Just days after his fourth birthday, Zachary Dutro-Boggess suffered a beating so severe at the hands of his mother and her boyfriend that he collapsed on the floor of the homeless shelter he lived in. Two days later, he was dead of a perforated bowel and serious internal bleeding.

It took little more than an hour on Friday for Oregon jurors to convict his mother, Jessica Dutro, of murder; her boyfriend pleaded guilty to manslaughter and assault charges earlier.

Jurors were quick to decide after hearing of horrifying abuse that prosecutors said was inspired by homophobia.

In court, prosecutors produced a Facebook message in which the mom called little Zachary an antigay slur and threatened that he would be “facing the wall” for this perceived gayness.

“He walks and talks like it,” Dutro wrote. “Ugh.”

Too often, anti-LGBT hate crimes in America are thought to be random attacks perpetrated by strangers. But Osman Ahmed of the National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs says hateful abuse often comes from those closest to the victim.

“This is one of the more common categories of hate violence against the LGBT community,” Ahmed said. “The data says that in cases where violence is reported, 13 percent is perpetrated by an immediate family member or relative. This conversation is not nearly as prevalent as it should be.”

That silence may be having deadly consequences.

Just last month, Britney Cosby and her girlfriend, Crystal Jackson, both 24, were murdered, their bodies dumped behind a Texas convenience store. James Cosby, Britney’s father, was arrested Thursday after authorities found evidence of "a bloodbath" in his bedroom, according to the Houston Chronicle.

Cosby’s mother told the paper he was upset with his daughter’s lesbian relationship, repeatedly warning her not to "throw that gay (expletive) around in this house."

Ahmed says that while these three recent murders have made national news, his organization deals with many cases of LGBT family violence that don’t get reported.

“There is a stigma and shame about outing your family as a perpetrator of violence,” he said. “We have clients come to us all the time asking for help but who don’t want to go to law enforcement.”

Though nothing can be done to eliminate the shock and fear the murders of Dutro-Boggess, Cosby, and Jackson inflicted on the LGBT community, Ahmed says he hopes the three will not have died in vain.

“These cases, although incredibly tragic, are our chance to start a necessary and long-awaited conversation.”