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Netflix’s new true-crime limited series, The Trials of Gabriel Fernandez, has sent shockwaves through the news and has exposed the ways in which the system meant to protect our children has not been held accountable. The series focuses on the brutal murder of 8-year-old Gabriel Fernandez back in 2013, and all of the signs that were missed by law enforcement and social workers. The little boy was murdered because the parents thought he might be gay. In a deeper look at a truly appalling case, eyes are opened to what really goes on behind closed doors and what it really means to get justice.

Netflix and Amazon Prime Video prefer to keep a tight lid on ratings data, doling out information in ways they see fit. Even Nielsen, which has been measuring Netflix and Amazon viewership for some time, has limited the amount of streaming data it shares with the public.

But Variety has obtained a recent Nielsen streaming report, for the week of March 2 to 8, which sheds more insight into viewer streaming habits — including stats for original programs, acquired fare and movies/specials at Netflix and original programs and movie/specials at Amazon.

Insiders have said that Nielsen numbers are pretty close to internal data — and Nielsen has been working on its streaming ratings methodology for some time for its Svod Content Ratings. Critics argue its numbers are still underrepresented because it only covers the U.S. and doesn’t include viewing on mobile devices or PCs.

For years, Netflix has dismissed the Nielsen reports,...

“The Trials of Gabriel Fernandez” director Brian Knappenberger said producers kept a therapist on call during the production of the heartbreaking documentary about an eight-year-old boy who was tortured and abused by his mother and her boyfriend until he died from the torment.

“We worked on this for almost two years. This was super emotional for everyone,” Knappenberger told TheWrap. “We actually had a therapist that was being offered to people — we had never done that on a production before. It was very emotional to go through, we spent time with interviews, we fact-checked everything. But everybody that went through this just felt like there was a purpose and it was a story we had to tell.”

Based on in-depth reporting by La Times journalist Garrett Therolf, “The Trials of Gabriel Fernandez” chronicles how over eight months, Gabriel was subjected to horrific torture, which included regular beatings, being shot in...

For journalist Garrett Therolf, reporting on the grisly details of a child’s torture and eventual death wasn’t easy. The process left him with “battle wounds” that sent him into therapy, he said, though he’s quick to make it clear that what he went though “doesn’t come within 100 miles” of what the victim experienced.

Without his reporting in the Los Angeles Times, Pearl Fernandez would never have been sentenced to life without parole in 2018 for the 2013 death of her 8-year-old son, Gabriel Fernandez. Her boyfriend would never have been convicted of first-degree murder with the special circumstance of intentional murder by torture, then sentenced to death. And Netflix would not be releasing a six-part docuseries on how many adults in the child’s life could have interceded in a way that would have saved his life — but didn’t. In fact, very few people would know about Gabriel at all.

Gabriel Fernandez was a slight boy with a big smile when his mother’s boyfriend first moved into their Palmdale, California, home. Eight months later, when he was taken off life support, his body was bruised, broken, burnt and riddled with Bb pellets.

The man who inflicted those wounds killing the 8-year-old in 2013 was found guilty of first-degree murder on Wednesday.

Isauro Aguirre was found guilty of intentionally killing Gabriel, as well as torturing him over the course of eight months, according to Ktla.

A jury can now sentence Aguirre, 37, could be sentenced to death by the jury. Gabriel’s mother,...

Detectives investigating the death of Gabriel Fernandez discovered a bat, a club and handcuffs at the family’s Palmdale, California home, according to a Los Angeles County Sheriff’s detective.

Detective Timothy O’Quinn testified Wednesday that detectives also found 10 Bb guns and metal BBs in a container, ABC reports.

Prosecutors alleged that the items were all part of 37-year-old Isauro Aguirre’s eight-month-long campaign of terror against his 8-year-old stepson. Aguirre is charged with murder with a special circumstance of torture in the boy’s 2013 death.

Gabriel’s 34-year-old mother, Pearl Fernandez, is also charged with murder. Her trial is pending.

On Monday, the grandfather of Gabriel Fernandez — the 8-year-old California boy who was allegedly tortured and murdered in 2013 — tearfully testified about the last time he spoke to the boy and the promise he made but could not keep.

Robert Fernandez, according to Ktla, testified for the prosecution in the murder trial of Isauro Aguirre, Gabriel’s mother’s boyfriend.

Prosecutors alleged that Aguirre abused and ultimately killed the boy because he believed Gabriel was gay. Identical allegations have been made against the murdered child’s mother, Pearl Fernandez, who is being tried separately at a later date.

Robert Fernandez, who...

Testimony continued this week in the murder trial of Isauro Aguirre, the California man accused of torturing and murdering Gabriel Fernandez, his girlfriend’s 8-year-old son, allegedly because he believed the boy was gay.

On Thursday, Jennifer Garcia, who was Gabriel’s first-grade teacher, took the witness stand and told the court the boy had once confided in her, allegedly telling her, “Sometimes, my mom makes me bleed,” reports NBC Los Angeles.

Gabriel died in 2013 from a skull fracture, shattered ribs and severe burns. Burrowed into his skin were Bb pellets; one was also found in his lung, according to local ABC affiliate Kabc-tv.

In court on Wednesday, a California teen described the relentless assaults inflicted on his 8-year-old brother for months until, at last, the little boy was dead.

Los Angeles County prosecutors argue Gabriel Fernandez was the victim of an eight-month-long campaign of terror by his mother and her boyfriend, who were “conspiring together to deceive everyone in order to torture to death,” after he moved to live with them in 2012, NBC Los Angeles reports.

On Wednesday, according to local TV stations CBS Los Angeles and Kabc, Gabriel’s 16-year-old brother, Ezequiel, testified in horrific detail about the abuse the boy suffered...

The murder trial has begun in the case against a man accused of torturing and murdering the 8-year-old boy of his girlfriend whom he believed to be gay. The child, Gabriel Fernandez, was found with a skull fracture, shattered ribs, and severe burns by first responders at his home in a Los Angeles suburb in 2013. He died two days later.

After allegedly being gagged and bound in a cabinet inside of the family home, the hospital declared the child brain dead and removed him from life support two days later.

Isauro Aguirre allegedly tortured the boy over an 8-month span...

Four Los Angeles County social workers have been charged with child abuse and falsifying records stemming from an 8-year-old boy's death three years ago, allegedly at the hands of his mother and her boyfriend. People confirms an arrest warrant was issued March 28 for Stefanie Rodriguez, 30, Patricia Clement, 65, Kevin Bom, 36, and Gregory Merritt, 60. All four were fired last year following an internal investigation into the death of Gabriel Fernandez; after challenging his dismissal, Merritt was reinstated to his position, records indicate. People obtained a copy of the arrest warrant, which claims Rodriguez, Clement, Bom and Merritt "had a legal duty" to...