Homophobia can be a factor in the 10-year murder: public servants

Southern California authorities arrest a mother's boyfriend after the death of her child last week under suspicious circumstances. They are now looking to determine if the boy's admission played a role in his death after a long history of abuse. .

Deputies from Lancaster, California, of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, found the 10-year-old boy unconscious at his home on June 20 and took him to the hospital, where he died the next day. Family members at home said the boy, Anthony Avalos, had been injured in a fall, according to the sheriff's department.

Another Wednesday interview with mother's boyfriend, Kareem Leiva, 32, led to his arrest, the Sheriff's Department said.

"During their interview, the suspect Leiva made statements that led the investigators to arrest him for the murder of Anthony Avalos," said a statement from the county sheriff's department. Los Angeles.

<img src = "https://s.abcnews.com/images/US/lacsd-avalos-briefing-ho-mo-20180628_hpEmbed_9x5_992.jpg" border = "0" width = "640" height = "480 "alt =" Sheriff Jim McDonnell, of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, told reporters Wednesday, June 27, 2018, about the arrest of Kareem Leiva in the death of a 10-year-old boy to Lancaster, California, June 20, 2018 Sheriff Jim McDonnell, of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, informed the press on Wednesday, June 27, 2018 of the arrest of Kareem Leiva in the death of a boy of 10 years in Lancaster, California, June 20, 2018.

Authorities said Leiva had suffered "medical wounds requiring medical attention," which Los Angeles County Sheriff Jim McDonnell has identified as a self-inflicted wound in his chest.

Leiva has not yet been charged because he is receiving medical treatment, the sheriff's department said, but he will be held on a $ 2 million bail.

The Director of the Department of Child and Family Services, Bobby Cagle, told KABC's ABC channel in Los Angeles that they were investigating whether Leiva's homophobia had played a role in the boy's death. The Los Angeles Times reported that Brandon Nichols, deputy director of DCFS, said in an interview Monday that Avalos "said he loved boys", although that was not specified.

"One of the things we have heard is that there may have been a motivation on the part of the man in the household regarding the baduality of the child, and so we look at it very deeply, "Cagle told KABC. "Of course, it was an alleged factor in the Gabriel Fernandez case, so it concerns us and we are looking at this angle as well as many others."

The sheriff's department said Wednesday that homophobia had not appeared in its investigation.

Fernandez died in 2013 after abuses sustained by his mother and boyfriend. She was convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment earlier this month, while her boyfriend, Isauro Aguirre, was sentenced to death because of the death of the 8-year-old boy.

AP

DCFS is also criticized after the agency reported receiving at least 13 referrals for "possible physical, emotional and badual abuse" from Avalos between February 2013 and April 2016.

"We know that the child suffered serious head injuries, including cerebral hemorrhages, bruises and bruises all over the body – really horrible injuries to the child," he said. Cagle at KABC.

McDonnell said at a press conference on Wednesday that these claims were "grossly exaggerated". However, McDonnell said that there were "a number" of child abuse reports filed with DCFS, which had been investigated and "the provisions varied on these" reports.

Heather Barron, the mother of Avalos, was not charged with the boy's death.

The LA County Sheriff's Department stated that eight children – aged between 8 months and 12 years – who were living in the family's home or "were badociated with" the victim's family were detained DCFS .

Homicide and the Special Victims Bureau are investigating the case at the same time as the L.A. District Children's Law Office and the DCFS.