ATASCOSA COUNTY, Texas – A 12-year-old Atascosa County girl is dead and her mother and stepfather are accused of failing to get medical help for her injuries.

Miranda Sipps was a student at Jourdanton ISD and would have turned 13 later this month.

Her mother, 36-year-old Denise Balbaneda, and her stepfather, 40-year-old Gerald Gonzales, are charged with aggravated assault of a child by omission, according to the sheriff’s office.

Balbaneda and Gonzales are in the Atascosa County Jail on $200,000 bail each.

Here’s what we know about the case so far.

Call 911

Balbaneda called 9-1-1 on Monday evening because her daughter was unconscious. Emergency responders told Balbaneda to stop her vehicle and meet emergency responders at an intersection near the town of Christine, where they lived.

Sheriff David Soward said the couple may not have wanted police officers in their home because it was “unkempt”.

Emergency services treated Miranda during transport to the hospital and medical staff cared for her for an hour, but “there wasn’t really anything they could do,” Soward said.

Investigators interviewed Balbaneda and learned that Miranda suffered serious, life-threatening injuries on the afternoon of Aug. 8, the sheriff’s office said.

Miranda’s injuries

Soward said the injuries were life-threatening and had resulted in unconsciousness.

He said Balbaneda explained how the injuries occurred, but he would not release those details until the sheriff’s office confirmed the cause of death.

“We still have some little doubts; we have to find out,” Soward said.

While he said she suffered no broken bones or visible physical injuries, he added that an autopsy would show whether there were any other physical injuries.

Regardless of how the injuries occurred, Soward said the parents “did nothing.”

“You still have a duty to provide medical care to a 12-year-old child,” he said.

Instead, her parents kept her on a cot in the home for four days.

“Basically they thought they could nurse her back to health and we don’t think they wanted the attention that would have been brought to them if the little girl had been injured, which is strangely ironic,” Soward said.

Parents tried giving her smoothies and may have gotten her oxygen at some point, Soward said, but Miranda could only flutter her eyes and move her hands.

“Someone who is unconscious cannot swallow,” Soward said. “She was in that situation and was on the floor for four days.”

The couple was arrested without incident in their apartment on Tuesday afternoon.

The sheriff’s office investigation is ongoing and an autopsy report on the child is still pending.

ACSO recordings

KSAT requested records from the Atascosa County Sheriff’s Office showing three calls were made to the home before Monday.

• On March 28, officers were called for a welfare check after a “female” was seen with scratches, records show. An officer was dispatched to the home, and both a “male” and a “female” stated it was “all verbal.”

• On November 1, 2023, Jourdanton Elementary School called Child Protective Services to report marks on a child (not Miranda). Records show Child Protective Services called authorities to report the information. No further details about the case were disclosed in the documents.

• On October 29, 2023, an individual called authorities and reported that Gonzales was on site and refusing to leave. Authorities responded and the parties were separated.

Soward said there are no other children in the house, but Miranda has a sibling who lives with the child’s biological father.

Jourdanton ISD calls the case a “tragic loss”

On Wednesday, the school district made its first public statement about the incident, posting on Facebook that it is “currently grappling with the tragic loss of one of our middle school students.”

“Jourdanton ISD has a School Crisis Team comprised of professionals trained to assist students, parents/guardians, and school staff during difficult times such as these. The district is focused on providing resources for those in our community impacted by this loss. We have provided counselors in our junior high library for anyone who needs or wants help or support,” the post said.

The school district did not respond to KSAT’s requests for comment.

The investigation is still ongoing and we will update this story as KSAT learns more about the case.

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