Death Of A Boy In The Closet From Alleged Abuse: Siblings Knew About It But Kept Silent

The boy was kept in the closet for three years before he was found dead due to possible abuse and his siblings knew about it. The dreadful incident was well-kept that even Jose Pinzon, the boy's stepfather, had no idea of the occurrence.

On the day of Yonatan Daniel Aguilar's death, Moses Castillo, LAPD detective who was supervising the case, had Pinzon and the 11-year-old boy's siblings placed inside a room for observation. The stepfather immediately confronted them regarding the boy's death but one of them said that he did not know because he was always at work, Los Angeles Times reported.

It has been reported that among the three children, two of them slept on a bed just outside the closet door, where the boy was found dead. It was found out by the authorities that Veronica Aguilar, mother of the victim, forbade her other three children from saying anything.

The boy was found wrapped in a blanket in their Echo Park home. Reported death findings reveal that the boy's body was covered in pressure sores, foam was found in his nose and there were medicinal cups of pink and red liquid near his body, hence, the presumption that the child was abused.

In the spring of 2012, the teachers reportedly submitted 2 separate reports - he went to school with a black eye and that he was hoarding for food - and after that, the little boy disappeared. No further reports were received by the Department of Children and Family Services officials and they also had no legal right to make an inquiry about his whereabouts without any reports.

Before the boy's death, there were 6 reports of possible abuse or neglect between 2009 and 2012, which the county DCFS reportedly responded to. The boy's risk for abuse was marked high 4 times but the social workers did not formally open a case because the allegations of abuse were found not conclusive, NBC San Diego learned.

Aguilar is currently imprisoned at the Century Regional Detention Facility in Lynwood with a $2 million dollar bail. She could face a sentence of 15 years to life imprisonment if found guilty of the boy's death.