When authorities responded to the home, they also learned the mom had another child who had been missing for years, unreported; in court, she also addressed allegations of killing that second girl.
New details have emerged in a wild case out of Austin, Texas, where authorities first learned a 9-year-old girl had been missing for years after the child’s grandmother called police claiming another of her daughter’s children, a 7-year-old girl, had been locked in a closet, possibly for weeks.
Virginia Gonzales is facing charges including injury to a child inflicting serious injury following her arrest back in May, after her 7-year-old daughter was found “locked in a closet and starving,” per police.
It was only after her arrest that police learned Gonzales had never reported the disappearance of another child, a nine-year-old girl who’s been missing since December 2017.
Gonzales was in court for a bond hearing this week, with KXAN reporting on what went down inside.
Child “Locked In Closet”
The child’s grandmother called police when she went to the home and found the 7-year-old girl confined to a closet.
The closet measured less than 5-feet by 2-feet, per court filings, though with other objects also in there, they believe her living space was approximately 3 feet by 1 foot, 10 inches. There was no light or ventilation. NBC News reports it was barricaded by 75-pound boxes in front of it.
According to court documents, the girl was soiled and weighed just 29 pounds when she was rescued. Medical staff determined that she suffered “moderate to severe cerebral atrophy” leading to permanent brain damage due to prolonged malnutrition and starvation. “She will never recover,” the affidavit states.
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The six other children in the house, ranging in age from 2 to 14, told their grandmother, per court documents, that they were ordered to lock their sister in the closet because she had bladder control issues, was “always getting into stuff,” and eating things she was “not supposed to.”
A 10-year-old brother said he was told to clean the closet because she would defecate and urinate in there, per KVUE. He said the girl was only allowed to eat a single hot dog or corndog a day and half a cup of water.
The other six children “appeared physically healthy,” according to Austin Police Detective Russell Constable at a news conference on Tuesday. Investigators reported that the home’s refrigerator, freezer, and pantry were all well stocked with food.
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New Details In Court
During the hearing, Gonzales reportedly didn’t deny her daughter had been put in a closet — but pushed back at allegations she was there for possibly days or weeks.
“I instructed them not to let her out of the [bed]room but not the closet,” Gonzales said she told her other children as she testified. “We’d catch her in the restroom doing something bad. It was easier for [my sons] to watch her that way.”
A police detective testified that text messages between Gonzales and one of her children read, “Clean the closet and then throw her back in.” Describing the child’s condition, the detective also said that “the fat in her cheeks was nonexistent,” claiming, “Her body had used those stores to sustain itself.”
Gonzales, however, insisted she “had adequate food for everyone in the home” — before saying, “I don’t dispute that I was in the wrong. I know what I’ve done was wrong. I want to fight for my kids. I’m ready to do whatever I need to keep my children in my life.”
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Other Daughter Missing
As authorities were initially investigating the closet incident, they discovered Gonzales had another daughter, Ava, who has been missing since 2017 — but whose disappearance was never reported to authorities. The girl would be 9 now.
According to ABC affiliate KVUE, police state that Virginia has given “conflicting information to many different family members” regarding Ava’s whereabouts, nor have authorities been able to positively identify the missing girl’s father.
During the hearing this week, Gonzales reportedly said a man named “Saul Jimenez” took Ava from her when she was living out of her car. That man, she allegedly told police, was the girl’s father … but she claimed he was deported to Mexico in 2018, before Jimenez’s sister took Ava with her to Mexico as well.
APD Missing Persons & Cold Cases detective Amanda Lewis said they were handling the disappearance “as a homicide investigation,” adding they don’t “have any evidence that she is alive.” Gonzales, in court, reportedly testified that she did not kill her daughter.
Her bond was then raised to $250,000, before Gonzales pled not guilty to the charges. Her trial was set for January 2016.
If you are experiencing or witness child abuse, call the Childhelp National Child Abuse Hotline at 1-800-4-A-Child or 1-800-422-4453, or go to www.childhelp.org. If you believe a child is in immediate danger, call 911.
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