The Trails of Gabriel Fernandez

Dayanara Sarmiento
September 10, 2021
Rate: 4.5/5

The Trials of Gabriel Fernandez is a documentary series on Netflix. An eight year old boy born
on February 20, 2005, from Palmdale, California. He unfortunately died on May 24, 2013, a true
documentary about child abuse. Viewers discretion is advised because of the sensitive graphic
pictures and child abuse.

During Pearl's pregnancy she was neglectful of Gabriel's health. She didn't want to take care of
him so his uncle convinced Pearl to give birth and let him take in the baby. Gabriel was raised
by his uncle and his partner and around the age of three, then he went to his grandparents and
six months before he died he lived with his mom and her boyfriend.

During the time Gabriel was with his mom and her boyfriend he would show up to school with
bruises on his face and swollen eyes. The first time Gabriel’s teacher, Ms. Garcia realized that
there was something wrong was when Gabriel asked her “ is it normal for my mom to hit me with
a belt?” And when he said “but, you know, is it normal to bleed?” She said that was when she
called the Los Angeles County child abuse hotline after school and social workers later were
sent to Gabriel's house and came back reporting it was all just an accident. Social workers went
to his house 3 times and no child abuse proof was observed so gabriel had to stay.

After a long absence in school Gabriel came back and came in with a black eye and he told his
teacher his mom had shot him with a BB gun and that was the last time Ms.Garcia saw Gabriel.
In May 2013, Pearl called 911 and reported that Gabriel wasn't breathing, Gabriel was found
severely injured and was immediately taken to the hospital. Gabriel's body had all types of
injuries, broken ribs, cracked skull, he received daily beatings, bb gun shots to the head, burns,
all his fingers were injured, pepper sprayed, and shaved hair. Doctors, nurses, police officers,
firefighters had never seen anything like this before, they were all shocked. Due to the amount
of torture he had been through. He unfortunately was declared brain dead and passed away two
days later.
It's heartbreaking to watch these extremely sensitive interviews that take place in this
documentary because they are so vivid and just not human like. We have no idea what was
going through their minds during all these months of torturing Gabriel. They never showed any
remorse for Gabriel. Pearl was more worried about her cats than her child. Seeing this made me
very aggravated because Gabriel was only 8eight he had a long life ahead of him. I also
question why they would let Gabriel live with his mom knowing she neglected him since the
beginning.

During court, both murders did not show any remorse. Gabriels murders were sentenced, Pearl
was convicted in 2018 and sentenced to life in prison without parole after pleading guilty to first
degree murder and admitting the torture allegation. Isauro Aguirre was sentenced to death in
June 2018. Also, the 3 social workers that failed Gabriel were also charged with child abuse
and falsifying records in Gabriel's case.

Overall this Documentary is very hard to watch but it informs us viewers of a lot of problems that
occur in the system. “If you see something say something” i feel like is the message behind this
documentary. This documentary also is to figure out how and why this happened without Gabriel
being noticed until it was way too late. But I do recommend others to watch this and to spread
awareness. Gabriel Fernandez will always be remembered.