LOS ANGELES – A grand jury indictment unsealed Wednesday charges a Lancaster woman and her boyfriend with capital murder and torture in the June death of her 10-year-old son.
Heather Maxine Barron, 29, and Kareem Ernesto Leiva, 32, pleaded not guilty to charges that they killed Anthony Avalos and tortured him in the days leading up to his June 21 death.
The murder charge includes a special circumstance allegation of murder involving the infliction of torture. Prosecutors have yet to decide whether to seek the death penalty against the two, who are due back in a downtown Los Angeles courtroom on Dec. 3 for a pretrial hearing.
Barron and Leiva are additionally charged with two counts of child abuse involving two other children in the home, and Leiva is also facing an allegation that he personally inflicted great bodily injury on one of the youngsters in circumstances involving domestic violence.
The two were initially charged July 2 with the boy’s death, and had been awaiting a hearing to determine if there was sufficient evidence to require them to stand trial. The indictment, handed up on Tuesday, allows the case to move more quickly to trial.
In court papers filed in July, prosecutors alleged that Anthony was severely tortured during the last five or six days of his life by Barron and Leiva, who “abused, beat, assaulted and tortured” him.
The alleged abuse included whipping the boy with a belt and a looped cord, pouring hot sauce on his face and mouth, holding him by his feet and dropping him on his head repeatedly, according to the court papers.
Deputies and paramedics responded to a 911 call from Barron about 12:15 p.m. June 20 and found her son unresponsive inside his family’s apartment.
Authorities said they were told that the child had suffered injuries from a fall, but investigators quickly classified the death as “suspicious.”
The boy “survived through the night,” but “tragically succumbed to his injuries at 6:30 the following morning,” Sheriff Jim McDonnell told reporters in July.
At a July 17 news conference, an attorney representing the boy’s family called for a criminal investigation into social workers who investigated allegations of abuse in the household.
“This is a case of flat-out, deliberate indifference toward the life of Anthony Avalos,” attorney Brian Claypool said at a news conference outside the Los Angeles headquarters of the county Department of Children and Family Services. “These records that we have today clearly demonstrate and social workers within L.A. County DCFS had massive red flags of a household replete with horror, a household where many of the kids were allegedly abused, not just Anthony Avalos. Because of this, we are calling for a criminal investigation. We would like social workers investigated for child abuse and criminal negligence.”
Claypool — who was joined by the boy’s father, Victor Avalos, and the boy’s aunt and uncle, Maria and David Barron — said he had obtained documents that are a “recipe for a criminal investigation,” noting that the records show 18 separate investigations into the household by DCFS over a four- year period beginning in 2013 and 88 alleged instances of child abuse, sexual abuse and child neglect.
Anthony’s aunt, Maria Barron, said then that her nephew “did not deserve all the pain he endured.”
“Why? Why did DCFS fail him?” she asked. “Why did they not take action? He had so many people that loved him, so many people willing to take him in.”
In a statement released shortly after the family’s news conference, DCFS Director Bobby Cagle said, “As our department grieves the senseless death of Anthony Avalos, my primary focus must be on the in-depth, top-to-bottom review now underway to determine exactly what happened and what needs to happen to safeguard innocent lives going forward.”
“We also are committed to doing all we can to cooperate with the Sheriff’s Department as their criminal investigation proceeds,” he said. “Thank you for understanding that these are my most urgent priorities. We will be happy to share additional information and insights with you when appropriate.”
In June, the county Board of Supervisors approved a motion by Supervisor Kathryn Barger calling for a thorough review of why Anthony wasn’t removed from his family home, despite multiple reports to the DCFS.
“You had teachers, you had family members, you had law enforcement come in contact. And yet, Anthony’s at the morgue; we’re awaiting autopsy results,” Barger said. “One has to wonder what it’s going to take to get the attention of not only the social workers, but the public in general, because I’m told that neighbors also were aware of what was taking place.”
Barger and other county officials repeatedly said they would wait for all the facts to come in before drawing conclusions about exactly what happened to the boy. But Barger called it a “senseless murder,” explaining that “we don’t have a conclusion, but there’s no other explanation.”
Previous related stories:
Mother, boyfriend could now face death penalty in 10-year-old boy’s death
Extensive DCFS involvement, 12 social workers didn’t save Lancaster boy
Slain boy’s family wants criminal investigation of social workers
Reports of abuse ended in 2016 for Anthony Avalos
Review of Antelope Valley child welfare services to follow boy’s death
Homicide detectives investigating suspicious death of 10-year-old Lancaster boy
–
Jacarri says
Smh. Someone needs to thoroughly and seriously investigate dcfs like individually investigate each case that they have and I guarantee they will find cases that dcfs have neglected and cases that are false reports. They have time to lie on people but didn’t have time to actually investigate and save this little boys life . There is no excuse for what happened and there’s no excuse for why dcfs didn’t help this little boy. The whole department should investigated and surveillance so people can see how corrupted these sick assistance people are. If you google dcfs you will find statements from people who use to work for dcfs about the corruption. These people stop working for dcfs because of there corruption. Do your homework people.
Kiki says
Everyone blames the dcsf but really it’s the mothers who should protect their kids not they stupid boyfriends come on females your kids before a freaked di**
Criminal Charges says
“…records show 18 separate investigations into the household by DCFS over a four-year period beginning in 2013 and 88 alleged instances of child abuse, sexual abuse and child neglect.”
DCFS incompetence and malpractice on display…
Protector says
The problem can be solved by simply using common sense. Common sense tells us that the boy was abused. Yet the people with the power to stop the abuse failed to stop the abuse. Hence, those people need to suffer the consequences of their failure to protect this beautiful child from abuse. Fire those that were incompetent and prosecute those who knew better but failed to protect the child. Let them serve as examples to those who have the power to protect but fail to do so. Let the word go forth, that if you fail to protect a child you will suffer the consequences of the law or the the loss of your job or both. This will be applicable from the lowest ranked individual to the highest ranked individual, social worker to sheriff deputy. If you fail to protect a child you must suffer the aforementioned consequences.
Duke says
Mom allowed, and helped….blame Mom (she should be put down).!!!!!!!!!
Sad says
So true
Pat says
LGS I have to agree with you how many children have to die before they clean house
Carla says
One problem there are not enough Social workers, caseloads are over whelming. State/County need to hire more!
Jaccari says
If dcfs didn’t have so many B.S. cases they wouldn’t be over whelmed. They have taken people’s children out there home with no proof of abuse or neglect. None what’s so ever but they get away lying in reports and changing police statements and making false allegations for money. Hiring more workers will not solve the problem at all to be honest it’s only going to get worst.
Karen says
Not defending the social workers but they have a full day I’m sure. Look around you. The people that live in the AV are mainly low income people. These woman continue to give birth to kids they clearly can not afford. This is the fault of the government that continues to feed these people. Stop with the welfar and food stamps and you will have a different community.
some guy says
And kids will starve.. ya great plan. Here’s an idea.. try and figure out why a man and woman will screw no matter what situation they are in? is sex just too pleasurable to resist.. even if you might produce an unwanted baby?
Heck all it takes these days is for a girl and guy to meet in a bar or somewhere.. and next thing you know they are screwing.. and here comes another unwanted baby.
Tm says
Better yet , the people that are having these kids are just to get a check from the state , hence they have more kids= more money for drugs and to party , and to hook up at a bar …. and that is why these “ ladies” have more than one baby daddy …. maybe instead of paying these hoes they should supply birth control , permanently
LGS says
Does anyone else besides me think that the antelope Valley social services department sucks badly ??? and they have failed all of these children ?? Why isn’t it that social services every single one of them are not fired and New dedicated ones hired??
John C says
One of the reasons is people like the fiscal conservatives of the Antelope Valley don’t want to pay taxes for these services. They want a solution, they just don’t want to have to help pay for it.
I be a lot of the people howling at the moon at these parents, also consider themselves pro-life, while at the same time being against Food Stamps, Affordable Housing, and Section 8, medi-cal and other programs that ensure the care of babies.
Typical conservatives selectively applying their values.
TJ says
The solution is that they should move somewhere else so the rest of us can have our good quality of life back!
Tim Scott says
What makes you think you deserve a better quality of life at the expense of other people being shipped “somewhere else” against their will? What kind of megalomania are you rotting with?
Not that I think your position is particularly rational in the first place, because if this place still had the “quality” of life that it offered when I was growing up here there is NOTHING that could make me live here. Fortunately, there actually IS quality of life here now, so I’m happy to stay.