This memorial was for me the most difficult to prepare, of all that I created in these years! Every assassination here recounted is a horrible fact, every suicide documented here accuses us, but preparing this page has literally shocked, upset me. It regards an 8 years old boy, who has been horribly tortured an killed by his parentson the "suspect" he was gay!
Andrej Koymasky
Gabriel Fernandez was a beautiful 8 year old boy. He deserved a life of love, support and innocence, a life he once had but was ripped from him and shattered.
When Gabriel was a month old, his mother and sole living biological parent, turned over custody of the little boy to her parents, saying that "she did not want Gabriel and had no love for the child."
For seven years Gabriel lived happily and safely with his loving grandparents. Inexplicably, when Gabriel was 7, she wanted him back. The grandparents objected citing past allegations of abuse - according to court documents, starting in 2003, eight separate investigations into possible abuse were opened for the family, which included two of Gabriel's siblings.
In October of 2012, Gabriel's mother enlisted the help of Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) and regained custody of Gabriel, despite past allegations of abuse and despite the objections of Gabriel's grandparents. But DCFS didn't care. Child welfare workers unnecessarily and illegally removed the child from his grandparent's home and gave his mother custody without even a court order.
DCFS had sent Gabriel to his death, the little man was murdered only 7 months after being taken from his grandparents.
Before Gabriel's death, his mother was the target of six investigations of child abuse. One of Gabriels teachers, reported the boy coming to school battered and a therapist reported that the child was forced to perform oral sex on a family member.
Gabriel told a teacher hed been beat with a belt buckle until he bled and that his mother hat shot him with a BB gun. And as hard as it is to believe, a teacher even found that the child had written a suicide note.
And even harder to believe, several agencies investigated allegations of abuse before Gabriels death but refused to remove the boy from the home of his mother, who later beat him to death.
It breaks my heart to know that in the last days of Gabriel's life, he was shown no love, instead he was beaten, abused, tortured, emotionally destroyed and ignored. This little man spent his final days in fear of when the next blow would come, of when the next humiliation would be forced upon him, all the while hoping and praying for the day that someone would come along and save him from the hell he was living in. That day never came.
On May 22, 2013, emergency medical responders were called to Gabriel's home, and they found this little man barely breathing. Gabriel's injuries were severe, extensive and horrifically unbelievable. Amongst others, he was suffering a fractured skull, three broken ribs, burns to his skin, skin that was missing, two of his teeth had been knocked out, cigarette burns, and had BB pellets lodged in his lung and groin. He was covered in bruises and abrasions, and was routinely sent to school with chunks of his hair shaved off, leaving raw sores where the clippers dug into his scalp.
Gabriel also had ligature marks on his ankles and wrists.
This beautiful boy was sexually abused as well, talking about being forced to perform oral sex on a relative, continuing to add to the horror.
Gabriel was also tortured with humiliation, forced to wear a girl's dress and other girls' clothing to school.
Gabriel fought for 2 days to survive, but his little body had been broken beyond repair, and on May 24, 2013, Gabriel life ceased.
Gabriel's mother, Pearl Fernandez and his mother's boyfriend, Isauro Aguirre, were arrested and charged each with one count of capital murder with the special circumstances of torture.
Aguirre told police that on the day Gabriel was taken to the hospital, he had hit the little boy at least 10 times for lying and "being dirty".
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