Maggie Hernandez, one of the relatives of the deceased victim Noah Cuatro, sat in a packed courtroom in Lancaster on Tuesday, April 30, waiting to hear the judge hopefully deliver some final measure of justice for the 4-year-old boy who had been tortured and eventually murdered by his convicted parents.
The ruling was strong. Superior Court Judge Robert G. Chu sentenced father Jose Maria Cuatro Jr. to 32 years to life in prison, and mother Ursula Elaine Juarez to 22 years to life for their son’s July 2019 death, which was initially reported as a drowning.
Jose Cuatro, 32, had pleaded no contest on March 29 to one count each of first-degree murder and torture, and Juarez, 30, also entered a no-contest plea to one count each of second-degree murder and torture. The pair were indicted for the child’s death four years ago.
As part of their plea deal, both defendants waived their appellate rights.
The judge called Noah’s death a “devastating loss” and said he wanted the victim’s family to know that he saw “the love from Noah’s family.” He said he was confident that the boy would never be forgotten.
Certainly not by Hernandez, a Sylmar resident, who is also Juarez’s aunt.
“It was a feeling of justice,” Hernandez told the San Fernando Valley Sun/el Sol later that day. “The closure, you know, that’s definitely hard because we loved him a lot. And it’s hard to just forgive people on our end for what they did, for the years of torture that they put upon Noah.
“So that’s a feeling that we’re all still struggling with – how to kind of overcome that. Maybe we will, maybe we won’t. You ask yourself, ‘can we forgive these people?’ We’re not sure yet. We don’t know what the future holds.”
Another San Fernando Valley resident, Emily Carranza, was among the courtroom observers. Carranza is the cousin of the late Gabriel Fernandez, whose life ended at age 8 from the torture and beating abuse by his mother Pearl and her boyfriend Isauro Aguirre in 2013. Pearl was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole and Aguirre was sentenced to death.
Carranza, who went on to form the Warrior Sisters with her cousin Olivia Rubio – a support group for victims of crime and their families – told the San Fernando Valley Sun/el Sol that while the sentencing was “a long time coming” for Hernandez and her family members, any type of personal healing would take even longer.
“It’s hard to see the family suffer; it’s a no-win situation,” Carranza said. “They’ve lost a family member, a precious little boy. The great-grandmother of Noah lost her granddaughter, Ursula, as well. It can divide a family and it happens a lot in these cases, and it’s unfortunate.
“But I think the judge’s ruling was fair. They both got what they deserved. I just pray for the healing of the family; I know it’s a closed chapter, now, they’ll move forward. But the healing is going to be a very long time because you never [fully] heal from such a tragedy. Noah was a precious little baby boy, he was just a beautiful little guy. I’ve never met Noah, but just sharing the stories and how, what a happy child he was when he was with the families – it’s just a sad day.”
A statement read in court by Deputy District Attorney Jonathan Hatami further unlocked the anguish and fury still felt by Noah’s surviving relatives. The boy’s great-grandmother, Evangelina Hernandez, said Juarez had told her at one point that she didn’t like the boy.
“Why, my God, why is there such evil in you, Ursula? What kind of monster are you, Jose?” the victim’s great-grandmother asked the defendants.
“You’re both very sick! You are the worst kind of sickos.”
Maggie Hernandez read her state aloud in the court, saying she had memories of Juarez as an “innocent child” – memories that she says have been replaced by her being an abusive parent to Noah.
“She would paint a picture of her being a great mom while abusing Noah behind closed doors,” she said. “I will never forget him and I will never forget the monsters who took him away from us.”
She said the parents’ abuse of Noah was “deleterious to me and my family,” and what really infuriated her was seeing them at Noah’s funeral “pretending to be loving parents knowing all along the real truth of how he died” by the hands of his father.
“Jose, you are by far the worst kind of human being I’ve ever met. To me you are no longer human. You’re an evil monster. I hope Ursula and Jose never get out of prison.”
Outside the court, Hernandez went on to say she believed that the county’s Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) had “failed him.”
The convicted parents had reported a drowning in their family pool in the 1200 block of East Avenue S around 4 p.m. on July 5, 2019.
The youngster was taken first to Palmdale Regional Medical Center and then to Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, where he was pronounced dead the next day.
Then-Sheriff Alex Villanueva announced the following week that an investigation was underway into the boy’s death. The sheriff said Noah lived with his parents and three siblings, who were taken into protective custody.
Maggie Hernandez subsequently filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Los Angeles County on behalf of herself and the boy’s sister and two brothers, alleging that his death occurred after multiple reports of abuse had already been made to DCFS.
“Instead of protecting Noah and his siblings, DCFS continued to place the children with their abusive parents, where the children continued to be abused over the course of several years,” the suit alleges.
After Noah’s death, DCFS social workers made threats against Maggie Hernandez “in an attempt to silence her” the lawsuit alleges.
The social workers told Maggie Hernandez that if she made any public statements about Noah’s case and/or potential lawsuits, she would lose her request for guardianship of her other three great-grandchildren and would never see them again, the suit states.
Pasadena-based Hathaway-Sycamores Child and Family Services was also named as a defendant in the civil lawsuit, alleging that the agency knew of or suspected the abuse and misconduct occurring in Noah’s home after the boy was sent to the agency by the county Department of Children and Family Services for mental health services, but failed to report the abuse.
Hathaway-Sycamores has vehemently denied any wrongdoing.
“Noah’s death was tragic and we all mourn his passing,” Hathaway-Sycamores CEO Debbie Manners said in a statement. “However, as we have clearly stated in the past, Sycamores had no knowledge of any abuse impacting Noah and also did not provide services to him while he was living with his parents. … Sycamores is not involved in this criminal matter and we have aggressively denied any liability related to ongoing civil litigation connected to the case.”
The DCFS previously issued a statement regarding Noah’s death.
“At any given time, the Department of Children and Family Services serves more than 34,000 families and vulnerable children in Los Angeles County with an unwavering commitment to pursue child safety every day in our communities,” the statement read. “Our 9,000 employees are committed to this mission, and we look to do everything possible to safeguard the children entrusted to our care.”