The Trials of Gabriel Fernandez the emotional Netflix documentary that needs to be seen

by Maria Marquez

The Trials of Gabriel Fernandez Trailer courtesy of Netflix Youtube channel

Netflix has released another true crime documentary but this time it is not a serial killer. The trials of Gabriel Fernandez is the story of 8-year-old Gabriel Fernandez and the months leading to his death, a story that will bring up so many emotions, questions and uncertainty.

Netflix remains on top of their documentary streak releasing this a few weeks after the Aaron Hernandez documentary series that millions of people saw, along that is the Ted Bundy tapes, Abducted in Plain Sight and Making a Murder being some of the most talked about docu-series on Netflix.

These 6 part series takes you through the trials of Pearl Fernandez Gabriel’s mother and Isauro Aguirre her boyfriend. Along with the social workers assigned to assess Gabriel who were all charged for neglect and it depicts the months Gabriel endured before it was too much.

Injury chart from when Gabriel was brought to the ER. Courtesy of Netflix

Gabriel lived in an abusive household. He was beaten, starved and tortured by his mom and his mother’s boyfriend for months. Many calls were made to the Child Protective Services (CPS) by family members and his teachers after he started showing up to school and family parties with burn marks, black eye, bruises and missing teeth but Gabriel was never removed from the household or taken for further evaluation.

A hard watch but very important to understand how broken the system is. Gabriel could have been saved many times but unfortunately that is not the ending we get. This series will make you want to yank your hair out and hug those near you, especially if you are a parent.

A fair warning that it can get graphic not just by pictures but by the descriptions, but it is so important to hear and see because no matter how bad things got no one saved him even when the evidence was there.

People need to see this, to change and improve the system we currently have in place, the same system that didn’t save Gabriel Fernandez and probably many other kids that go unreported and many that are going through it now.