12-year-old girl died: Authorities reported on Wednesday, August 14, that a 12-year-old girl from Texas passed away as a result of her mother and stepfather allegedly neglecting to get her life-threatening injuries treated.
The preteen passed away on Monday, August 12, according to a statement from the Atascosa County Sheriff’s Office. She was a cheerleader at Jourdanton Jr. High School.
Following the girl’s death, the sheriff’s office’s Criminal inquiry Division conducted an inquiry and discovered that four days earlier, on Thursday, August 8, the girl had suffered “serious life threatening injuries.”
“The investigation found that despite the girl’s physical and mental incapacity and non-responsiveness, the parents did not seek medical attention for her. A portion of the statement stated, “It appears the mother finally called 9-1-1 when the girl went into respiratory distress.”
Sheriff David Soward stated during a press conference that the parents “tried tending to her” at home while she “was primarily unconscious” and that they “tried a couple of remedies,” one of which was attempting to feed her a vitamin-rich smoothie. “Obviously, an unconscious person is difficult to care for,” Soward continued, going on to name the victim as Miranda Sipps, who was going to be 13 later this month.
It is oddly ironic, but that was their line of thinking. Basically, they believed they could nurse her back to health, and we do not think they wanted the attention this would garner if the little girl was hurt, he added.
Sipps “could flutter her eyes and move her hands a little bit” when the authorities arrived, according to Soward, who declined to elaborate on the specifics of her injuries or how they occurred. He also mentioned that he thought her parents had once given her oxygen.
The sheriff’s office identified the mother and stepfather as Christine’s Denise Balbaneda, 36, and Gerald Gonzales, 40, who were taken into custody on August 13 and placed in the Atascosa County jail.
According to the sheriff’s office, they have been charged with harm to a child causing serious bodily injury by omission, a first-degree crime.
The victim’s mother called 9-1-1 from her home, according to the officials, and they subsequently met her on the way to the hospital. EMS then took Sipps to Methodist Hospital in Atascosa.
According to Soward, he thinks the mother left the house because they did not want the police there.
The preteen was given “vigorous” medical attention, but the sheriff’s office stated that nothing could be done. The time of her death was 9:55 p.m. local time.
According to the sheriff’s office, the investigation is still underway, and the final autopsy report is still pending.
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