QUARTZ HILL (CNS) - Superhero shirts are the requested attire at Friday's funeral for Anthony Avalos, the 10-year-old Lancaster boy who was allegedly tortured to death by his mother and her boyfriend.
A Catholic funeral will be held at a church in Quartz Hill, near where he lived.``We would like (it) if everyone can wear superhero shirts, in honor of Anthony,'' according to a funeral notice from a family publicist.
Services will begin at 9 a.m. with a rosary and viewing at 9 a.m. at the Saint Junipero Serra Parish Church, 12121 60th Street West, followed by the funeral service at 10 a.m. He will be interred at the Good Shepherd Cemetery, 48121 70th Street West. The boy was found unresponsive in his mother's home June 20. He died the next day.
Prosecutors contend in court papers that Anthony was severely tortured during the last five or six days of his life, alleging that his mother and her boyfriend ``abused, beat, assaulted and tortured Anthony Avalos,''The alleged abuse included whipping the boy with a belt and a looped cord, pouring hot sauce on his face and mouth, holding him by his feet and dropping him on his head repeatedly, according to the court papers filed earlier this month.
Anthony's mother, Heather Barron, 28, and her boyfriend, Kareem Leiva, 32, have been charged with murder and torture in the boy's death. A county official said earlier that the boy had come out as gay in the weeks before his death, and authorities were trying to determine if homophobia may have played a role in his death.
Family of Anthony Avalos Call for Investigation of Social Workers
Anthony Avalos was only 10 years old when he was allegedly murdered by his mother and his mother's boyfriend after years of abuse.
By Arianna Marie