Texas Couple Fed Smoothies to Injured Daughter Who Later Died, Police Say

A Texas mother and her boyfriend failed to seek medical assistance for their sick daughter and instead fed her smoothies as she battled life-threatening injuries for four days before she died on Monday, according to the Atascosa County Sheriff’s Office.

The couple, Denise Balbaneda, 36, and her boyfriend, Gerald Gonzales, 40, of Christine, Texas, “basically confessed” by telling the authorities how Ms. Balbaneda’s daughter, Miranda Sipps, 12, was injured and that they had failed to act, Sheriff David Soward said at a news conference Wednesday. They were both arrested and charged with causing serious injury to a child by omission, a first-degree felony, the sheriff’s office said in a news release.

“They thought they could nurse her back to health,” Sheriff Soward said. “We do not think they wanted the attention that this would draw to them if the little girl was injured — which is strangely ironic.”

Miranda “experienced a trauma to her neck,” Sheriff Soward said in a news release on Friday. Although the authorities have not determined the exact cause of the injuries, Sheriff Soward said earlier that the injuries were so severe that Miranda was unconscious for four days and was able only to “flutter her eyes and move her hands a little bit.”

Ms. Balbaneda “found” Miranda alive but “unconscious and unresponsive,” the sheriff said in his statement on Friday. Instead of seeking medical attention, she and Mr. Gonzales had her lie “on a pallet,” Sheriff Soward said, and tried to nurse Miranda back to health by feeding her smoothies, vitamins and supplements which she could not swallow.

Ms. Balbaneda was released on $200,000 bond Thursday evening while Mr. Gonzales remained in the Atascosa County Jail on Friday in lieu of $200,000 bond, the sheriff’s office said. Sheriff Soward said that the charges could change as more information is revealed.

Efforts to reach Ms. Balbaneda and Mr. Gonzales for comment on Thursday were unsuccessful and it was unclear if they had legal representation.

At around 8 p.m. Monday, Ms. Balbaneda finally called 911 when Miranda “completely stopped breathing,” and tried to drive Miranda to the hospital, the Friday news release said.

Emergency workers met them on the side of a highway in Atascosa County near their family’s home in Christine, about 45 miles south of San Antonio, according to the sheriff’s office. The child died in the hospital two hours later, the sheriff’s office said.

Sheriff Soward, who confirmed there had been “calls for service” to the couple’s home in the past, said that he believed that the couple did not want the police coming to their home. He described the home as “untidy, unkept, sort of dirty.”

Monday was the first day of school for the Jourdanton Independent School District, where Miranda attended junior high school and was a cheerleader.

“The Jourdanton ISD is currently dealing with the tragic loss of one of our Jr. High students,” the district said in a statement. “In our Junior High library, we made counselors available for anyone who may need or want help or assistance.”