12-Year-Old Girl Died After Parents Treated ‘Serious Life-Threatening’ Injuries with Smoothies, Say Police

Miranda Sipp's mother and stepfather allegedly failed to seek proper medical assistance for their cheerleader daughter

A 12-year-old girl from Texas died after her mother and stepfather allegedly failed to seek medical attention for her life-threatening injuries, authorities said on Wednesday Aug. 14.

According to a statement from the Atascosa County Sheriff's Office, the pre-teen, who was a cheerleader at Jourdanton Jr. High School, died on Monday, Aug. 12.

An investigation launched by the sheriff’s office’s Criminal Investigation Division shortly after the girl’s death found that she had received “serious life threatening injuries” on the evening of Thursday, Aug. 8, four days prior.

“The investigation revealed the parents failed to seek medical assistance for the girl, even though she was mentally and physically incapacitated and non-responsive. It appears the mother finally called 9-1-1 when the girl went into respiratory distress,” the statement read in part.

Speaking at a news conference, Sheriff David Soward said the parents “tried tending to her” at home while she “was primarily unconscious” and “tried a couple of remedies,” including trying to give her a smoothie with some vitamins. “Of course, somebody that's unconscious, that’s hard to do,” Soward added, later identifying the victim as Miranda Sipps, who was due to turn 13 later this month.

“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,” he said.

Soward did not go into detail about Sipps' injuries or how they happened, admitting he is “not 100% sure,” but said she “could flutter her eyes and move her hands a little bit” when the authorities came upon her, adding that he also believed the parents got oxygen for her at one point.

The mother and stepfather — identified as Denise Balbaneda, 36, and Gerald Gonzales, 40, of Christine by the sheriff’s office — were arrested on Aug. 13 and booked into the Atascosa County Jail.

They have been charged with injury to a child causing serious bodily injury by omission, a first-degree felony, per the sheriff’s office.

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The authorities said after receiving a 9-1-1 call from the victim’s mother at home, they later met her en route to the hospital and EMS transported Sipps to Methodist Hospital in Atascosa.

Soward said he believes the mother left the home because they didn’t want law enforcement at the house.

Medical staff “vigorously” treated the pre-teen but there was nothing they could do, the sheriff’s office added. She was pronounced dead at 9:55 p.m. local time.

The investigation is ongoing and the final autopsy report is pending, per the sheriff’s office.

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