Pearl Sinthia Fernandez

After ten months of investigation, authorities arrested and charged a 21-year-old mother in the death of her child from blunt force neck trauma.

A boy who died Saturday under suspicious circumstances in Palmdale could have been removed from the custody of his parents in May, the NBC4 I-Team has learned.

An investigation was underway Wednesday into the death of a 4-year-old Palmdale boy who was reported to have been injured in a near drowning but had trauma injuries that raised suspicion about how he died.

The mother of an 8-year-old Palmdale boy who was routinely beaten, starved, forced to sleep in a closet and tortured until his 2013 death pleaded guilty Thursday to a murder charge.

The mother of an 8-year-old Palmdale boy who was routinely beaten, starved, forced to sleep in a closet and tortured until his 2013 death pleaded guilty on Feb. 15, 2018 to a murder charge.

One-time co-workers of a Palmdale man convicted of the torture-murder of his girlfriend’s 8-year-old son testified Monday that the man they knew was compassionate, kind and worth saving rather than condemned to death.

A former security guard convicted of the torture-murder of his girlfriend’s 8-year-old son deserves “nothing less than death,” a prosecutor told jurors Monday, while a defense attorney said “there are reasons to spare his life.”

The biological father of an 8-year-old boy who was tortured and beaten to death testified in court against the man convicted of killing his son. Patrick Healy reports for the NBC4 News at 4 p.m on Tuesday, Nov. 28, 2017.

A former security guard convicted of the torture-murder of his girlfriend’s 8-year-old son deserves “nothing less than death,” a prosecutor told jurors Monday, while a defense attorney said “there are reasons to spare his life.”

The man convicted of first-degree murder in the torture-death of 8-year-old Gabriel Fernandez returns to court for the penalty phase of the trial. Patrick Healy reports for the NBC4 News at 11 a.m. on Monday Nov. 27, 2017.

A Palmdale man was convicted Wednesday of the torture- killing of his girlfriend’s 8-year-old son, whose short life and agonizing death also led to a murder charge against his mother and criminal counts against social workers accused of ignoring his plight.

The older brother of an 8-year-old Palmdale boy who was allegedly tortured and killed by his mother and her boyfriend in May 2013 recounted a harrowing tale of abuse Wednesday, telling a jury that his sibling was forced to eat cat litter and cat feces and was repeatedly beaten in the months leading up to his death.

Four years after the death of Gabriel Fernandez, the defendant in the case admitted that he tortured the child. Ted Chen reports for the NBC4 News at 6 p.m. on Monday, Oct. 16, 2017.

A jury is set Monday to begin hearing the case against a Palmdale man who is charged, along with his girlfriend, with capital murder in the beating death of the woman’s 8-year-old son.

An LA County Department of Children and Family Services supervisor who was fired in the wake of the torture death of 8-year-old Gabriel Fernandez will be reinstated, a judge ruled Tuesday.

A forensic nurse testified during a grand jury hearing for the mother and her boyfriend accused of torturing and killing Gabriel Fernandez, said the wounds the boy suffered were “not normal of a little 8-year-old boy.”

Graphic images have been released in the case of 8-year-old Gabriel Fernandez, whose death triggered investigations into the county’s child welfare system. Lolita Lopez reports for the NBC4 News at 5 p.m. on Tuesday, July 21, 2015.

Prosecutors announced Wednesday that the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office will seek the death penalty against a Palmdale couple charged with capital murder in the beating death of the woman’s 8-year-old son.

Prosecutors will seek the death penalty against Pearl Sinthia Fernandez and her Isauro Aguirre in the 2013 torture death of her son, 8-year-old Gabriel Fernandez. Lolita Lopez reports for the NBC4 News at 5 and 6 p.m. on July 1, 2015.

A little over a year after the beating death of Gabriel Fernandez, the DCFS continues to look at ways to improve its home counseling sessions with a proposal on the table to change how requests for medical exams are handled. Lolita Lopez reports for NBC4 News at 6 p.m. from Wednesday, Oct. 8, 2014.