A harrowing true crime documentary on Netflix has left viewers devastated, with many admitting to feeling sick and being reduced to tears after rediscovering the series on social media. 'The Trials of Gabriel Fernandez', which originally premiered in 2020, chronicles the tragic story of the 2013 murder and abuse of an eight-year-old boy from Palmdale, California.
The six-part series, widely regarded as one of the most distressing programmes on the platform, documents the appalling treatment Gabriel suffered at the hands of his mother and her boyfriend. He was discovered at his family home in Los Angeles with catastrophic injuries including a fractured skull, serious burn marks, bite marks, and wounds caused by a BB gun.
His mother Pearl contacted emergency services claiming her son had stopped breathing after hitting his head, though she subsequently admitted to deliberately abusing the boy. Gabriel was pronounced brain-dead and passed away two days later following his emergency admission to hospital. The Netflix series examines the court proceedings, as Pearl and her partner Isauro Aguirre faced trial, along with four social workers responsible for monitoring Gabriel before he fell through the system.
Viewers have labelled it 'the most horrifying crime documentary', with one individual writing on Reddit: 'The fact he wrote that letter to his mom as a school project, professing his love for his mom; all the while he was bald, bruised and battered is just heartbreaking.' Another commented: 'This broke me, I cried holding my son just beside myself.' One viewer stated: 'This was possibly the worst thing I have ever watched... Absolutely gut wrenching. I felt sick for days.'
Director Brian Knappenberger told EW: 'The documentary is a really difficult watch but it's an important one... We made the decision that Gabriel's voice needed to be heard... I think that in the end, this is a story of a kind of redemption, or a questioning of how things can be better in this system.'
