ATASCOSA COUNTY, Texas – The stepfather and mother arrested and charged in connection with the death of the woman’s 12-year-old daughter face indictments, according to Atascosa County court records.
Gerald Gonzales, 41, and Denise Balbaneda, 37, were both arrested on Aug. 13, 2024, and booked into the Atascosa County Jail on a charge of injury to a child causing serious bodily injury by omission. Their bonds were set at $200,000 each.
Gonzales and Balbaneda knowingly caused serious injuries to Miranda Sipps and failed to seek medical attention, the indictments stated.
Both appeared in court on Dec. 4, 2024, and were appointed separate attorneys. Neither the pair nor their attorneys answered questions after the hearing.
Records show Balbaneda is due back in court on July 15. She previously appeared in court earlier in June, and no action was taken.
It remains unclear how Gonzales and Balbaneda plan to plead their case.
BACKGROUND
Atascosa County Sheriff David Soward said Balbaneda called 911 from her home in Christine at 8:20 p.m. on Aug. 12, 2024, to report that Sipps was not breathing.
Balbaneda put Sipps in her vehicle and started driving toward a hospital in Jourdanton.
Dispatchers advised Balbaneda to stop her vehicle and meet EMS at the intersection of State Highway 16 and Farm-to-Market 140, Atascosa County deputies said.
EMS treated Sipps as she was transported to Methodist Hospital Atascosa, where she was treated for an hour; however, medical staff were unable to improve her condition. Sipps was pronounced dead at 9:55 p.m.
Investigators questioned Balbaneda and learned that Sipps received serious, life-threatening injuries on the afternoon of Aug. 8, Soward said.
The sheriff said Sipps’ injuries put her in a state of unconsciousness. An autopsy indicated that Sipps “experienced trauma to her neck.”
Soward said the parents “failed to act.”
The sheriff’s office said, “Sipps was kept on a homemade bedding area in an environment that was not kept to a reasonable standard of cleanliness.”
The parents tried to give Sipps smoothies, vitamins, and supplements, and may have gotten oxygen for her at one point, Soward said, but Miranda could only flutter her eyes and move her hands.
“Someone who is unconscious is not able to swallow,” Soward said. “She’d been in that situation, laying on the floor for four days.”
Sipps, a Jourdanton Independent School District student, would have turned 13 later that month.
Gonzales and Balbaneda were released on bond a few days after their arrests.
Balbaneda was ordered to wear an ankle monitor following her release, as required by her bail bondsman.
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