Police in California found a 4-year-old child slain inside a car in East Los Angeles on January 25, 2024. When they found the body in the 800 block of Civic Center Way, just south of the Pomona (60) Freeway, they rushed her to a hospital. But by the amount of blood and the extent of her injuries, investigators knew early on that Mia Gonzales endured something unbelievably painful. Doctors declared her dead a short time after the little girl arrived at the hospital. They focused their investigation on her mother, Maria Avalos, and eventually arrested her on murder charges. Avalos, who has been convicted and sentenced, will spend the next 25 years in prison.
Prosecutors claim Avalos acted intentionally.
According to court documents obtained by ABC 7, Deputy District Attorney MacKenzie Teymouri said Avalos used her young daughter as a “pawn.” She dressed her up in nice clothes and then brutally murdered her.
“This wasn’t rash or impulsive. She thought about it. She did it,” Teymouri said in court. The defendant’s attorney, however, argued the mother “did the unthinkable without thinking.”
The child likely lay dead in the car for several days.
Teymouri claimed Mia was “cold” when investigators found her and “had been dead for a period of days.” According to KTLA, the child likely died from strangulation and a sharp force injury to her wrist.
A loved one told KTLA they’d never witnessed the mother abusing the child in the past.
“I feel like she would just yell at her from time to time,” Lianna Zomorano said. “But I never thought she would do that to her own daughter.”
Mia’s death has caused her father tremendous heartache. “He’s going through it,” Zomorano said, per KTLA. “It’s a lot, [his] only kid, and [he] doesn’t have her anymore.”
Avalos will spend many years in prison.
Mia’s loved ones created a GoFundMe account after her death to help support her father as he faces life without his only child.
“Hello friends and family, with a pain in our hearts we are asking for help with the death of our little Mia González,” the fundraiser reads. “Her dad Jose Gonzalez along with the rest of the González family and her godmother Noemí López thank you for any donation for her funeral. God bless you and multiply your generosity.”
Many answered the call to help, raising more than $5,800 for the child’s final expenses. A court has now convicted Avalos of second-degree murder, and a judge sentenced her to 25 years to life in prison.
No matter how harsh the sentence, nothing will bring Mia back. We will never understand how someone can kill another person, but murdering your own child is truly the most heinous crime you can commit. This mother obviously has demons that clearly got the best of her. May her time spent in prison help heal them.
