Anthony Avalos’ siblings say everything changed after their mother’s new boyfriend, Kareem Leiva, moved in.
Suddenly there were bizarre punishments, grueling workouts and strange rules about eating. One cruelty often flowed into another.
The boy’s sister, Destiny, said she remembers being made to kneel on uncooked rice over a section of carpet that had been torn up. There were nails sticking out of the shoddy flooring of their Lancaster home, she said, old but still sharp enough to draw blood from her knees.
Anthony’s brother, Rafael, described being forced to hold a squatted position or keep weights high in the air over his head for hours at a time. At one point, Rafael said, he got so weak he fell over and smacked his head on a metal chair, opening a wound that required staples to close.
Sometimes, Destiny said, the children were forced to fight one another in gladiator style combat, with the winner being spared from Leiva’s alleged sadistic punishments. But when she was matched up against her older brother Anthony, Destiny said, the 10-year-old always let her win to save her from Leiva.
The two children who say they were tortured alongside Avalos took the stand Wednesday at the murder trial of Leiva and their mother, Heather Barron. Leiva and Barron are charged with killing Avalos through years of torment that ended with his death in 2018 and abusing both Rafael and Destiny. If convicted of all charges after a trial expected to last several more weeks, they face life in prison.
The children, identified only by their first names, spoke slowly and deliberately about the torment they allegedly endured, each clutching a stress ball and twisting their tiny bodies under gentle questioning from Deputy Dist. Atty. Jonathan Hatami.
Barron sat stone faced as Hatami guided the children through questions. He asked Rafael if Barron was a good mother. He said no. When asked if he loved his mother, the child said he “used to but my feelings have changed.”
“I started to realize all the bad things she did to me,” the boy continued.
Leiva has admitted to abusing each child but his defense attorneys have argued he did not cause the climactic fatal head injuries that caused the 10-year-old boy’s death. Barron‘s defense is expected to focus on claims Leiva was also abusing her and that she failed to protect her children out of fear of him.
The case also revealed massive failures within L.A. County’s child care system. Officials with the Department of Child and Family Services were aware of at least 13 reports of abuse involving Avalos, but the boy was allowed to remain in Leiva and Barron’s home. No DCFS employees have been disciplined in connection with the case, the agency has said. Several DCFS employees are expected to testify later in the trial.
On Wednesday, both Rafael and Destiny said Leiva picked up Anthony by his ankles and dropped him on his head as many as 20 times the day before police were contacted.