Texas couple charged with failing to provide medical care to injured 12-year-old who later died

JOURDANTON, Texas — A mother and her stepfather have been arrested following the death of their 12-year-old daughter. According to the county sheriff, the daughter lay unconscious at home for four days before medical help was sought when the couple tried to give her smoothies.

“They thought they could nurse her back to health,” said Atascosa County Sheriff David Soward.

Denise Balbaneda, 36, and Gerald Gonzales, 40, both of Christine, face charges of aggravated battery of a child by omission, Soward said during a news conference Wednesday.

Gonzales remains jailed while Balbaneda is free on bail, according to online jail records, which do not list any attorneys who could speak on her behalf. A phone call Friday to a number listed for Balbaneda was answered with a recording saying the call could not be completed.

The Associated Press also left a phone message with the sheriff's office Friday morning.

Sipps suffered life-threatening injuries on Aug. 8, but her parents did not seek medical help until Monday, when Balbaneda called 911 and later met an ambulance that took the girl to a hospital in Jourdanton, about 35 miles (56 kilometers) south of San Antonio, where she died, Soward said.

Soward said the couple was arrested Tuesday and told investigators how the girl was injured. The sheriff would not describe the girl's injuries in detail, citing an ongoing investigation and pending autopsy results.

“She didn't speak but could only flutter her eyes a little and move her hands for a period of four days” until medical help was sought, Soward said.

“We don't think they wanted the attention that would have been drawn to them if the little girl had been injured, which is strangely ironic,” Soward said, as both are now facing charges following the girl's death.