Homophobia may be factor in 10-year-old's murder: Officials

ABC News

Deputies from the Lancaster, California, station of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department responded to find the 10-year-old boy unconscious in his home on June 20 and rushed him to the hospital, where he died the following day. Family members in the home said the boy, Anthony Avalos, was injured in a fall, according to the sheriff's department.

A further interview on Wednesday with the mother's boyfriend Kareem Leiva, 32, led to his arrest, the sheriff's department said.

"During the course of their interview, Suspect Leiva made statements that led investigators to arrest him for the murder of Anthony Avalos," said a statement from the L.A. County Sheriff's Department.

Apparently, there has also been a history of previous abuse. Also, this family lied, in my opinion about the "injured in a fall" trope. This is absolutely heartbreaking. If you can't trust your family to keep you safe, who can you trust?


If my boy told me he was gay and liked boys I would expect the same level of self-respect that I would out of my little girl. I would do anything to protect my kids and make them feel safe.

The fact that the mother hasn't been charged while all of this alleged abuse had occurred under her watch is extremely troubling.

Rest in Peace Anthony Avalos.

a reply to: projectvxn

Anyone that hurts a child is a sick bastard and deserves more than the facade of justice dispensed by our respective courts of law.

Have to say through the wee guy was 10, i still thought my willy was for pissing over high walls at that age. Sexuality at such a young age should be neither here nor there really.

Poor wee chap, RIP.

a reply to: andy06shake

Have to say through the wee guy was 10, i still thought my willy was for pissing over high walls at that age. Sexuality at such a young age should be neither here nor there really.

For some, yes.

But how many gay people have you known that will tell you that "I knew when I was a kid". I don't think it's that simple. I knew I liked girls when I was a kid that age. Why can't he know he likes boys?

Agree with both of you. When I was 10 I had no orientation. And why the hell are other people not being charged. Everyone who knew about the abuse and did nothing is an enabler.

Truly sad, and tragic.

There's a special place in Hell for people like that.

...any child that had said they were gay, or that they like boys/girls, would find that I love them just the same as before. If not more, because God knows there'll be people out there who wouldn't anymore.

I can't imagine even saying a cross word, much less "they fell"ing them. Bastards. I really hope they burn.

a reply to: andy06shake

Children can know who/what they identify at a young age, even if they don't know how to put it into words, it is easy to think back and say "I felt this way" because you have more information to process it, but that doesn't mean you are unable to at a young age know what and who you are, or feel etc

a reply to: projectvxn

Now that I think on it, most of 'em. Or they had an inkling.

Obviously, I would be disappointed if my child turned out to be gay, but it wouldn’t stop me from loving them and being a parent. I don’t think there is anything a child can do that would make you not love them.

a reply to: projectvxn

People can like whatever they choose.

I'm not suggesting the kid cant know he likes boys.

I'm suggesting, it's beside the point, childhood does not last forever, and once gone it never coming back this side of the veil.

Sexuality seems rather complicated for most 10 year olds to fathom, imho.

Then again, the world spins, i'm 42 now, being 10 in today's societies is possible rather different.

a reply to: Metallicus

That's because you're reasonably sane...

There is, to my mind, something rather amiss with anyone who would think it right and proper to do this to a child. For what ever reason.

a reply to: andy06shake

Most homosexual males are aware of their orientation by the age of 10 and will have their first homosexual experience by 14. Just because people aren't sexually active at that stage (hopefully) doesn't mean they don't know what they find attractive.

For example, I remember having a crush on Kelly Kapowski and the Pink Power Ranger in kindergarten. I'm sure everyone else had similar crushes. So while we like to pretend that sexual orientation is something the doesn't develop until adolescence most are actually aware of it quite early on in life.

a reply to: Xcalibur254

Nothing against gay people, straight people, purple or pink.

I just think kids should be kids for as long as they can be.

Sexuality is a complicated matter, childhood does not need to be complicated, not whilst there are trees to climb, rules to break and adventure to be had.

End of the day the little lad is dead most lightly down to the mothers homophobic boyfriend, that's wrong in its entirety.

a reply to: projectvxn

They will, but at the same time, it is common for most kids to go through a period of confusion. It's also not uncommon for people to switch their orientations too. I know no one talks about it, but it does happen more than people realize.

I don't think it would be uncommon at all for a confused kid to say he's gay without really knowing in today's world where we have such a skewed understanding of just how many Letter Salad people there really are in society. By some polls, people think the percentage is as high as 25% of more of the population when it's actually no higher than 5% at best.

I know of several people myself who went through their sexual orientation morphing phase before settling out.

At 10 years old I liked daisy dukes jeep more than daisy.
At 11 there was no doubt I liked daisy too but I still thought her jeep was cool.

You tend to know when you are young.
I can't imagine hurting my kid for being gay.

a reply to: andy06shake

Sexual and Gender Orientation has nothing to do with "Not being a kind for as long as possible"

If children are able to know these things about them, and feel these things, but don't quite know how to put it into words, or maybe even feelings, don't know how to communicate it and feel alone, don't you think that is worse for the child and would take them away from being a "kid as long as possible" to feel isolated...

a reply to: Bluntone22

She was the only reason I ever watched that show... ...and the Jeep.

I can't imagine ever being so angry at a child, for any reason, that I'd injure, or kill, them. It's beyond my mental capacities. Thankfully.

a reply to: projectvxn

Again we have previous abuse. Through informal studies and more and more information coming out that homosexuals were abused at a young age, I am convinced that most homosexuality is a normalization of the abuse they have endured.

Jaden

This is awful. There are far too many of these things where we find out it was the morher's boyfriends. These mothers who choose these abusers should be charged too.

Off topic really, but I just wanted to complain about how bad journalism is anymore. The ABC article first says that the cops "found the boy dead" at his home. Later it says they found him unconscious and he died at he hospital the next day. And, early in the article it says the boyfriend was arrested for the murder of the boy. Then later, it says that the boyfriend hasn't been charged yet bcause he is in the hospital but is expected to be charged later.

Besides the outright spin and disinformation and one-sided bias that the media employs now as a standard operating procedure, we can't even rely on these hacks to check facts and keep their story straight within one article. How do these idiots live with themselves? I would be HORRIFIED at myself if I did my job as poorly as today's "journalists" do. Total hacks.

originally posted by: Masterjaden
a reply to: projectvxn

Again we have previous abuse. Through informal studies and more and more information coming out that homosexuals were abused at a young age, I am convinced that most homosexuality is a normalization of the abuse they have endured.

Jaden

I agree that this must be a factor in a significant number of homosexuals who are men. Not all, but a good amount.

When you are a parent (or step-parent for that matter) you should have a never changing unconditional love for a child .
Period