The mother and father of a 4-year-old boy who was attacked and mistreated for a long time before he died have agreed to a deal that will not make them confess to causing his death but will still result in them going to prison.
Jose Cuatro, 32, and Ursula Juarez, 30, have accepted a no-contest plea for the death of Noah Cuatro, which happened on Friday. KABC reported.
They were originally charged with various crimes, such as murder and rape, in connection to the boy’s mistreatment and death. They had claimed that he drowned in a community pool in July 2019, as CrimeOnline reported. as CrimeOnline reported. An autopsy revealed that the boy’s injuries did not match those typically seen in drowning cases.
Jose Cuatro was also accused of causing the death of a child through assault and sexually abusing a child under 10, while Juarez was charged with one count of child abuse likely to result in death.
This case drew renewed attention to the county’s Department of Children and Family Services, as it had reportedly been contacted about the family multiple times before Noah’s death.
Noah’s great-grandmother, Eva Hernandez, has sued the county, alleging that the agency failed to thoroughly investigate reports of abuse by the parents. according to the Los Angeles Times. He was twice in Hernandez’s care, but both times given back to his parents.
At one point, an aunt made an anonymous calls to the child abuse hotlines, reporting that Noah would say that his “butt hurts” and that his mother “wasn’t feeding him.”
“If he’s vocalizing something’s wrong and he’s having night terrors,” his aunt said, “I feel like something’s going on.”
A social worker got an order to take Noah from his parents and have a medical or sexual abuse exam done, but was prevented from doing so and eventually taken off his case. She was replaced by a social worker who sent an email saying she felt “like as a department we have been picking on this family.” The email was sent three days before Noah’s death.
Hernandez got custody of Noah’s three surviving siblings and is in the process of adopting them.
This week, Jose Cuatro agreed to plead no contest to first degree murder, which has a potential sentence of 25 years to life, and torture, which has a sentence of 7 years to life.
Juarez agreed to plead no contest to second degree murder, which carries 15 years to life, and torture.
They will be sentenced on April 30 after hearing statements from the victim's loved ones.
[Featured image: Noah Cuatro/GoFundMe]