This case is one of the most harrowing child abuse tragedies in Oregon’s recent history — a gut-wrenching example of how systemic failures can allow horrific abuse to continue in plain sight, despite repeated warnings and desperate cries for help.
Three young siblings — just 5, 5, and 7 years old when the nightmare began — were subjected to five years of relentless torture by their great-aunt, Merlinda Avalos. They were starved, beaten, humiliated, and isolated, forced to sleep naked on bare mattresses in the cold, urinate in plastic bottles, wear urine-soaked clothes to school, and suffer abuse so cruel it defies belief: mouths duct-taped shut, tacks taped to bunk beds to prevent them from moving, shot in the back with a BB gun. A child was so afraid of her abuser finding out she changed into clean clothes at school, she would break down in tears.
Over the course of those five years, teachers, neighbors, and counselors made at least 20 reports to Oregon’s Department of Human Services Child Abuse Screening Hotline and to 911. These were not vague suspicions — they included reports of visible bruises, starvation, children locked outside in the rain, and terrifying first-hand disclosures from the children themselves.
Again and again, DHS CPS failed. Caseworkers dismissed the complaints as “unfounded.” They failed to follow their own policies. They didn’t take photos of injuries, failed to seek medical evaluations, and shockingly included Avalos — the known abuser — in a so-called “safety plan.” The reports were ignored. The children were left to suffer.
Finally, in April 2018, police intervened after one child made yet another disclosure. Investigators found extensive evidence of abuse, and Avalos was arrested and later sentenced to more than 12 years in prison. But by then, the damage was already done.
In 2024, nearly six years after being removed from Avalos’ home, the State of Oregon agreed to pay $4.95 million to the three children — a rare acknowledgment of responsibility in a case where the state’s inaction was both devastating and inexcusable.
But the tragedy did not end there.
Shortly after learning of the settlement, the eldest child — now 18 years old — died by suicide. His death is a painful reminder that trauma does not end when abuse stops. It lingers, destroys, and too often, claims lives long after the fact and has a rippling affect on those that were close to him..
This incredible $4,950,000 settlement— while significant — is overshadowed by the irreversible toll this abuse has taken. No amount of money can restore what these children lost: their safety, their childhood, and their brother.
Yet even in the face of such overwhelming tragedy, there was a hard-fought measure of justice. Attorneys Jeremiah V. Ross and two other lawyers refused to let the state walk away from its responsibility. They battled against dismissal, navigated complex legal barriers, and ultimately held DHS accountable for failing to act when it mattered most.
While nothing can undo what happened, we hope this outcome will not only provide some stability for the surviving siblings, but also serve as a call to action: Oregon must do better.
No child should have to suffer this way. No system should ever ignore this much pain. And no survivor should have to fight this hard for justice.
If you or a loved one has been harmed by child abuse or by government failure to protect, Ross Law and Oregon Attorney Jeremiah V. Ross will stand with you. We will listen. We will fight. And we will not let tragedy be ignored.