On Tuesday, a Latin couple, Jose Maria Cuatro and Ursula Elaine Juarez, known as The Angels, were sentenced to decades in prison for the torture and murder of their 4-year-old son in July 2019. Cuatro, 32, was sentenced to 32 years in prison while Juarez, 30, received a sentence of 22 years for the death of their son Noah Four.
Initially, the couple had pleaded not guilty to the boy’s death after he was hospitalized on July 5th following an incident at their apartment complex pool. However, hospital staff discovered signs of trauma on the child who passed away the next morning. This led to an investigation by the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department and resulted in the couple losing custody of their three other children.
In April of the previous year, the couple was charged with torturing their minor over a four-month period. The boy’s aunt Maggie Hernandez testified in court that she referred to Cuatro as “an evil monster” and expressed her hope that they would never be released from prison. The boy’s great-grandmother Evangelina Hernandez also made a written statement stating that Juarez had mentioned not liking Noah.
In March of 2020, Hernandez filed a lawsuit against Los Angeles County alleging that her nephew’s death occurred after multiple reports of abuse were filed with the Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS). Similar cases have occurred in Los Angeles where children have died due to abuse by their parents or legal guardians such as Gabriel Fernandez in 2013 and Anthony Avalos in 2018.
