Remembering Gabriel

Gabriel Amaya was only five months old. He had barely begun experiencing the world around him. At five months, a baby is beginning to recognize familiar faces and voices, smile and interact more with the people around him, and discover everything for the first time. Gabriel should have had an entire childhood ahead of him. Instead, most of what remains publicly documented about his short life concerns the circumstances of his death. But Gabriel was more than what happened to him. He was a baby boy. He was a son. He was a little brother. And his five months of life mattered.

Gabriel's Story

On October 16, 2003, Gabriel was at his family's home in Lamar, Colorado, with his mother, Rebekah Amaya, and his four year old half sister, Grace Headlee. According to an arrest affidavit later released by authorities, Rebekah told investigators that a spider crawled across her hand that day. She said she was normally afraid of spiders but instead felt peaceful. She interpreted the experience as a "sign" that she should "set her children free." What followed took the lives of both children. According to Rebekah's statement to investigators, she placed five month old Gabriel in the bathtub and held him face up beneath the water until he stopped breathing. She then drowned four year old Grace in the same manner. Later that day, Gabriel's father, Leo Amaya, returned home from work. He found both children dead in the bathtub. He also found Rebekah unconscious after what authorities described as an apparent suicide attempt. She had cut her wrists and was subsequently hospitalized in Colorado Springs. Gabriel was five months old. Grace was four years old. The children's deaths were reportedly the first homicides in Lamar in more than a decade.

Justice for Gabriel

Rebekah Amaya was arrested after leaving the hospital and initially charged with two counts of first degree murder for the deaths of Gabriel and Grace. She was held without bond. The criminal case, however, did not end with a conventional murder conviction. Rebekah entered a plea of not guilty by reason of insanity. The case centered heavily on her mental condition at the time Gabriel and Grace were killed, including her statements about believing the spider represented a sign that she should "set her children free." In January 2005, Rebekah Amaya was found not guilty by reason of insanity in connection with the deaths of Gabriel and Grace.

A verdict of not guilty by reason of insanity did not mean the court determined that Rebekah had not caused the children's deaths. Rather, it reflected the legal determination concerning her mental state and criminal responsibility at the time. Following the verdict, she was committed to the Colorado Mental Health Institute at Pueblo.

 

Person responsible: Rebekah Amaya

Relationship to Gabriel: Mother

Original charges: Two counts of first degree murder

Legal outcome: Not guilty by reason of insanity

Disposition: Committed to the Colorado Mental Health Institute at Pueblo

Gabriel and Grace

Gabriel was not the only child who died that day. His four year old half sister, Grace Headlee, died alongside him. Grace's father was Mark Headlee, a Lamar police officer and Rebekah's former husband. He was away performing military duty at the time and returned to Colorado after learning that his daughter had been killed.

Two children from the same family lost their lives on the same day. Gabriel was five months old. Grace was four years old. Neither child could have understood what was happening or protected themselves from the person responsible for keeping them safe.

​Forever Remembered

Gabriel's entire life lasted less than six months. There weren't enough years for school pictures, favorite hobbies, childhood friends or stories about what he wanted to become. There simply wasn't enough time for the world to learn the little boy Gabriel would have grown into. But a short life is not a lesser life. Gabriel was someone's baby. His father came home from work on October 16, 2003, expecting his family to be there and instead discovered something no parent should ever have to see.

Gabriel should have grown up alongside Grace. There should have been birthdays, first days of school, arguments between siblings, family photographs and decades of ordinary memories after October 2003. Instead, Gabriel and Grace became the children at the center of a homicide case. But that case is not Gabriel's identity.

His name was Gabriel Amaya. He was five months old. He was a son, a brother and a baby boy whose life had barely begun. Abuse Angels remembers Gabriel, tells the truth about what happened to him, and honors the five month old baby boy behind an old Colorado case. Gabriel Amaya mattered. And he will never be forgotten.