all accounts, based on interviews in the series and news reports following his death, Gabriel was - like most kids - a sweet child who liked to be helpful and sought the love of his family. Here’s what to know about the true story behind the series, out on Netflix on Feb. But when you get to the end, it’s about: how do you want to treat kids?”
“A lot of people failed him, and there’s a lot of reasons that this happened. The six-episode series, The Trials of Gabriel Fernandez, arrived on Netflix on February 26th, 2020 and is available to stream now.“Nobody listened to Gabriel when he was alive,” Knappenberger tells TIME. Pearl Fernandez was admitted on June 21st, 2018 and is now 36 years of age. In 2018, 34-year-old Pearl Fernandez pleaded guilty at the Los Angeles County state court and was subsequently sentenced to life in prison without parole for the role she played in the death of her son.Īccording to Heavy on February 26th, citing the Californian Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, Pearl Fernandez is serving her life sentence in Chowchilla State Women’s Prison in California. Over the course of several months, if not longer, Gabriel was effectively tortured and kept in horrifying conditions as Pearl’s boyfriend, Isauro Aguirre believed that the boy was gay.Īt the time of Gabriel Fernandez’s death, Pearl was around 29 years of age. Pearl Fernandez is the mother of Gabriel Fernandez and played a key role in the death of her 8-year-old son in May 2013.
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