A Texas couple was arrested following the death of their 12-year-old daughter. The Atascosa County Sheriff’s Office said that Miranda Sipps suffered life-threatening injuries on August 8, but her mother, 36-year-old Denise Balbaneda, and stepfather, Gerald Gonzales, 40, failed to seek medical help.
Instead, they tried “tending to her at home,” giving her a smoothie with vitamins even though she “was primarily unconscious.”
“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, which is strangely ironic, but that was their line of thinking,” Sheriff David Soward said during a press conference.
Soward did not provide details on the injuries that Sipps sustained or how they happened.
They tried home remedies and treatments on Sipps for several days. On August 12, Sipps went into “respiratory distress,” and her mother called 911.
Sipps was rushed to the hospital, where she was pronounced dead.
Balbaneda and Gonzales were both arrested and are facing felony charges of injury to a child causing serious bodily injury by omission.
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