Netflix has released the trailer for its new true crime documentary series, which will focus on the life and death of eight-year-old Gabriel Fernandez. The trailer is absolutely heartbreaking.
Gabriel died in May of 2013. Prosecutors said his skull was fractured and that 12 of his ribs were broken. He was reportedly forced to eat cat feces, and slept bound and gagged in a cabinet.
A man, Isauro Aguirre, was sentenced to death in June of 2018 for the first-degree murder of Gabriel. Aguirre was Gabriel’s mother’s boyfriend. Prosecutors said Aguirre tortured Gabriel because he believed he was gay. Gabriel’s mother, Pearl Sinthia Fernandez, was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Netflix’s documentary, described as an “unflinching look at the case” will focus on how the system failed Gabriel.
“A boy’s brutal murder and the public trials of his guardians and social workers prompt questions about the system’s protection of vulnerable children,” the log line reads.
Brian Knappenberger helmed the six-part documentary series. He’s the man behind the 2017 documentary Nobody Speak: Trials of the Free Press.
The Trials of Gabriel Fernandez premieres February 26 on Netflix.
The streaming giant also recently announced another new true crime title about Joseph Maldonado-Passage, better known as Joe Exotic. Maldonado-Passage was a tiger breeder who ran a roadside zoo in Oklahoma. He once featured heavily in Louis Theroux‘s 2011 documentary, America’s Most Dangerous Pets, and still has an inactive YouTube channel documenting moments at his zoo.
The doco synopsis, per Netflix, is as follows: “A rivalry between big cat eccentrics takes a dark turn when Joe Exotic, a controversial animal park boss, is caught in a murder-for-hire plot in this limited docuseries where the only thing more dangerous than a big cat is its owner.”
