Suspected Death Of 10-year-old Boy Investigated

2024 Author: Steven Freeman | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 08:15

The suspected death of a 10-year-old boy in California is under investigation. The boy was found at his home last week with severe blows to the head and cigarette burns all over his body.

Weeks before his death, Anthony Avalos had confessed to his family that he was gay, authorities revealed. Brandon Nichols, the deputy director of the Los Angeles Department of Children and Families revealed to the Los Angeles Times that Anthony "said he liked children" before his death.

Los Angeles Department of Children and Families director Bobby Cagle reiterated the same to ABC 7 News, adding that his organization was investigating whether the boy had been abused because of his sexual orientation.

"One of the things that we have heard is that there could be a motivation from the man who lived in his house due to the sexual orientation of the boy, and we are investigating that in depth," he assured the chain.

Neither Anthony's mother, Heather Barron, nor her boyfriend Kareem Leiva, have been charged with the boy's death. Barron was the one who called 911 last Wednesday saying her son was not responding, the Los Angeles Times reported. The mother alleged that the head injuries were the result of a fall. The boy died in the hospital the next day.

In 2013, about 12 calls were received by the Los Angeles Department of Children and Families regarding Anthony, Cagle told the San Francisco Chronicle. According to the newspaper, the first call alleged that the boy, then 4 years old, had been sexually abused by a grandfather who did not live with him or the other six children in his home.

They also received allegations of sexual, emotional, and physical abuse in their home. The boy's aunt, Maria Barron, told the Los Angeles Times that the boy allegedly came from an abusive situation and that revealing that he was gay "only reinforces how brave Anthony was." María assures that she began in 2015 to report to the Department of Children and Families that she had seen bruises and other injuries in the children that Leiva said caused them.

The aunt revealed to the organization that the children had told her that Leiva allegedly locked them up in small places where they had to urinate and defecate on the floor, according to the newspaper. The case remains under investigation. Rest in peace, Anthony.