1 00:00:05,880 --> 00:00:12,720 Speaker 1: Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. An eight year old little 2 00:00:12,800 --> 00:00:18,280 Speaker 1: boy dead. When you hear what happened to this child's 3 00:00:18,480 --> 00:00:20,960 Speaker 1: body and the way he was treated, not only at 4 00:00:20,960 --> 00:00:23,720 Speaker 1: the time of his death, but for a long period 5 00:00:23,760 --> 00:00:28,040 Speaker 1: of time of pure torture, this little boy lived through 6 00:00:28,720 --> 00:00:33,440 Speaker 1: your blood is going to boil in the last hours. 7 00:00:33,520 --> 00:00:42,080 Speaker 1: A bombshell decision by a judge, a legal catastrophe, charges dropped. 8 00:00:42,600 --> 00:00:55,280 Speaker 1: I'm talking about the case of Gabriel Fernandez. Crime Stories 9 00:00:55,320 --> 00:01:04,800 Speaker 1: with Nancy Grace. I mean, if he Grace, this is 10 00:01:04,840 --> 00:01:07,039 Speaker 1: Crime Stories. Thank you for being with us. Take a 11 00:01:07,120 --> 00:01:12,480 Speaker 1: listen to this. I would like to um, um, my 12 00:01:12,520 --> 00:01:16,200 Speaker 1: son is not your son? Is what he's not? Brazily 13 00:01:17,160 --> 00:01:18,840 Speaker 1: hold on one second. I'm gonna try to tell you 14 00:01:18,920 --> 00:01:26,160 Speaker 1: over to the fire department. Don't hang it. Oh my god, 15 00:01:26,200 --> 00:01:29,440 Speaker 1: Oh my son is al it's your son, Okay. And 16 00:01:29,600 --> 00:01:34,200 Speaker 1: he's not breathing. No. Does he have a seizure? No, 17 00:01:34,360 --> 00:01:37,520 Speaker 1: he was ripening with my other son. So I came 18 00:01:37,600 --> 00:01:41,360 Speaker 1: in and he's just four of unconscious. Okay. Do you 19 00:01:41,400 --> 00:01:43,160 Speaker 1: have the paramedics on the way right now? Are you 20 00:01:43,240 --> 00:01:45,959 Speaker 1: right there with him? Okay? Do you know how to 21 00:01:45,959 --> 00:01:50,040 Speaker 1: do cpr M. I'm just doing the compostion from the 22 00:01:50,160 --> 00:01:53,160 Speaker 1: chap and I'm okay, race for him. If he's not breathing, 23 00:01:53,200 --> 00:01:58,000 Speaker 1: you need to do tube breath and thirty compressions. This 24 00:01:58,160 --> 00:02:00,680 Speaker 1: needs you to keep doing that until the paramedics. I'm okay. 25 00:02:00,720 --> 00:02:02,400 Speaker 1: They're on their way to come in and fast as 26 00:02:02,440 --> 00:02:06,040 Speaker 1: they can. During that nine on one call, the parents 27 00:02:06,160 --> 00:02:11,480 Speaker 1: Pearl and Isa, insist that their child isn't breathing because 28 00:02:11,520 --> 00:02:16,080 Speaker 1: the two boys were quote wrestling, and then somehow one 29 00:02:16,080 --> 00:02:18,680 Speaker 1: of them stops breathing. And I've just got to point 30 00:02:18,680 --> 00:02:22,160 Speaker 1: out how calm, cool and collected they seem to be 31 00:02:22,200 --> 00:02:26,520 Speaker 1: on the phone while their child is dying. With me, 32 00:02:27,200 --> 00:02:31,720 Speaker 1: truly an all star panel. Ashley Wilcott, judge and trial lawyer, 33 00:02:31,800 --> 00:02:36,320 Speaker 1: anchor Court TV. Doctor Bethany Marshall, renowned psychoanalysts, joining us 34 00:02:36,320 --> 00:02:40,440 Speaker 1: out of Beverly Hills at Doctor Bethany Marshall dot com. 35 00:02:40,560 --> 00:02:46,160 Speaker 1: Joseph Scott Morgan, Professor Forensics, Jacksonville State University, death investigator 36 00:02:46,200 --> 00:02:51,040 Speaker 1: and author of Blood Beneath My Feet on Amazon. Cheryl McCallum, 37 00:02:51,080 --> 00:02:54,519 Speaker 1: Director of the Cold Case Research Institute. But right now 38 00:02:54,680 --> 00:03:00,480 Speaker 1: to Nicole Parton Crime Online dot Com investigative reporter Nicole, 39 00:03:00,520 --> 00:03:03,240 Speaker 1: before I ask you the very first question, take a 40 00:03:03,280 --> 00:03:07,280 Speaker 1: listen to our friends at Netflix. He had a depressed 41 00:03:07,280 --> 00:03:10,040 Speaker 1: skull fracture, meaning you could feel his skull. You know, 42 00:03:10,080 --> 00:03:12,400 Speaker 1: you feel your head and it's a nice round. His 43 00:03:12,639 --> 00:03:15,560 Speaker 1: was like dentity. He could feel like it's called crepitus 44 00:03:15,560 --> 00:03:17,640 Speaker 1: where it's almost like rice crispies. You could feel it 45 00:03:17,720 --> 00:03:21,679 Speaker 1: like crunchy on his head. I remember his throat just 46 00:03:21,760 --> 00:03:27,160 Speaker 1: looked like somebody burned him. Bruising and cuts all over 47 00:03:27,240 --> 00:03:30,840 Speaker 1: his face, black eyes, cuts everywhere. He had like a 48 00:03:30,880 --> 00:03:34,680 Speaker 1: weird cutub of his penis. He had abrasions like on 49 00:03:34,720 --> 00:03:37,320 Speaker 1: the top of his foot like he'd been dragged, ligature 50 00:03:37,400 --> 00:03:39,880 Speaker 1: marks on his ankles like he had been tied up. 51 00:03:40,760 --> 00:03:43,360 Speaker 1: I mean every part on his body. There was just something. 52 00:03:44,360 --> 00:03:46,920 Speaker 1: Always got a bullet in his lung, always got a 53 00:03:46,920 --> 00:03:50,600 Speaker 1: bullet in his growing. It's like cigarette Mark said. He'd 54 00:03:50,640 --> 00:03:52,480 Speaker 1: like been people have been putting cigarettes out on him 55 00:03:52,520 --> 00:03:54,960 Speaker 1: and different stages. I mean, he'd have a bruise that 56 00:03:55,000 --> 00:03:57,240 Speaker 1: looks like it's almost healed, bruises that look brand new, 57 00:03:57,440 --> 00:04:01,480 Speaker 1: like burns, cuts, abrasions, everything you could think of, all 58 00:04:01,480 --> 00:04:05,200 Speaker 1: over this kid, all over him. He didn't look like 59 00:04:05,240 --> 00:04:08,880 Speaker 1: a child, This little boy, it was so abused and mistreated. 60 00:04:09,800 --> 00:04:14,720 Speaker 1: You were hearing right there, Christine Estes, an emergency nurse, 61 00:04:15,000 --> 00:04:19,880 Speaker 1: describing the injuries all over this eight year old child's body, 62 00:04:20,640 --> 00:04:26,080 Speaker 1: and a judge is dropping charges. First of all to you. 63 00:04:26,160 --> 00:04:29,719 Speaker 1: Nicole Parton Crime online dot Com investigative reporter described to 64 00:04:29,800 --> 00:04:33,839 Speaker 1: me about how nine one one was called and EMTs arrived. 65 00:04:33,960 --> 00:04:35,920 Speaker 1: Let's just start at the beginning. The nine one one 66 00:04:35,960 --> 00:04:40,039 Speaker 1: call came in with a mother saying, my son isn't breathing. 67 00:04:40,560 --> 00:04:44,679 Speaker 1: MTS arrived to find him unconscious, laying on the floor. 68 00:04:45,600 --> 00:04:49,560 Speaker 1: The boyfriend of the mom kept saying, he's gay, He's gay. 69 00:04:49,760 --> 00:04:52,240 Speaker 1: What that had to do with the lifeless body laying there, 70 00:04:52,279 --> 00:04:56,080 Speaker 1: I have no idea. They found several injuries. Paramedics rushed 71 00:04:56,120 --> 00:04:59,919 Speaker 1: into the hospital. The doctor declared him brain dead. Paramid 72 00:05:00,279 --> 00:05:03,800 Speaker 1: on the case said it was the most disgusting situation 73 00:05:03,839 --> 00:05:05,960 Speaker 1: that they had ever seen. One guy had been doing 74 00:05:05,960 --> 00:05:08,360 Speaker 1: this for thirty plus years. He said he had never 75 00:05:08,400 --> 00:05:11,560 Speaker 1: seen a body that had been abused and mistreated to 76 00:05:11,600 --> 00:05:14,360 Speaker 1: the point of little eight year old Gabriel. They had 77 00:05:14,400 --> 00:05:18,320 Speaker 1: plunged him in the bathtub, held him under pulled him out, 78 00:05:18,680 --> 00:05:21,320 Speaker 1: they had beat him, they had put him back under 79 00:05:21,320 --> 00:05:24,520 Speaker 1: the water, pulled him out. All of this while siblings 80 00:05:24,520 --> 00:05:27,640 Speaker 1: were knocking on the bathroom door begging for them to stop, 81 00:05:27,920 --> 00:05:30,279 Speaker 1: while they watched their young brother be killed. You know, 82 00:05:30,480 --> 00:05:34,159 Speaker 1: Nicole Parton, I've tried a lot of cases and literally 83 00:05:34,320 --> 00:05:40,240 Speaker 1: investigated thousands of cases before I started covering cases. And 84 00:05:40,279 --> 00:05:42,359 Speaker 1: to hear the way you just put it to me, 85 00:05:44,040 --> 00:05:49,839 Speaker 1: I can hardly take it in. I remember one time 86 00:05:51,240 --> 00:05:55,240 Speaker 1: once and all the years I prosecuted Ashley Willcott, I 87 00:05:55,279 --> 00:05:58,839 Speaker 1: had to leave the courtroom and it was a case 88 00:05:59,279 --> 00:06:02,719 Speaker 1: child abuse of a little girl about two years old. 89 00:06:03,680 --> 00:06:09,360 Speaker 1: She was comatose and it ultimately died. She had been 90 00:06:09,360 --> 00:06:11,400 Speaker 1: in a coma for a period of time from a 91 00:06:11,440 --> 00:06:16,320 Speaker 1: horrible beating, and because of hippa and various laws, I 92 00:06:16,440 --> 00:06:21,799 Speaker 1: didn't get her full medical file until the trial. And 93 00:06:22,320 --> 00:06:24,760 Speaker 1: something was happening in court and I was flipping through 94 00:06:25,040 --> 00:06:26,960 Speaker 1: and I saw it were this two year old little 95 00:06:27,000 --> 00:06:31,240 Speaker 1: girl who's in a coma, in a vegetative state, had 96 00:06:31,279 --> 00:06:37,680 Speaker 1: been raped. Two year old girl, And I remember I 97 00:06:37,760 --> 00:06:40,599 Speaker 1: had to ask the judge can I be excused? Never 98 00:06:40,800 --> 00:06:45,400 Speaker 1: once did I do that before or after because I 99 00:06:45,480 --> 00:06:52,360 Speaker 1: let myself think about what happened to this little girl 100 00:06:52,960 --> 00:06:57,680 Speaker 1: two years old. And you know, Ashley, all of us 101 00:06:57,720 --> 00:07:00,279 Speaker 1: on the panel right now, we cover k this is 102 00:07:00,320 --> 00:07:03,279 Speaker 1: all the time because our goal is to seek justice. 103 00:07:04,920 --> 00:07:09,840 Speaker 1: But if you really let yourself think about what Gabriel 104 00:07:10,440 --> 00:07:14,880 Speaker 1: Nandez went through, I just don't know. Sometimes if I 105 00:07:14,880 --> 00:07:17,200 Speaker 1: could put one foot in front of the other, how 106 00:07:17,280 --> 00:07:20,840 Speaker 1: can people be so mean? Ashley? You know, I don't know, Nancy, 107 00:07:20,880 --> 00:07:24,160 Speaker 1: and I agree with you. When you hear and see 108 00:07:24,280 --> 00:07:29,640 Speaker 1: and really think about what happened, it's really unfathomable. It's unimaginable. 109 00:07:29,720 --> 00:07:32,000 Speaker 1: What I regret is I can tell you when I'm 110 00:07:32,000 --> 00:07:37,040 Speaker 1: on the bench, I see these types of horrific cases 111 00:07:37,120 --> 00:07:41,160 Speaker 1: of physical abuse. So not only do I think this 112 00:07:41,280 --> 00:07:44,720 Speaker 1: is to seek justice, this is to make people aware 113 00:07:45,360 --> 00:07:48,560 Speaker 1: that there are evil people doing these things to kids. 114 00:07:49,120 --> 00:07:53,520 Speaker 1: Joe got Morgan, death Investigator, Professor Forensics, Jacksonville State University. 115 00:07:53,840 --> 00:07:57,040 Speaker 1: I want you to take a listen to our friends 116 00:07:57,200 --> 00:08:01,760 Speaker 1: at Netflix. This is the trial trials of Gabriel Fernandez, 117 00:08:02,560 --> 00:08:05,280 Speaker 1: and we are reporting now in the way of a 118 00:08:05,360 --> 00:08:11,640 Speaker 1: bombshell and catastrophe decision by let me just say, an 119 00:08:11,640 --> 00:08:15,400 Speaker 1: idiot judge I usually don't say that, but I could 120 00:08:15,440 --> 00:08:19,600 Speaker 1: say a lot worse, but that's not allowed by the FCC. Okay, 121 00:08:20,000 --> 00:08:22,520 Speaker 1: listen to Netflix. I can't wrap my head around this. 122 00:08:22,600 --> 00:08:25,200 Speaker 1: I can't wrap my head around how how it got 123 00:08:25,240 --> 00:08:37,280 Speaker 1: to this. I'll always remember his name, Gabriel. You're sad, 124 00:08:37,600 --> 00:08:41,680 Speaker 1: you're angry. You're sitting there thinking, oh my god, not 125 00:08:41,800 --> 00:08:43,640 Speaker 1: only do you not think he's gonna make it, but 126 00:08:43,760 --> 00:08:46,880 Speaker 1: how do these people do this to him? I mean, 127 00:08:46,920 --> 00:08:49,760 Speaker 1: there's no way you couldn't have seen it. There's so 128 00:08:49,840 --> 00:08:53,680 Speaker 1: much trauma, so much damage and use. There's so many questions. 129 00:08:57,679 --> 00:09:00,840 Speaker 1: But if CPS isn't doing anything about it, and the 130 00:09:00,920 --> 00:09:04,400 Speaker 1: sheriffs aren't doing anything about it, how did this happen? 131 00:09:11,360 --> 00:09:17,559 Speaker 1: She said, he flipped him back. That was the thing 132 00:09:17,640 --> 00:09:23,120 Speaker 1: on one's flipped You were hearing an ear nurse Christine 133 00:09:23,360 --> 00:09:41,280 Speaker 1: Estes speaking to our friends at Netflix Crime Stories with 134 00:09:41,360 --> 00:09:46,600 Speaker 1: Nancy Grace. We were talking about a bombshell and disaster 135 00:09:47,120 --> 00:09:52,840 Speaker 1: decision by a judge in the Gabriel Fernandez murder case 136 00:09:53,520 --> 00:09:56,840 Speaker 1: at the hands of his own parents. Mom and her 137 00:09:56,960 --> 00:10:01,040 Speaker 1: live in Pearl and Issa. Now we already heard on 138 00:10:01,080 --> 00:10:04,800 Speaker 1: the nine one one call the parents claiming that he 139 00:10:05,120 --> 00:10:07,679 Speaker 1: had been wrestling with his brother and then ohos, he 140 00:10:07,760 --> 00:10:11,400 Speaker 1: just stopped breathing. Now we hear from the ear nurse 141 00:10:11,840 --> 00:10:16,080 Speaker 1: that the mom says, quote he slipped in the bathtub, 142 00:10:17,559 --> 00:10:20,760 Speaker 1: So which one isn't what really happened. We're also hearing 143 00:10:20,760 --> 00:10:23,760 Speaker 1: from Nicole Parton with Crime Online that at the time 144 00:10:23,800 --> 00:10:26,640 Speaker 1: this little boy was in the bathtub, his siblings were 145 00:10:26,679 --> 00:10:29,920 Speaker 1: outside bamming on the door, begging the parents to stop 146 00:10:29,960 --> 00:10:33,199 Speaker 1: torturing him. I guess waterboarding him or putting him under 147 00:10:33,240 --> 00:10:35,199 Speaker 1: the water, then jerking him out put him in, all 148 00:10:35,200 --> 00:10:38,000 Speaker 1: the while angry because they say this little boy is gay. 149 00:10:39,000 --> 00:10:42,000 Speaker 1: It's almost too much to take in, but I want 150 00:10:42,000 --> 00:10:45,920 Speaker 1: you now, Jos got Morgan to hear what we learn 151 00:10:46,160 --> 00:10:51,319 Speaker 1: about little Gabriel's injuries. This is from EMT James Sirmac. 152 00:10:51,760 --> 00:10:55,680 Speaker 1: Almost every one of Gabriel's fingers was injured, and he 153 00:10:55,760 --> 00:10:58,719 Speaker 1: potentially was trying to defend himself, right, Sir Mac and 154 00:10:58,760 --> 00:11:02,000 Speaker 1: Shawn Fox. They thought that, you know, Gabriel like a disease. 155 00:11:02,440 --> 00:11:05,400 Speaker 1: This wasn't somebody who had you know, injuries or abrasions 156 00:11:05,480 --> 00:11:07,679 Speaker 1: or things like. This is somebody who you know had 157 00:11:07,720 --> 00:11:10,880 Speaker 1: some sort of you know, skin disease or something like. 158 00:11:11,000 --> 00:11:18,000 Speaker 1: He had rashed like like abrasions to his face, stringulation 159 00:11:18,080 --> 00:11:22,640 Speaker 1: marks around his neck, his angles were swollen. I believe 160 00:11:22,679 --> 00:11:31,360 Speaker 1: this left palm looked like it was burned, bite marks, bruises, 161 00:11:31,920 --> 00:11:42,240 Speaker 1: head to toe, skull fractures, depressed skull fracture like little holes, 162 00:11:42,320 --> 00:11:44,200 Speaker 1: as if he was shot like with a baby gun 163 00:11:44,320 --> 00:11:55,040 Speaker 1: or something. Just he just the more he looked, the 164 00:11:55,080 --> 00:11:58,319 Speaker 1: more you saw. It's just it was just unbelievable to you, 165 00:11:58,520 --> 00:12:00,520 Speaker 1: Justice Scott Morgan, and this is something I have not 166 00:12:00,679 --> 00:12:04,240 Speaker 1: looked forward to as much as I respect everything you say, 167 00:12:04,720 --> 00:12:08,439 Speaker 1: your analysis of this little eight year old boy's injuries, 168 00:12:08,480 --> 00:12:12,160 Speaker 1: and then we'll move to this idiot judge's decision. Okay, 169 00:12:12,240 --> 00:12:16,000 Speaker 1: Joseph Scott Morgan, what happened to Gabriel? Listen, Nancy. You 170 00:12:16,040 --> 00:12:18,880 Speaker 1: know I try to watch the series, I really did, 171 00:12:19,120 --> 00:12:23,080 Speaker 1: and I've seen a lot. I haven't seen everything, but 172 00:12:23,160 --> 00:12:26,959 Speaker 1: when I got that piece where the er nurse is 173 00:12:27,000 --> 00:12:30,320 Speaker 1: talking about these injuries, I begin to weep and it 174 00:12:30,520 --> 00:12:33,120 Speaker 1: just it broke my heart. Let me kind of break 175 00:12:33,160 --> 00:12:35,360 Speaker 1: this down for you. You know how the one emt 176 00:12:35,600 --> 00:12:38,240 Speaker 1: mentioned he had been shot with a bb gun. He 177 00:12:38,320 --> 00:12:43,160 Speaker 1: wasn't just shot singularly. He was shot. The medical examiner 178 00:12:43,520 --> 00:12:46,800 Speaker 1: recovered eight separate projectiles. Now with a BB gun, that 179 00:12:46,880 --> 00:12:49,920 Speaker 1: means that it has to be cocked and fired each 180 00:12:50,000 --> 00:12:53,000 Speaker 1: time in order to facilitate that. So at minimum, he 181 00:12:53,040 --> 00:12:59,040 Speaker 1: was shot eight times. This child had receding injuries over 182 00:12:59,120 --> 00:13:02,920 Speaker 1: a long period of time. These things were resolving that 183 00:13:02,960 --> 00:13:05,600 Speaker 1: he had a history going way way back, you know. 184 00:13:06,240 --> 00:13:11,480 Speaker 1: And what's really striking about this is this kid, this 185 00:13:11,679 --> 00:13:15,079 Speaker 1: precious little baby, and he is a baby, Nancy. He 186 00:13:15,240 --> 00:13:18,520 Speaker 1: was eight years old. You know, he only right about 187 00:13:18,600 --> 00:13:23,760 Speaker 1: forty pounds when he rolled into the emergency room. Let 188 00:13:23,800 --> 00:13:26,120 Speaker 1: that sink in just for a second, for everybody that 189 00:13:26,160 --> 00:13:33,199 Speaker 1: has a child forty pounds, Nancy. These people made this 190 00:13:33,400 --> 00:13:39,080 Speaker 1: child eat cat litter, Nancy. Cat litter. Now, for folks 191 00:13:39,080 --> 00:13:42,320 Speaker 1: that don't have cats, let me tell you what litter does. 192 00:13:43,120 --> 00:13:50,520 Speaker 1: It literally absorbs liquids and it turns into rock hard 193 00:13:50,600 --> 00:13:54,840 Speaker 1: little balls. So not only is he suffering from all 194 00:13:54,880 --> 00:14:01,800 Speaker 1: of these injuries, including fractures, cigarette burns, his mouth is 195 00:14:02,040 --> 00:14:06,079 Speaker 1: raw because he's he's eating these cocks that caustic substances. 196 00:14:07,360 --> 00:14:11,920 Speaker 1: His bowels are blocked, Nancy, on a regular basis because 197 00:14:11,920 --> 00:14:16,080 Speaker 1: he's got cat feces mixed with cat litter in his 198 00:14:16,280 --> 00:14:22,560 Speaker 1: system's his teeth are rotten. Okay, that happens with malnutrition. 199 00:14:22,800 --> 00:14:27,560 Speaker 1: He's not being fed, he's not being hydrated, and he's 200 00:14:27,600 --> 00:14:32,120 Speaker 1: being kept sequestered. Nancy, this thing just absolutely breaks my heart. 201 00:14:32,160 --> 00:14:35,880 Speaker 1: There's you know we talk about and the reason that 202 00:14:36,160 --> 00:14:39,400 Speaker 1: the nurse, the comments of the nurse affected me so badly. 203 00:14:39,520 --> 00:14:41,840 Speaker 1: And I can reflect on this as a medical legal 204 00:14:41,840 --> 00:14:45,800 Speaker 1: death investigator. We see those things in life that the 205 00:14:45,880 --> 00:14:50,040 Speaker 1: rest of society chooses not to see. We're always having 206 00:14:50,160 --> 00:14:52,800 Speaker 1: and I say this a lot, I know, we're always 207 00:14:52,880 --> 00:14:57,720 Speaker 1: having to examine the abnormal in the context of the normal. 208 00:14:58,320 --> 00:15:02,320 Speaker 1: Those of us that have kids, we know what baseline 209 00:15:02,440 --> 00:15:05,440 Speaker 1: normal is. We know what it's like to take care 210 00:15:05,480 --> 00:15:09,560 Speaker 1: of a child. At what point on this earth do 211 00:15:09,680 --> 00:15:12,960 Speaker 1: you get to the point where you have to deprive 212 00:15:13,160 --> 00:15:17,120 Speaker 1: a child of well being, where you have to not 213 00:15:17,200 --> 00:15:21,720 Speaker 1: just deprive deprivation, but actively and Nancy, I mean this 214 00:15:21,800 --> 00:15:26,080 Speaker 1: in the strongest terms, actively torture. We had Vietnam veterans 215 00:15:26,080 --> 00:15:29,600 Speaker 1: that were housed in the Hanoi Hilton during Vietnam that 216 00:15:29,680 --> 00:15:32,760 Speaker 1: were not treated this badly, and that was a horrific 217 00:15:32,800 --> 00:15:35,360 Speaker 1: set of circumstances. This is an eight year old child. 218 00:15:36,600 --> 00:15:39,640 Speaker 1: I can't even begin to plumb the depths of this, 219 00:15:40,120 --> 00:15:45,640 Speaker 1: all of this coming to light after a judge's horrific decision. 220 00:15:45,680 --> 00:15:48,520 Speaker 1: I want to judge off the bench. They don't deserve 221 00:15:48,800 --> 00:15:51,000 Speaker 1: to wear the robe. Take a listen to our friends 222 00:15:51,000 --> 00:15:54,960 Speaker 1: at CBS two News LA reporter Christie Fahardo. In the 223 00:15:55,040 --> 00:15:58,360 Speaker 1: hours before his death, Gabriel lay in an emergency root 224 00:15:58,400 --> 00:16:01,800 Speaker 1: his skull fractured. He'd been burned, apparently tied up, he 225 00:16:01,880 --> 00:16:05,040 Speaker 1: was missing skin, He had baby pellets lodged in his 226 00:16:05,160 --> 00:16:07,920 Speaker 1: lung and scrolled up. Even the soles of his feet 227 00:16:08,000 --> 00:16:11,440 Speaker 1: were bruised and swollen. A physician in the emergency room said, 228 00:16:11,760 --> 00:16:14,560 Speaker 1: someone has pulled out this child's teeth. And it was 229 00:16:14,600 --> 00:16:18,800 Speaker 1: not a doctor, not a dentist. I just thought, over 230 00:16:18,840 --> 00:16:22,080 Speaker 1: and over again, how did this happen? Mary was not 231 00:16:22,200 --> 00:16:25,680 Speaker 1: the social worker who investigated the reports of abuse, including 232 00:16:25,720 --> 00:16:29,200 Speaker 1: the complaints from Gabriel's own school. That social worker was 233 00:16:29,240 --> 00:16:32,680 Speaker 1: also fired. Mary got the case after when the family 234 00:16:32,760 --> 00:16:36,360 Speaker 1: was referred to therapy. She says she never saw anything troubling, 235 00:16:36,600 --> 00:16:39,720 Speaker 1: but on one occasion, Mary spotted a bruise under Gabriel's 236 00:16:39,720 --> 00:16:42,640 Speaker 1: eye and a BB pellet in his chest. I asked 237 00:16:42,680 --> 00:16:46,680 Speaker 1: them about it, and the explanation from gabriel brother and 238 00:16:46,760 --> 00:16:50,560 Speaker 1: sister and mom. Her story was that some little kid 239 00:16:50,600 --> 00:16:53,760 Speaker 1: in the apartment complex's mom got him a BB gun. Okay, 240 00:16:53,840 --> 00:16:57,480 Speaker 1: so we're hearing so many different stories from the parents. 241 00:16:57,680 --> 00:16:59,560 Speaker 1: He was in a wrestling match with his brother, he 242 00:16:59,640 --> 00:17:03,000 Speaker 1: slipped in the bathtub. Now we're hearing about neighbor boys. 243 00:17:03,400 --> 00:17:08,520 Speaker 1: But it's not just the parents involved. Take a listen 244 00:17:09,000 --> 00:17:12,480 Speaker 1: to this. This wasn't the case that has followed me 245 00:17:12,560 --> 00:17:17,960 Speaker 1: from that night. It's still harder. Gabriel Fernandez was at 246 00:17:17,960 --> 00:17:21,520 Speaker 1: the time of his death, eight years old. That was 247 00:17:21,600 --> 00:17:26,040 Speaker 1: my friend, and it really caught me because it was 248 00:17:26,119 --> 00:17:32,080 Speaker 1: his parents who took his life. He's a very good case, 249 00:17:32,240 --> 00:17:36,639 Speaker 1: very playful of you. These two people murdered this child. 250 00:17:37,000 --> 00:17:39,359 Speaker 1: How did this come to be? How did a child 251 00:17:39,400 --> 00:17:43,120 Speaker 1: who had so many signs of repeated and long term 252 00:17:43,119 --> 00:17:46,639 Speaker 1: abuse slipped to the cracks. It really wasn't until I 253 00:17:46,760 --> 00:17:50,600 Speaker 1: got all of the evidence that I realized how egregious 254 00:17:50,600 --> 00:17:53,200 Speaker 1: the case was. This was a story that could not 255 00:17:53,359 --> 00:17:56,399 Speaker 1: be ignored. The question was could we uncover what was 256 00:17:56,440 --> 00:18:13,800 Speaker 1: really going on Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. We are 257 00:18:13,840 --> 00:18:17,240 Speaker 1: talking about the death of an eight year old little boy, 258 00:18:17,680 --> 00:18:21,560 Speaker 1: Gabriel Fernandez, at the hands of his mother and her 259 00:18:21,760 --> 00:18:26,640 Speaker 1: live in but now in a bomb shell decision by 260 00:18:26,760 --> 00:18:30,760 Speaker 1: a trial Joset doesn't deserve to be there. Charges have 261 00:18:30,800 --> 00:18:34,520 Speaker 1: been dropped. Now you just heard that Gabriel's case slipped 262 00:18:34,640 --> 00:18:39,680 Speaker 1: through the cracks. What a euphemism, what a line of bs. 263 00:18:40,280 --> 00:18:45,760 Speaker 1: He didn't slip through the cracks. He was failed, he 264 00:18:45,880 --> 00:18:50,520 Speaker 1: was ignored, he was tortured until he died an eight 265 00:18:50,680 --> 00:18:54,560 Speaker 1: year old boy. And now you're going to hear the 266 00:18:54,600 --> 00:18:58,440 Speaker 1: rest of the story. Who else was in on Gabriel's murder? 267 00:18:58,800 --> 00:19:02,560 Speaker 1: Listen to this Department of Children Family Services has significant 268 00:19:02,560 --> 00:19:05,800 Speaker 1: involvement in this case. Board of supervisors have now taken notice. 269 00:19:06,080 --> 00:19:10,879 Speaker 1: There's something about this kid's staff. There was no medical 270 00:19:10,920 --> 00:19:13,880 Speaker 1: follow up, even to the injuries that were acknowledged by 271 00:19:13,960 --> 00:19:16,480 Speaker 1: the department. You're thinking about her and how could to 272 00:19:16,640 --> 00:19:20,960 Speaker 1: be true? As prosecutors, we need to up our game. 273 00:19:21,080 --> 00:19:23,480 Speaker 1: She didn't just proscat the mother and her boyfriend. She 274 00:19:23,480 --> 00:19:26,240 Speaker 1: also took the step of prosecuting the four social workers. 275 00:19:27,240 --> 00:19:29,320 Speaker 1: They had a job, and their job was to save 276 00:19:29,400 --> 00:19:31,920 Speaker 1: a little boy. The system is over taxed. The most 277 00:19:32,000 --> 00:19:34,679 Speaker 1: children I had was about two hundred and eighty. I 278 00:19:34,720 --> 00:19:39,240 Speaker 1: did not commit a crime. When the details came out 279 00:19:39,240 --> 00:19:42,000 Speaker 1: of how this poor child was tortured and all of 280 00:19:42,000 --> 00:19:44,800 Speaker 1: these people knew, I think it shook the county to 281 00:19:44,880 --> 00:19:48,719 Speaker 1: the door. Neureupics tend to function to preserved institution at 282 00:19:48,800 --> 00:19:52,919 Speaker 1: all coals. A system has this enormous power on of 283 00:19:52,960 --> 00:19:55,760 Speaker 1: those who think that by not talking you can limit 284 00:19:55,760 --> 00:19:59,600 Speaker 1: the bad publicity. I believe the ultimate evil is saying 285 00:19:59,720 --> 00:20:03,560 Speaker 1: what's and looking away when you have a power to 286 00:20:03,640 --> 00:20:06,800 Speaker 1: make the difference. That is true evil, That is so true. 287 00:20:06,880 --> 00:20:09,520 Speaker 1: Our friends and Netflix could not have said it any better. 288 00:20:09,960 --> 00:20:14,160 Speaker 1: You have the choice to look away or to look 289 00:20:14,200 --> 00:20:18,320 Speaker 1: at what is happening and do something about it. And 290 00:20:18,440 --> 00:20:23,760 Speaker 1: in a very rare move, the social workers who let 291 00:20:23,840 --> 00:20:29,560 Speaker 1: this child die, we're actually charged. Now the judge is 292 00:20:29,680 --> 00:20:33,280 Speaker 1: dropping all the charges. Let's just analyze what exactly happened 293 00:20:33,280 --> 00:20:36,720 Speaker 1: to Nicole Partment with a crimal line dot com investigative reporter. 294 00:20:37,640 --> 00:20:41,359 Speaker 1: How did this case quote slip through the cracks? The 295 00:20:41,520 --> 00:20:46,560 Speaker 1: teachers were calling defects, neighbors were calling its department, Family 296 00:20:46,600 --> 00:20:51,199 Speaker 1: Children's Services Child Protective Services. They kept leaving the child 297 00:20:51,400 --> 00:20:54,440 Speaker 1: in the home. What they leave on their lunch break 298 00:20:54,520 --> 00:20:57,640 Speaker 1: or their coffee break, knowing this boy was getting tortured 299 00:20:57,720 --> 00:21:02,240 Speaker 1: until he died. What did they do? Nicole Parton Stacy, 300 00:21:02,320 --> 00:21:05,280 Speaker 1: I think it's more of what they didn't do. There 301 00:21:05,280 --> 00:21:09,359 Speaker 1: were over sixty complaints filed against Pearl and her living 302 00:21:09,440 --> 00:21:16,160 Speaker 1: boyfriend Azaria, sixty complaints coming from neighbors, coming from Gabriel school, 303 00:21:16,480 --> 00:21:20,160 Speaker 1: coming from family members. The department claimed that they opened 304 00:21:20,240 --> 00:21:24,600 Speaker 1: eight independent investigations against the parents. But we have to 305 00:21:24,640 --> 00:21:28,880 Speaker 1: remember not only were these four caseworkers social workers charged 306 00:21:28,960 --> 00:21:32,800 Speaker 1: with child abuse, but they were all charged with falsifying 307 00:21:32,920 --> 00:21:36,439 Speaker 1: public documents. So many times when they were staying they 308 00:21:36,480 --> 00:21:39,480 Speaker 1: were going to the home to see Gabriel or to 309 00:21:39,600 --> 00:21:42,479 Speaker 1: check on him, they weren't even going to the house. 310 00:21:42,680 --> 00:21:46,160 Speaker 1: They were falsifying the document writing down that they went 311 00:21:46,200 --> 00:21:49,600 Speaker 1: out to check on him when they hadn't even been there. 312 00:21:50,200 --> 00:21:55,000 Speaker 1: They stood by and let this little boy die in 313 00:21:55,080 --> 00:21:58,919 Speaker 1: such a horrific manner. Now, before I go ahead and 314 00:21:58,960 --> 00:22:04,880 Speaker 1: tar and feather the judge, the judge Lamelli refused to 315 00:22:05,000 --> 00:22:10,199 Speaker 1: drop charges against the defacts. Back in September twenty eighteen. 316 00:22:11,040 --> 00:22:14,680 Speaker 1: They took it up to appeal, and a California appellate 317 00:22:14,800 --> 00:22:20,959 Speaker 1: court ordered the judge to drop the charges. I think 318 00:22:21,040 --> 00:22:24,920 Speaker 1: I've got that right with me, Ashley Wilcot, a juvenile judge, 319 00:22:25,119 --> 00:22:29,000 Speaker 1: trial lawyer anchor at Court TV. Ashley Wilcot explain to 320 00:22:29,040 --> 00:22:33,720 Speaker 1: me why these charges are dropped because I think those 321 00:22:33,720 --> 00:22:37,520 Speaker 1: social workers stood by, went out to their lunches every day. Hey, look, 322 00:22:37,560 --> 00:22:39,320 Speaker 1: how was the government worker. I know what goes on. 323 00:22:39,840 --> 00:22:43,080 Speaker 1: They keep their feet back in their offices, winding about 324 00:22:43,080 --> 00:22:46,760 Speaker 1: their caseload while this little boy died. Did you hear 325 00:22:46,760 --> 00:22:54,679 Speaker 1: what Nicole Parton said, sixty complaints, The neighbors called family, relatives, teachers, 326 00:22:55,000 --> 00:22:58,000 Speaker 1: please save this boy. And they did nothing. They had 327 00:22:58,000 --> 00:23:00,879 Speaker 1: their throws up, their rear ends, and now the little 328 00:23:00,920 --> 00:23:04,600 Speaker 1: boy is dead. What the hay happened? Well, listen, obviously 329 00:23:04,640 --> 00:23:07,440 Speaker 1: there was a failure, but Nancy, I absolutely do not 330 00:23:08,640 --> 00:23:11,720 Speaker 1: Obviously there was a failure by the agency. But listen, 331 00:23:11,760 --> 00:23:15,120 Speaker 1: I do not agree with you that there was a 332 00:23:15,119 --> 00:23:17,520 Speaker 1: a failure. They didn't murder. They did not. If you 333 00:23:17,560 --> 00:23:21,160 Speaker 1: look at the definition of California, Nancy, of physical abuse, 334 00:23:21,520 --> 00:23:25,080 Speaker 1: it is inflicted by They did not inflict it. They 335 00:23:25,119 --> 00:23:28,560 Speaker 1: failed to act. But legally, under the definition, those are 336 00:23:28,560 --> 00:23:32,680 Speaker 1: two different things. The parents inflicted it, the parents murdered 337 00:23:32,880 --> 00:23:37,440 Speaker 1: this child. The agency failed to act. The judge, based 338 00:23:37,480 --> 00:23:40,720 Speaker 1: on the definition in California, in my opinion, did the 339 00:23:40,800 --> 00:23:43,640 Speaker 1: right thing. We are looking at a legal system where 340 00:23:43,640 --> 00:23:47,560 Speaker 1: it relies on the actual definitions and laws as they 341 00:23:47,560 --> 00:23:51,320 Speaker 1: are from. We cannot take away from the fact that 342 00:23:51,440 --> 00:23:56,640 Speaker 1: the parents abused and murdered this helpless child. Now the 343 00:23:56,720 --> 00:24:01,080 Speaker 1: agency did fail to act. Are there resulting charges for 344 00:24:01,119 --> 00:24:05,560 Speaker 1: a failure to act? Yes? Is falsifying records of crime? Yes? 345 00:24:05,680 --> 00:24:09,119 Speaker 1: Do I think that should have proceeded, Absolutely, But I 346 00:24:09,200 --> 00:24:13,520 Speaker 1: do not agree that these social workers meet the definition 347 00:24:13,680 --> 00:24:18,520 Speaker 1: of child abuse to have been prosecuted under that statute. 348 00:24:18,720 --> 00:24:24,080 Speaker 1: They simply didn't. Isn't it correct? As she willcott that 349 00:24:24,160 --> 00:24:28,560 Speaker 1: when you assume a duty, you are then held accountable. 350 00:24:28,600 --> 00:24:30,960 Speaker 1: For instance, if I walk by a pool and I 351 00:24:31,000 --> 00:24:33,400 Speaker 1: see somebody drowning, I don't have a duty to try 352 00:24:33,400 --> 00:24:37,560 Speaker 1: to say them, although I have tried. But if I 353 00:24:37,640 --> 00:24:41,439 Speaker 1: take on that duty, such as I become a lifeguard, 354 00:24:41,840 --> 00:24:45,120 Speaker 1: and then I watch somebody drown and do nothing, then 355 00:24:45,600 --> 00:24:47,880 Speaker 1: I'm up the creek without a paddle. Much is true 356 00:24:48,560 --> 00:24:52,359 Speaker 1: that there's a duty. Yes, that's okay, that's just a 357 00:24:52,400 --> 00:24:57,840 Speaker 1: simple answer. Yes. And isn't it true that social workers 358 00:24:57,920 --> 00:25:03,040 Speaker 1: at de facts cps take on a duty to monitor 359 00:25:03,160 --> 00:25:06,680 Speaker 1: children and safeguard them? Would you agree with that? Sure? 360 00:25:07,480 --> 00:25:11,680 Speaker 1: Would you agree that Gabriel Fernandez was one of those children? Yes? 361 00:25:12,480 --> 00:25:15,160 Speaker 1: Do you agree that there were sixty complaints to child 362 00:25:15,160 --> 00:25:19,240 Speaker 1: welfare from what? Yeah? Sure? Do you agree that child 363 00:25:19,320 --> 00:25:21,000 Speaker 1: is now dead because he was not taken out of 364 00:25:21,000 --> 00:25:24,399 Speaker 1: the home and the parents killed him? Yes? That said, 365 00:25:25,480 --> 00:25:28,080 Speaker 1: I believe they should be prosecuted to the fullest extent 366 00:25:28,240 --> 00:25:30,760 Speaker 1: of the law. Let me ask you this, Nicole Parton, 367 00:25:30,840 --> 00:25:35,120 Speaker 1: following up on what Ashy Wilcott said, There is a 368 00:25:35,320 --> 00:25:38,840 Speaker 1: myriad of charges that can be filed against the social workers. 369 00:25:40,400 --> 00:25:43,119 Speaker 1: Are they going to walk scott free? It looks at 370 00:25:43,160 --> 00:25:45,640 Speaker 1: this time as though they will. And I think many 371 00:25:45,640 --> 00:25:49,320 Speaker 1: people like myself had hoped this would be the landmark 372 00:25:49,400 --> 00:25:52,480 Speaker 1: case that brought justice not only for Gabriel, but there 373 00:25:52,520 --> 00:25:56,880 Speaker 1: are half a million children, half a million children who 374 00:25:56,920 --> 00:26:00,280 Speaker 1: are in the care under the protection of Child and 375 00:26:00,359 --> 00:26:02,879 Speaker 1: Family Services, and I think many of us were hoping 376 00:26:02,920 --> 00:26:06,120 Speaker 1: that this would be the case that changed the way 377 00:26:06,119 --> 00:26:09,000 Speaker 1: the system operates to help better protect our children. But 378 00:26:09,119 --> 00:26:12,840 Speaker 1: unfortunately that didn't happen. No, it did not happen. Take 379 00:26:12,880 --> 00:26:16,000 Speaker 1: a listen to our friends at CBS two La Gabriel 380 00:26:16,160 --> 00:26:21,480 Speaker 1: had unconditional love for you, and you took advantage of that, 381 00:26:23,160 --> 00:26:27,359 Speaker 1: knowing he will never turn you in. But Gabriel's teacher, 382 00:26:27,480 --> 00:26:30,919 Speaker 1: Jennifer Garcia, did report the abuse to a hotline. However, 383 00:26:31,040 --> 00:26:33,520 Speaker 1: social workers left Gabriel in the home where he was 384 00:26:33,560 --> 00:26:37,400 Speaker 1: tortured and starved and eventually beaten to death by Agena 385 00:26:37,520 --> 00:26:40,560 Speaker 1: and Fernandez. I know I'm not alone in hoping that 386 00:26:40,600 --> 00:26:44,600 Speaker 1: they experienced the same abuse in their lifetime, and worse, 387 00:26:46,600 --> 00:26:49,560 Speaker 1: they are evil people for what they did. She described 388 00:26:49,600 --> 00:26:52,480 Speaker 1: Gabriel as a kind and helpful boy. She no longer 389 00:26:52,600 --> 00:26:55,639 Speaker 1: uses a student number. I don't assign number twenty eight 390 00:26:55,720 --> 00:26:58,639 Speaker 1: to another student because I feel it. It's only his 391 00:26:58,760 --> 00:27:03,480 Speaker 1: number now and it's a way for me to honor 392 00:27:03,560 --> 00:27:07,600 Speaker 1: him in my classroom. Five years after the young boy's death, Justice, 393 00:27:08,080 --> 00:27:12,760 Speaker 1: I'm just doing my job, that's it. Deputy da John 394 00:27:12,800 --> 00:27:15,680 Speaker 1: Had Tommy, a father of two young children, was emotional 395 00:27:15,880 --> 00:27:31,960 Speaker 1: and I think Gabriel's infected everybody, including me. Prime stories 396 00:27:31,960 --> 00:27:36,399 Speaker 1: with Nancy Grace. Guys, we were talking about the horrific 397 00:27:36,480 --> 00:27:40,400 Speaker 1: death of an eight year old little boy, Gabriel Fernandez. Yes, 398 00:27:40,560 --> 00:27:46,400 Speaker 1: his mother stood there and let him die. She participated 399 00:27:46,440 --> 00:27:49,160 Speaker 1: in his death and let her live in and herself 400 00:27:49,520 --> 00:27:54,480 Speaker 1: kill her eight year old little boy. But after sixty 401 00:27:54,760 --> 00:28:00,160 Speaker 1: plus complaints to child services by neighbors, by friends, by family, 402 00:28:00,200 --> 00:28:03,919 Speaker 1: by teachers, they left the boy in the home to 403 00:28:04,040 --> 00:28:09,280 Speaker 1: be brutally murdered. Take a listen to La CBS two. 404 00:28:09,440 --> 00:28:12,919 Speaker 1: Randy Pay prosecutors also went after the social workers in 405 00:28:12,960 --> 00:28:16,119 Speaker 1: that case, saying they failed to take the appropriate steps 406 00:28:16,160 --> 00:28:19,840 Speaker 1: to protect Gabriel and then falsified documents related to the case. 407 00:28:20,600 --> 00:28:25,160 Speaker 1: On appellate court in January ruled the charges against Stephanie Rodriguez, 408 00:28:25,160 --> 00:28:29,159 Speaker 1: Patricia Clement, Kevin Baum, and Gregory Merritt, all employees of 409 00:28:29,280 --> 00:28:32,520 Speaker 1: La County's Department of Children and Family Services, should have 410 00:28:32,600 --> 00:28:35,520 Speaker 1: been dismissed. So the case was sent back down to 411 00:28:35,560 --> 00:28:38,880 Speaker 1: the trial court today, and Judge George Lamellie did just 412 00:28:39,120 --> 00:28:43,280 Speaker 1: that for so into the Court of Appeals. Directive emotions 413 00:28:43,280 --> 00:28:46,640 Speaker 1: to dismiss are hereby granted, and the information is hereby 414 00:28:46,640 --> 00:28:49,640 Speaker 1: set aside. But we are very grateful for the court's 415 00:28:49,680 --> 00:28:53,240 Speaker 1: decision in life. The fact that the court has found 416 00:28:53,240 --> 00:28:56,520 Speaker 1: that they are all factually used, including my part. Now 417 00:28:56,520 --> 00:28:58,960 Speaker 1: the judge that I did rule that the workers were 418 00:28:59,000 --> 00:29:03,520 Speaker 1: factually innocent, means their records will be cleared DCF this morning. 419 00:29:03,640 --> 00:29:07,240 Speaker 1: DCFS this morning released a statement saying it has taken 420 00:29:07,280 --> 00:29:10,520 Speaker 1: steps to mitigate risk and to improve its ability to 421 00:29:10,560 --> 00:29:15,560 Speaker 1: serve vulnerable children and family. That was KABC seven news 422 00:29:15,560 --> 00:29:20,840 Speaker 1: reporter Rob Hayes reporting, and he heard the Defacts people 423 00:29:20,960 --> 00:29:24,600 Speaker 1: groveling talking about what a great decision it was. That's 424 00:29:24,600 --> 00:29:29,400 Speaker 1: not true. It was a horrible decision. They actually falsified, 425 00:29:29,560 --> 00:29:35,400 Speaker 1: faked records to cover up their gross, gross mistreatment of 426 00:29:35,440 --> 00:29:38,680 Speaker 1: this little boy. Back to you, Joseph Scott Morgan, death 427 00:29:38,760 --> 00:29:42,920 Speaker 1: investigator and professor forensic explained to me exactly what this 428 00:29:43,000 --> 00:29:47,720 Speaker 1: child endured because they left him in the home in 429 00:29:47,760 --> 00:29:52,560 Speaker 1: the hands of his mother, whose bills abub and the 430 00:29:53,240 --> 00:29:59,440 Speaker 1: lover the devil. Yeah, this is on linear, Tom Nancy. 431 00:29:59,760 --> 00:30:02,520 Speaker 1: It it goes there is a timeline that you can 432 00:30:02,600 --> 00:30:06,600 Speaker 1: follow with this and at any point in time, particularly 433 00:30:06,600 --> 00:30:12,240 Speaker 1: early on, if this had been interdicted like it should be, Okay, 434 00:30:12,680 --> 00:30:17,920 Speaker 1: Gabriel would not have advanced to the point that he did. Instead, 435 00:30:17,960 --> 00:30:21,200 Speaker 1: as a result of this, he went through let's just 436 00:30:21,240 --> 00:30:26,560 Speaker 1: take let's just take malnourishment for just for a second, 437 00:30:26,600 --> 00:30:29,600 Speaker 1: and we look at this. If they had just taken 438 00:30:29,640 --> 00:30:33,840 Speaker 1: the time to examine him appropriately, examine the household, because 439 00:30:34,240 --> 00:30:37,040 Speaker 1: that's what these people are supposed to be doing when 440 00:30:37,040 --> 00:30:40,160 Speaker 1: they go out there. I worked on many child abuse 441 00:30:40,200 --> 00:30:42,920 Speaker 1: cases over the course of my career with a medical examiner. 442 00:30:43,360 --> 00:30:46,200 Speaker 1: So when these people go out what they do is 443 00:30:46,200 --> 00:30:48,600 Speaker 1: they literally are supposed to be looking in the cabinets, 444 00:30:48,680 --> 00:30:52,120 Speaker 1: looking at the refrigerator. They're supposed to be looking in 445 00:30:52,160 --> 00:30:56,239 Speaker 1: the areas where the child actually in dwells, you know, 446 00:30:56,280 --> 00:30:59,160 Speaker 1: their bedroom, this sort of thing, and just see if 447 00:30:59,160 --> 00:31:01,920 Speaker 1: it's clean, if food is there, that sort of thing. 448 00:31:02,400 --> 00:31:04,560 Speaker 1: If they had just done that, they would have seen 449 00:31:04,640 --> 00:31:08,200 Speaker 1: early on that the child was not receiving proper nourishment. 450 00:31:08,520 --> 00:31:10,920 Speaker 1: Because they also have to talk to everybody else in 451 00:31:10,960 --> 00:31:15,160 Speaker 1: the family. It's that very simple. Now, if they had 452 00:31:15,360 --> 00:31:17,600 Speaker 1: an addition to that, examine him, they would have been 453 00:31:17,680 --> 00:31:21,760 Speaker 1: looking for things like bruises, for instance, because yeah, little 454 00:31:21,800 --> 00:31:24,880 Speaker 1: boys fall down, it happens all the time. They don't 455 00:31:24,880 --> 00:31:27,520 Speaker 1: fall down for really do they get their teeth pulled 456 00:31:27,560 --> 00:31:30,920 Speaker 1: out with flying Oh they don't. And you also don't 457 00:31:30,960 --> 00:31:34,120 Speaker 1: have all of these bruises all over the body and 458 00:31:34,240 --> 00:31:38,200 Speaker 1: the cigarette burns bullets left in his body where he 459 00:31:38,320 --> 00:31:42,680 Speaker 1: shot eight separate times with the bb gun waterboarding. I mean, 460 00:31:43,120 --> 00:31:45,520 Speaker 1: you know, I don't even know if I can hear 461 00:31:45,560 --> 00:31:49,600 Speaker 1: it anymore. Now joining me, special guest out of la 462 00:31:49,960 --> 00:31:53,760 Speaker 1: where Now it's like, oh, Alice, Doctor Bethany Marshall, Bethany, 463 00:31:53,840 --> 00:31:57,520 Speaker 1: I wanted you to hear all the facts before you 464 00:31:57,560 --> 00:32:01,840 Speaker 1: weighed in on this devil duo, the mother and her 465 00:32:01,880 --> 00:32:08,360 Speaker 1: lover Nancy. It almost defies analysis, but I will give 466 00:32:08,400 --> 00:32:10,880 Speaker 1: it my best shot. And let me say, didn't this 467 00:32:11,000 --> 00:32:16,240 Speaker 1: happen with jac Dugard? That was that the famous abduction 468 00:32:16,360 --> 00:32:19,440 Speaker 1: where the social workers came to the house, knocked on 469 00:32:19,480 --> 00:32:22,360 Speaker 1: the front door, took a quick look around her. Pardon 470 00:32:22,440 --> 00:32:27,360 Speaker 1: em parole was partnam parole. The Jac Dugard kidnapper and 471 00:32:27,480 --> 00:32:31,640 Speaker 1: rapist had her hidden in a shed in the backyard. 472 00:32:31,720 --> 00:32:33,479 Speaker 1: She was taking as a little girl on her way 473 00:32:33,520 --> 00:32:37,680 Speaker 1: to school. And she gave birth to I think two 474 00:32:37,880 --> 00:32:43,920 Speaker 1: or three children by her rapist. And they corrections would 475 00:32:43,920 --> 00:32:46,960 Speaker 1: come out and he was already a felon would come 476 00:32:46,960 --> 00:32:49,400 Speaker 1: out and view where he was living. They somehow missed 477 00:32:49,400 --> 00:32:51,600 Speaker 1: the shed in the backyard or she was kept like 478 00:32:51,680 --> 00:32:55,440 Speaker 1: twenty years giving birth being raped out in that shed 479 00:32:55,560 --> 00:32:57,880 Speaker 1: over and over and over in just giving birth in 480 00:32:57,920 --> 00:33:01,560 Speaker 1: the backyard. That's right, Nancy, Yeah, they miss that, They 481 00:33:01,560 --> 00:33:04,560 Speaker 1: miss that, They missed a big one, like but these 482 00:33:04,680 --> 00:33:08,960 Speaker 1: social workers overlooked. I think that it's fascinating that when 483 00:33:09,280 --> 00:33:11,960 Speaker 1: nine one one was called and the EMPs came to 484 00:33:12,040 --> 00:33:16,360 Speaker 1: the house, that this stepfather kept saying he's gay of 485 00:33:16,440 --> 00:33:18,640 Speaker 1: the little boy. And I know this is going to 486 00:33:18,760 --> 00:33:22,320 Speaker 1: sound weird and like a stretch, but I wondered if 487 00:33:22,840 --> 00:33:26,880 Speaker 1: the father, the stepfather had some perverse sexual interest in 488 00:33:26,920 --> 00:33:31,080 Speaker 1: this little boy, and instead of acting it out, sexually 489 00:33:31,160 --> 00:33:34,200 Speaker 1: acted it out through sadism in way used a little 490 00:33:34,200 --> 00:33:37,160 Speaker 1: boy like a football, just throwing him around the house 491 00:33:37,240 --> 00:33:40,800 Speaker 1: like an it, stomping on him, shooting into him, pulling 492 00:33:40,920 --> 00:33:44,720 Speaker 1: nails out, pulling teeth out, and got the mother to 493 00:33:45,080 --> 00:33:49,040 Speaker 1: act with him. They both obviously had hatred towards a 494 00:33:49,040 --> 00:33:56,600 Speaker 1: little boy. Obviously, the sadistic rituals of abusing this child. 495 00:33:57,000 --> 00:34:00,480 Speaker 1: I use the word rituals because I think it took 496 00:34:00,600 --> 00:34:07,240 Speaker 1: on that magnitude in this household, that the whole households activities, 497 00:34:07,480 --> 00:34:15,760 Speaker 1: their interests, what drove their behaviors were all directed towards 498 00:34:15,800 --> 00:34:19,480 Speaker 1: little Gabriel, as if he was their only reason for living. 499 00:34:19,640 --> 00:34:23,319 Speaker 1: In a thick, twisted kind of way, they lived to 500 00:34:23,320 --> 00:34:28,479 Speaker 1: torture him. It's very common with child abuse cases that 501 00:34:28,600 --> 00:34:31,840 Speaker 1: the parents began to feel that the child is unconditionally 502 00:34:31,880 --> 00:34:35,920 Speaker 1: bad and greedy. That's kind of a core belief about 503 00:34:35,920 --> 00:34:39,200 Speaker 1: the child. The child wants too much, the child needs 504 00:34:39,200 --> 00:34:43,040 Speaker 1: too much. I've heard you padlocks being put on refrigerators. 505 00:34:43,040 --> 00:34:46,160 Speaker 1: I've even heard this in my practice, because the parents 506 00:34:46,280 --> 00:34:48,600 Speaker 1: believe that the child is going to get up in 507 00:34:48,640 --> 00:34:51,960 Speaker 1: the middle of the night and quote unquote steal food, 508 00:34:52,239 --> 00:34:56,280 Speaker 1: as if the act of ingesting food and being nourished 509 00:34:56,320 --> 00:34:59,839 Speaker 1: and taken care of like the child is stealing from 510 00:34:59,840 --> 00:35:04,160 Speaker 1: the parents. The parents commonly believe that any need that 511 00:35:04,200 --> 00:35:08,439 Speaker 1: the child has is bad. It is almost like they're 512 00:35:08,640 --> 00:35:12,439 Speaker 1: envious and resentful of the child for being youthful, having 513 00:35:12,480 --> 00:35:15,719 Speaker 1: their life ahead, having needs, and they feel that the 514 00:35:15,840 --> 00:35:20,839 Speaker 1: child is extracting from them in some way. I think 515 00:35:20,920 --> 00:35:24,760 Speaker 1: this analysis only just scratches the surface of what happened 516 00:35:24,760 --> 00:35:28,360 Speaker 1: to this child. But the word it comes to mind 517 00:35:29,440 --> 00:35:32,680 Speaker 1: in their minds. This was not Gabriel. This was an it. 518 00:35:33,520 --> 00:35:36,280 Speaker 1: This was a football. You know. I've been looking, doctor 519 00:35:36,320 --> 00:35:43,640 Speaker 1: Bethany at something the teacher. Gabriel's teacher did. She repeatedly 520 00:35:43,680 --> 00:35:46,440 Speaker 1: calls social workers in the months leading up to Gabriel's 521 00:35:46,520 --> 00:35:50,719 Speaker 1: death that she was concerned he was being beaten at home. 522 00:35:51,160 --> 00:35:55,759 Speaker 1: She filed multiple compliance with social workers that Gabriel came 523 00:35:55,800 --> 00:35:59,720 Speaker 1: to school covered in bruises and scratches, had a busted lip, 524 00:36:00,160 --> 00:36:03,400 Speaker 1: reported an instance where he told the teacher his mother 525 00:36:03,560 --> 00:36:07,960 Speaker 1: shot him in the face with a bb gun. Gabriel's 526 00:36:08,000 --> 00:36:11,239 Speaker 1: therapist called nine one one after discovering a suicide note 527 00:36:11,280 --> 00:36:16,279 Speaker 1: written by him, but social workers later dismissed that complaint. 528 00:36:17,200 --> 00:36:24,120 Speaker 1: Now Gabriel is dead very quickly. Actually, Wilcot, why can't 529 00:36:24,640 --> 00:36:29,120 Speaker 1: they be prosecuted for falsifying records? I think they can 530 00:36:29,160 --> 00:36:32,480 Speaker 1: be under the definition so that piece, I don't know. 531 00:36:32,719 --> 00:36:35,880 Speaker 1: I absolutely think they can be, and I do believe 532 00:36:35,920 --> 00:36:39,040 Speaker 1: they should be. That has happened in another state, and 533 00:36:39,080 --> 00:36:42,919 Speaker 1: I think that's necessary when they have broken that law, 534 00:36:42,960 --> 00:36:45,439 Speaker 1: which they did in this case. We also learned he 535 00:36:45,680 --> 00:36:48,760 Speaker 1: was punished that night because he failed to pick up toys, 536 00:36:49,640 --> 00:36:52,120 Speaker 1: but he had been being punished for eight months until 537 00:36:52,160 --> 00:36:56,400 Speaker 1: he died. A judge forced by an appellate court to 538 00:36:56,520 --> 00:37:01,279 Speaker 1: drop charges against defacts and I guess the beat goes on. 539 00:37:03,239 --> 00:37:06,960 Speaker 1: Nancy Grace Crime Story, signing off goodbye friend,