ATASCOSA COUNTY, Texas – The stepfather and mother charged in connection with the death of the woman’s 12-year-old daughter appeared in court on Wednesday morning in Atascosa County.
Gerald Gonzales, 40, and Denise Balbaneda, 36, were both arrested on Aug. 13 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 apiece.
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Atascosa County Sheriff David Soward said Balbaneda called 911 from her home in Christine at 8:20 p.m. on Aug. 12 to report that her daughter, Miranda Sipps, was not breathing.
Balbaneda put Miranda 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 FM 140, Atascosa County deputies said.
EMS treated Sipps as she was transported to Methodist Hospital Atascosa, where she was treated for an hour, but medical staff could not 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 were life-threatening and put her in a state of unconsciousness.
Sipps, a Jourdanton ISD 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 her bail bondsman required.
Both were in the courtroom Wednesday and were appointed separate attorneys. Neither the pair nor their attorneys answered questions after the hearing.
It remains unclear how the pair plan to plead.
Gonzales and Balbaneda are due back in court on Jan. 8, 2025.
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