Tragic Case: How a Father’s Disciplinary Measures Led to His 7-Year-Old Son’s Starvation

A tragic case involving the death of a young child has reached a grim conclusion in Indiana. A 27-year-old father and his 21-year-old girlfriend have each been sentenced to 30 years in prison for the horrific abuse and eventual murder of the man’s 7-year-old son. The child, Kayden Gavarrete, died just days before Christmas, after suffering starvation, beatings, and torture.

The sentencing was delivered by Marion Superior Judge Marshelle Dawkins Broadwell, following the 2024 incident. Court documents reveal that both Kevin Gavarrete and Julia Sizemore entered guilty pleas as part of agreements with county prosecutors. They admitted to charges of neglect of a dependent resulting in death and placing a dependent in a dangerous situation.

Marion County Prosecutor Ryan Mears expressed the gravity of the case in a statement following the sentencing. “In my 20-year career as a prosecutor, this is among the worst cases we have seen,” he remarked. “As a father of a child who was the same age as Kayden, it’s gut-wrenching. This resolution ensures both defendants will spend decades in prison and provides certainty for Kayden’s family.”

The harrowing investigation began on December 22, 2024, when officers from the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department were called to a home on the 1300 block of South Pershing Avenue. The officers were responding to reports of a “possible death investigation,” marking the beginning of a case that would uncover the unthinkable suffering endured by Kayden.

The investigation into the couple began when officers with the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department at about 4 p.m. on Dec. 22, 2024, responded to a home in the 1300 block of South Pershing Avenue regarding a “possible death investigation.”

Upon reaching the home, first responders located Kayden unresponsive in the bathroom and pronounced him dead at the scene. Gavarrete and Sizemore were arrested and charged the following day.

Detectives noted that the boy was emaciated, covered with bruises and cuts in various stages of healing, and had suffered burn marks on his face and body, the Indianapolis Star reported. The Marion County Coroner’s Office said Kayden weighed only 32 pounds, determining his cause of death to be multiple blunt force trauma injuries and complications from malnutrition.

In an interview with police that day, Gavarrete said he had been up most of the previous night playing video games and slept well into the afternoon, local Fox affiliate WXIN reported. Gavarrete claimed he knocked on Kayden’s door at about 2:30 p.m. and did not get a response, so he went outside and smoked a cigarette. When he returned and went into Kayden’s room, Gavarrete said the boy was unresponsive.

Gavarrete said Kayden appeared malnourished because he had recently been sick and refused to eat or drink. He further asserted the boy’s physical injuries were self-inflicted, claiming Kayden was always “throwing tantrums” and regularly threw himself to the ground “too hard.”

The father asserted that he had been homeschooling Kayden for about a year due to bullying and said that, despite the boy’s condition, he did not bring his son to the hospital because he was “afraid of how the hospital staff would react,” per WXIN.

Sizemore reportedly told detectives she had never seen Gavarrete hit Kayden, adding that she “did not want to get into his personal business.”

During Monday’s hearing, Gavarrete and Sizemore offered identical apologies, both saying, “I’m sorry for what happened” and “It never should have happened,” footage posted by local NBC affiliate WTHR showed.