LOS ANGELES (AP/WSVN) — Los Angeles County prosecutors have charged a mother and her boyfriend with murder and torture in the death of the woman’s 10-year-old son.
Kareem Leiva, 32, was arrested in the death of Anthony Avalos after an interview with sheriff’s detectives on Wednesday. The arrest came a day after county child welfare officials revealed that the boy had previously reported being beaten, locked up and not fed.
“During the course of their interview, suspect Leiva made statements that led detectives to arrest him,” Los Angeles County Sheriff Jim McDonnell said. He declined to elaborate.
The district attorney’s office says Leiva and the boy’s mother, Heather Maxine Barron, were each charged Friday with one count of murder and torture. Barron faces an additional count of child abuse, and Leiva faces an additional count of assault on a child causing death.
Brandon Nichols, deputy director of the Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services, told the Los Angeles Times that the boy had “said he liked boys” in the weeks before to his death.
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Avalos’ uncle David Barron, the brother of Heather Barron and a co-worker of Leiva’s, told NBC News that he believed Leiva was homophobic, recalling he was “uncomfortable just being around” gay men.
While law enforcement declined to discuss a motive, Nichols said authorities are investigating whether homophobia played a role in the boy’s death.
Little Anthony Avalos died last week after being found unresponsive June 20 at home in Lancaster, in the high desert Antelope Valley north of Los Angeles.
Authorities said the mother called 911 to report her son had fallen down stairs. He died the next day.
Homicide detectives deemed Anthony’s death “suspicious” and the Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services said that there were signs of “physical abuse, including signs of being severely beaten, as well as malnourishment.”
After Anthony’s death, child welfare officials removed eight other children — between 11 months and 12 years old — from the home. They are being cared for by county child welfare workers, officials said.
Sheriff’s deputies had responded to the boy’s home several times over the last few years — most recently in April 2016 — and there were a number of suspected child abuse referrals, but no arrests were ever made, the McDonnell said.
Investigators are reviewing each of those cases to determine whether proper protocol was followed, he said.
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Child welfare officials said Anthony had been removed from his home for several months when some of the reports of abuse were substantiated. He was returned after family members received in-home counseling, the agency said.
The agency said it confirmed two allegations involving sexual abuse when Anthony was 4 but the case was closed when it was determined that his mother was properly caring for him.
The last referral regarding Anthony was in April 2016 alleging general neglect. He was interviewed, and the allegations were deemed unfounded or inconclusive, officials said.
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