Dad and girlfriend responded to 7-year-old 'throwing tantrums' by starving him to death

A 27-year-old father in Indiana and his 21-year-old girlfriend will both spend decades in prison for starving, beating, and torturing the man's 7-year-old son to death, ultimately killing the boy just days before Christmas.

Marion Superior Judge Marshelle Dawkins Broadwell on Monday ordered Kevin Gavarrete and Julia Sizemore to each serve 30 years in a state correctional facility for their roles in the 2024 death of Kayden Gavarrete, court records show.

The sentences were handed down after both defendants reached deals with county prosecutors in which they agreed to plead guilty to counts of neglect of a dependent resulting in death and neglect of a dependent by placing the dependent in an endangering situation.

"In my 20-year career as a prosecutor, this is among the worst cases we have seen," Marion County Prosecutor Ryan Mears said in a statement following the sentencing hearing. "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 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.