Pearl Fernandez was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole in June 2018

NEED TO KNOW

• Pearl Fernandez murdered her 8-year-old son, Gabriel Fernandez, in May 2013
• She pleaded guilty to a first-degree murder charge in February 2018
• Pearl was sentenced to life in prison without parole later that same year

It's been 13 years since Pearl Fernandez murdered her 8-year-old son, Gabriel Fernandez.

Pearl called 911 on May 22, 2013, telling dispatchers that her son had stopped breathing. Paramedics were sent to the Palmdale, Calif., home where she was living with her boyfriend, Isauro Aguirre, and discovered that Gabriel had suffered extensive injuries, including a fractured skull, broken ribs and BB gun pellet marks across his body.

The couple were arrested a day later for their presumed involvement in Gabriel’s death and were both charged with first-degree murder with special circumstances of torture when he was taken off life support on May 24, 2013.

In court proceedings in the years to follow, many of Gabriel’s family members, including his siblings Virginia and Ezequiel, testified about the torturous abuse the child experienced at the hands of his mother and her boyfriend.

Social workers were even implicated after being accused of neglecting Gabriel, although charges against them have since been dropped, per the Los Angeles Times.

Pearl was sentenced to life in prison without parole in June 2018, while Aguirre was sentenced to death.

So, where is Pearl Fernandez now? Here’s everything to know about what happened after Gabriel Fernandez’s tragic murder in 2013.

What happened to Gabriel Fernandez?

Gabriel was an 8-year-old boy who was severely abused to the point of torture by his mother, Pearl, and her boyfriend, Aguirre, until his horrific death on May 24, 2013.

According to TIME, Gabriel spent the majority of his childhood living with his uncle and later his grandparents. In 2012, however, Pearl regained custody of her son, which The Atlantic reported in 2018 was allegedly done so she could gain welfare benefits, much to the dismay of family members who were concerned for Gabriel’s well-being because of Pearl’s alleged history of drug abuse and neglect.

When testifying years later in court, Gabriel’s grandfather, Robert Fernandez, claimed that it was within Pearl’s legal right to take her son back and that deputies had told him that his custody was not valid, per CBS. So, the then-7-year-old boy moved to his mother’s house, where months of horrifying abuse began.

According to the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office, Gabriel was often beaten by Aguirre because he believed that he was gay. Prosecutors said that he had suffered several injuries from the abuse, including 12 broken ribs, burn marks and a fractured skull. The young boy was also forced to eat cat litter and feces, and slept “bound and gagged inside a small cabinet,” the DA’s Office added.

On May 22, 2013, Los Angeles County Fire Department personnel arrived at Pearl's home after she called 911 to report that Gabriel was not breathing. She and Aguirre had beaten him extensively that day, allegedly as punishment for not cleaning up his toys. Gabriel was declared brain dead that day and was taken off life support two days later.

What happened to Pearl Fernandez and Isauro Aguirre after Gabriel’s death?

A day after Pearl called police to alert them that her son was unresponsive, she and Aguirre were arrested for their involvement in his abuse.

At the time, Aguirre was charged with attempted murder while Pearl was arrested for felony child endangerment and abuse, per Newsweek. However, when Gabriel was taken off life support the next day, Aguirre and Pearl were then both charged with first-degree murder with a special circumstance of torture.

Following court proceedings, a jury found Aguirre guilty of first-degree murder and the special circumstance of the infliction of torture in November 2017. He was then sentenced to death by Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge George G. Lomeli.

Meanwhile, Pearl pleaded guilty in February 2018 and was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole in June.

“This case showed how evil can not only inflict lasting damage to those who loved Gabriel but our society as well,” Los Angeles County District Attorney Jackie Lacey said in a June 2018 statement. “The horrific nature of Gabriel’s abuse and murder has been seared into our minds and the defendants will now spend the rest of their lives in prison for their reprehensible actions.”

Why were social workers charged in Gabriel Fernandez’s death?

After Gabriel’s death, four social workers were accused of failing to protect him and were each charged with one felony count of child abuse and one felony count of falsifying public records.

Prosecutors alleged that social workers Stefanie Rodriguez and Patricia Clement ignored evidence of Gabriel’s abuse, including calls from his teacher, and falsified reports that were intended to document signs of his abuse. Meanwhile, their supervisors, Kevin Bom and Gregory Merritt, were also accused by prosecutors of approving false reports that contradicted evidence of the abuse Gabriel was suffering. All four employees pleaded not guilty to the charges.

“I think Gabriel could have been saved about a dozen different ways and that’s what’s so intense and so heartbreaking about his story,” Brian Knappenberger, the director of Netflix docuseries The Trials of Gabriel Fernandez, told PEOPLE in 2020. “I think you see that in a lot of the pictures of Gabriel. If you look at him, it’s easy to understand the kind of warmth and potential he had.”

Gabriel’s case ended up with Rodriguez after his teacher, Jennifer Garcia, called the Los Angeles County child abuse hotline to report signs of abuse she was witnessing, including bruises and alarming conversations. According to a 2018 investigative report from The Atlantic that cited L.A. County Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) records, neither Rodriguez nor Bom reviewed Pearl’s history, despite four previous, unrelated calls being made to the agency with claims of abuse, nor did Rodriguez go to Gabriel’s school or talk to his neighbors.

Moreover, the social worker reportedly never interviewed Gabriel or his siblings alone, which is standard, required department policy. In a brief statement to The Atlantic, Rodriguez said she was supervising other cases at the time that presented equal or greater danger.

Four years after being charged, an appellate panel ruled in January 2020 that the social workers could not be prosecuted in Gabriel’s death because they would not have been able to control the actions of his parents, nor did they have custody or care of Gabriel. A few months later, in July, their charges were officially dismissed by a Los Angeles County Superior Court judge.

Where is Isauro Aguirre now?

In 2018, Aguirre was admitted to San Quentin State Prison following his death sentence.

He was later moved to the California State Prison, Corcoran, according to the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation inmate search.

While Aguirre is still on death row, California Governor Gavin Newsom announced in March 2019 that the state would have a moratorium on capital punishment, meaning Aguirre’s execution date is yet to be determined.

Where is Pearl Fernandez now?

According to the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation inmate search, Pearl is serving her sentence at the Central California Women’s Facility located in Chowchilla, Calif.

In April 2021, she attempted to make a bid for resentencing, arguing that she could no longer be convicted of first or second-degree murder because of changes to California’s penal code. Her petition was denied a few months later by Judge Lomeli, who said Pearl was “not entitled to resentencing relief,” according to the Los Angeles Daily News.

“It has been established by her own admission during her guilty plea that the murder was intentional and involved the infliction of torture over a period of several months,” the judge continued, adding that records show Pearl was a “major participant in the murder of a child victim.”

Pearl submitted another bid for resentencing in February 2026, which was again denied by Judge Lomeli in March 2026, per CBS LA. Under California law, she is allowed to continue filing similar requests.

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