Killing of Anthony Avalos

The deputy director of the Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services, Brandon Nichols, stated that Anthony had recently told his mother, "he liked boys and girls.”[2]

In the aftermath of Anthony's death, several of his relatives revealed that Barron and Leiva had demonstrated repeated evidence of their intense homophobia. Barron called Anthony a “faggot” in front of relatives, and Leiva admitted that he did not feel comfortable being in near proximity to homosexuals.[3]

During his autopsy, Anthony's body showed clear signs of sustained abuse. He had bruises and burns all over his body, and he was extremely malnourished.[4] According to court testimony, Anthony's aunt, Crystal Diuguid, divulged to her therapist that Anthony's mother was beating, starving, and locking him for hours in a room without any access to the bathroom.[4] He was six years old at the time. The therapist called a child abuse hotline to report the abuse.[4]

Caseworkers responded to 13 complaints of abuse regarding Anthony between February 2013 and April 2016, including sexual abuse when he was four years old.[1]

In a statement, Los Angeles County Deputy District Attorney Jon Hatami said: "There were injuries to Anthony's side and his hip area, both his left hip and his right hip, and his arms, and even injuries to his feet."[5] In another statement, he said, "At one point Anthony could not walk, was unconscious lying on his bedroom floor for hours, was not provided medical attention, and could not eat on his own.”[6]

Over the last few days of his life, Anthony was tortured repeatedly. He was whipped all over his body, was held upside-down and dropped on his head, sprayed with hot sauce in his eyes, nose, and mouth, and forced to kneel on rice for several hours.

A 911 call was made one day before Anthony was murdered.[7]

For more than four years, from 2013 to 2017, Anthony had been under the supervision of the Los Angeles DCFS.[4] In that period of time, at least 13 known calls (by teachers, counselors, relatives, and police) were made to the child abuse hotline regarding Anthony's welfare.[4] DCFS followed up eight times.[8]

According to a review by CBS News of released documents from DCFS, records from Maximus Inc., court records, and interviews from family and relatives, child protective workers missed numerous warnings of life-threatening abuse and repeatedly failed to intervene.[4]

On August 28, 2019, the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office announced it was seeking the death penalty against both Barron and Leiva.[9][10] Both pled not guilty to intentional murder with infliction of torture on the victim.[11] In addition to the murder with a special circumstances charge, Barron was charged with an additional abuse charge of one of her other sons.[12] The Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office under District Attorney George Gascón subsequently dropped the death penalty for Heather Maxine Barron and Kareem Ernesto Leiva.[13][14]