Anthony Avalos torture and murder: Doctor testifies boy, 10, was 'skin and bones' when he was brought in for treatment
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LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: Further details have emerged in the trial of the murder of 10-year-old Anthony Avalos. A pediatrician from the UCLA Mattel Children’s Hospital testified on Monday, February 6, that the boy, who died of physical abuse, was extremely malnourished when he was brought for treatment and described him as "skin and bones."
The doctor reportedly said that every one of the child’s organs had been failing when he was brought to the hospital and that his body was covered in bruises and burns due to the abuse he underwent. Two other doctors also testified that the trauma to Avalos' brain, which had bled and swollen (as discovered in a CT scan), was similar to that of shaken baby syndrome. ABC7 reported that a detective also testified that at the Lancaster apartment where the child was found, a carpet was pulled up in a corner. This was the same corner where according to the boy’s siblings were made to kneel on uncooked rice while holding weights, often until their knees bled.
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Anthony Avalos' mother was not present at the time of his death
Priscilla Cabunoc, the nurse, informed the LA Superior Court judge Sam Ohta that she had seen many children die while on the job and they always had their parents with them. She noted that the boy’s mother, 33-year-old Heather Maxine Barron, was not present with the child when he died.
Cabunoc also stated that it seemed to her as though Barron felt absolutely nothing at her child's death, and that the emotions that she showed were feigned. She said Barron spent 10 minutes with her son before she went away for a while. Cabunoc noted that Barron spoke with a slur and said, "To me it looked like she was forcing herself to have some type of emotions.”
What has Heather Maxine Barron and her boyfriend charged with?
Barron and her boyfriend, Kareem Ernesto Leiva, 37, have both been charged with murder and torture in the death of Avalos, and child abuse in the case of Avalos’ siblings. According to FOX News, the boy and his siblings had been starved and force-fed in equal measure, forced to kneel on rice, whipped, had hot sauce thrown on their face and beaten in the house where the children were put through "extreme physical pain and suffering."