On May 24, 2013, Gabriel Fernandez, an eight-year-old boy from Palmdale, California, who had been abused and tortured over a period of months, died due to a beating from his mother, Pearl Fernandez, and her boyfriend, Isauro Aguirre, two days earlier. Pearl Fernandez and Isauro Aguirre were charged and convicted of first-degree murder with special circumstances of torture. According to prosecutors, Aguirre allegedly abused Gabriel due to his perceived homosexuality. Pearl was sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole and Aguirre was sentenced to death.

Throughout Fernandez's eight-month stay with his mother and Aguirre, multiple people reported signs of abuse to social workers with the Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services and the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department. However, Fernandez was never removed from the household. This led to concerns over the effectiveness and efficiency of social services in Los Angeles County, and led to four social workers being criminally charged in Los Angeles Superior Court. All charges were later dropped.