A therapist who was sent to do an assessment at the Lancaster home of a boy less than four years before his death testified this week that she had grave concerns about the way his mother behaved toward her children.
Wendy Wright said she called a child abuse hotline in October 2014 to report her concerns about Heather Maxine Barron because she felt a social worker was not taking her seriously and was going to close the case against the woman, whom the prosecution witness described as “very detached” and “very cold.”
Barron, 33, and her boyfriend, Kareem Ernesto Leiva, 37, are charged with one count each of murder and torture involving the June 2018 death of Barron’s 10-year-old son, Anthony Avalos, along with two counts of child abuse involving the boy’s half-siblings, identified in court as “Destiny O” and “Rafael O.”
The murder charge includes the special circumstance allegation of murder involving the infliction of torture. Prosecutors will not seek the death penalty.
Leiva and Barron now face a maximum of life in prison without the possibility of parole if they are convicted as charged in the non-jury trial before Superior Court Judge Sam Ohta.
“It was just a constant barrage of negativity,” the marriage and family therapist testified about what she witnessed of Barron’s interaction with her children. “It was striking … This is still striking.”
Wright, who worked at the time for the Children’s Center of Antelope Valley, said she informed the social worker that she believed Barron had no intention of following through with services and that she desperately needed parenting classes.
The judge also heard testimony from three social workers from the county’s Department of Children and Family Services who responded to a series of calls to the child abuse hotline involving the boy’s mother, including the call from the therapist.
Social worker Shane Bulkley told the judge that Barron acknowledged she had used a belt on the children and used hot sauce as a disciplinary measure in the past, but that he and his supervisor found there wasn’t sufficient evidence to corroborate the concerns expressed by the therapist in her October 2014 hotline call.
Barron and Leiva were charged in June 2018 with the boy’s killing and were subsequently indicted by a Los Angeles County grand jury in October 2018. They remain jailed without bail.
