The Angels Sentenced to Decades in Prison for Torturing and Killing their Son: A Chilling Story of Child Abuse in Los Angeles

A Latin couple, Jose María Cuatro and Ursula Elaine Juárez, known as The Angels, were sentenced to decades in prison on Tuesday after pleading no contest to charges of torture and murder of their 4-year-old son in July 2019.

Initially, the couple had pleaded not guilty to the death of the 4-year-old boy, who was hospitalized on July 5, 2019 after his parents called emergency services claiming he was drowning in the apartment complex pool where they lived. Hospital staff discovered signs of trauma in the child, who died the next morning, leading to an investigation by the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department. The couple also lost custody of their three other children.

In April of the previous year, the couple was charged with torturing the minor over a four-month period. The boy’s aunt, Maggie Hernandez, referred to the father as “an evil monster” in court and expressed her hope that they would never be released from prison. The boy’s great-grandmother, Evangelina Hernandez, stated in a written statement that Juarez had mentioned not liking the boy.

In 2020, Hernandez filed a lawsuit against Los Angeles County, alleging that the child’s death occurred after multiple reports of abuse had been filed with the Department of Children and Family Services. Similar cases of children dying due to abuse by their parents or legal guardians have occurred in Los Angeles