Inset: Isaiah H. (KTLA/YouTube). Background: The California apartment complex where Destiny Harrison and Daniel Monzon’s son, Isaiah H., was found dead inside a cooler filled with ice (KNBC/YouTube).
New details have emerged about a California mother and father who are accused of “killing and torturing” their 8-year-old son with help from the boy’s grandmother, with the trio allegedly stowing the boy’s body “in a cooler filled with ice” after wrapping him up with Saran Wrap, according to witness testimony.
“I saw the body of Isaiah, in there, wrapped,” a witness testified last week during a preliminary hearing for Destiny Harrison, Daniel Monzon and Ana Zarceno.
Harrison and Monzon, who are the mother and father of victim Isaiah Harrison, allegedly starved and killed the young boy with help from Zarceno, Isaiah’s paternal grandmother, in October 2025.
Monzon’s best friend — the witness who testified at the preliminary hearing — recalled in court how he was called to the family’s home last October and told Isaiah was sick, according to local ABC affiliate KABC. The friend said he later learned that Harrison had struck the boy and he died, KABC reports.
“Destiny had hit him, and hit him so hard that he fell and hit his head,” the witness testified, citing statements he claimed were made by the family.
Love true crime? Sign up for our newsletter, The Law&Crime Docket, to get the latest real-life crime stories delivered right to your inbox.
Asked if anyone called 911, the man told the court, “No, they were scared,” according to KABC.
“Ana said that her and Destiny took the body inside and wrapped it up with Saran Wrap and she had to, like, go buy a freezer,” the witness reportedly testified.
The friend said he could see Isaiah’s face through a hole ripped in a black plastic bag. He alleged that Isaiah’s family asked him for a “favor,” which included helping them “dispose of the body,” the man testified.
Harrison, Monzon and Zarceno all face charges of murder, torture and child abuse resulting in Isaiah’s death; Monzon and Zarceno are also charged with being accessories after the fact. The group is also accused of causing willful harm to the child.
Autopsy photos reportedly displayed in court during last week’s hearing showed welts, bruises and scars all over Isaiah’s body. Police found ropes and chains in the apartment that witnesses said were used to restrain him.
Witnesses testified that Isaiah lost more than half his body weight in the year leading up to his death while allegedly being starved by his family.
Isaiah’s aunt told the court that the boy was mischievous and often ate food in the middle of the night, according to the Los Angeles Times.
The boy would sometimes hide snacks in his family’s couch cushions, the aunt said.
Isaiah’s family had concerns about his weight, which was estimated to be about 200 pounds, before they allegedly started starving him.
When Isaiah’s remains were found inside a small freezer in his parents’ bedroom last October, he weighed just 65 pounds.
“I can’t recognize him in this picture,” said Dr. Claudia Wong, a UCLA professor of pediatrics and expert on child abuse, after being shown a photo of Isaiah before the weight loss.
Over 12 months, Wong estimated that Isaiah lost two-thirds of his body weight, the Times reports.
Isaiah was rarely seen in public during this time and was kept chained to furniture, witnesses testified.
As a result, Isaiah suffered from “muscle wasting” because he was malnourished and allegedly restrained from moving. Abuse allegations were lodged with L.A. County’s Department of Children and Family Services, but they were ultimately ignored, according to a civil lawsuit filed late last year.
The lawsuit, filed on behalf of Isaiah’s three siblings, also claims that the Lynwood Unified School District failed to investigate why Isaiah was not enrolled in school.
“The horrific abuse that Isaiah endured is made even worse by the fact that, as alleged, it was at the hands of the people who were meant to love and protect him,” said Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan J. Hochman in a press release last year announcing the arrests of Harrison, 25, Monzon, 25, and Zarceno, 45.
Isaiah’s cause of death was listed as a bacterial infection resulting from pneumonia, with other significant contributing factors including blunt force trauma injuries and the effects of long-term restraint.
A social worker’s videotaped interview with Monzon’s sister — who lived with the family — was shown in court last week. In it, the sister described how the family used ropes and chains to prevent Isaiah from misbehaving and eating, the Times reports.
Isaiah’s sister, who is a juvenile, also testified about the alleged abuse.
“Please, please I just want something, I’ll do anything,” Isaiah would beg, according to his sister.
Isaiah was often kept chained up overnight as punishment and left to urinate or defecate on himself, his sister said. Harrison and Monzon would throw the clothes out whenever he soiled himself, which led to Isaiah having to sleep naked while restrained, the sibling testified.
The sister alleged that Isaiah was repeatedly punched, kicked and beaten with hangers and wires as well.
“We have to get him better,” Zarceno said on one occasion, according to the sister. “We have to stop hitting him … no matter what he does. Just feed him.”
Three more children — ages 16, 13 and 9 months — were also found at the Lynwood apartment where Isaiah was killed and taken into protective custody by the L.A. County Department of Children and Family Services, according to local CW affiliate KTLA.
According to prosecutors, Isaiah was allegedly abused “over a long period of time” before he eventually “succumbed to his injuries” on Oct. 24, 2025. “His body was found days later in a cooler filled with ice,” the DA’s office said in its release announcing the arrests.
Harrison, Monzon and Zarceno all face 32 years to life in state prison if convicted.
The post Family hid dead 8-year-old in ‘a cooler filled with ice’ after wrapping boy in Saran Wrap, starving and chaining him to furniture because he weighed 200 pounds: Witnesses first appeared on Law & Crime.
