PALMDALE, Calif. —

Los Angeles County will pay $20 million to the family of a 4-year-old boy who was tortured to death by his parents six years ago in a case that brought scrutiny to the region's child welfare system.

Noah Cuatro died at a hospital in 2019, days before his fifth birthday, after being found motionless at the family's apartment in Palmdale, north of LA. His parents, Jose Maria Cuatro Jr. and Ursula Elaine Juarez, later pleaded no contest to murder and torture charges.

The boy's great-grandmother, Eva Hernandez, sued the county's Department of Children and Family Services in 2020, alleging the agency failed to keep Noah safe. Cuatro had been under department supervision from the time he was born because his mother had been accused of fracturing his half-sister's skull.

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