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The parents of a 12-year-old Texas cheerleader were arrested this week after she died of “life-threatening injuries” that they tried to treat with smoothies and vitamins, authorities said.
Miranda Sipps’s mom, Denise Balbaneda, 36, and stepfather, Gerald Gonzales, 40, of Christine, Texas, kept the girl in their home even though she could only “flutter her eyes and move her hands a little bit over a four-day period,” after sustaining the injuries on August 8, Atascosa County Sheriff David Soward said during a news conference on Wednesday.
The girl’s parents did not call 911 or seek medical treatment for the child. Instead, they let her lie on the floor as they tried to get her back in good health, cops said. Officials added the parents may have tried to give the girl oxygen.
“Basically they thought they could nurse her back to health and we do not think they wanted the attention that this would draw if the little girl was injured,” the sheriff said. “Which is strangely ironic, but that was their line of thinking.”
Soward did not elaborate on what he thought might’ve killed the little girl. The local medical examiner’s office will perform an autopsy as part of the ongoing investigation. The pre-teen had no broken bones, the sheriff noted.
“We’re going to get to the bottom of it before we address how the injuries occurred,” he said.
On August 12, someone at the family’s home called 911 but the mother later left the home with her child and was eventually instructed to stop her car to allow EMS to take her to the hospital.
“Our information is they didn’t want law enforcement at the house so she left with the child,” the sheriff said.
Sipps died on Monday night when emergency room professionals were unable to save her.
The mother and stepfather are being held on $200,000 bond. They’ve both been charged with injury to a child causing serious bodily injury by omission. The parents could face additional charges.
The child was scheduled to start school three days after the injuries occurred. She attended Jourdanton Jr High School in Jourdanton, Texas, where she was on the cheer squad.
Law enforcement personnel said they had responded to the family’s address in the past but did not release details on the nature of those calls.
Balbaneda has another child living with their biological father. She showed little to no remorse, the sheriff said, while the girl’s stepfather, Gonzales, displayed some remorse over the child’s death.
