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Shocking new details in death of Miranda Sipps, 12, whose parents refused to seek help for mystery illness
A 12-year-old girl from Texas died after her parents failed to seek medical help for her mystery illness - instead trying to nurse her back to health with smoothies.
Miranda Sipps, who was a cheerleader at Jourdanton Junior High School, suffered from unknown life-threatening injuries for about four days before she tragically passed on Monday.
During this time, Denise Balbaneda, 36, Sipps' mother, and Gerald Gonzales, 40, her stepfather, plied the teen with vitamin-rich smoothies in a bizarre bid to heal her from a devastating sickness.
Instead of rushing their daughter to the hospital, Balbaneda and Gonzales kept Sipps at home, where the severely injured girl lay on a 'pallet' and drifted in and out of consciousness.
Cheerleader Miranda Sipps, center, died after her mother and father failed to seek medical treatment for a mystery injury, investigators say. Instead, the teen's parents attempted to heal her with smoothies
Investigators believe that the parents might have shown reluctance to seek medical attention because they did not want law enforcement to come to their home, which authorities described as 'unkept.'
No further details have been given about the injury that ultimately killed Sipps or how she might have sustained it.
Dispatchers received a call for medical assistance around 8pm on the night Sipps died.
They met up with the family at at Highway 16 South and FM 140, where EMS workers found her 'alive but unconscious'.
Miranda was rushed to Methodist Hospital in Atascos, where she was pronounced dead less than two hours later.
Denise Balbaneda, the mom of a Texas cheerleader who succumbed to life threatening injuries, has been accused waiting four days to get her medical help
Denise Balbaneda (left) and Gerald Gonzales (right) have been charged in connection with the death
Detectives have launched an investigation into the circumstances of her 'serious' injuries and determined she had sustained them on August 8.
'The investigation revealed the parents failed to seek medical assistance for the girl, even though she was mentally and physically incapacitated and non-responsive, police said in a statement.
At a press conference, Sheriff David Soward explained that the young cheerleader had not been 'talking.'
'She basically could flutter her eyes and move her hands a little bit over a four-day period,' he continued.
The sheriff also noted that because the girl was unconscious she was not able 'to swallow' the smoothies.
The 12-year-old girl, from Christine, was a cheerleader with the Jourdanton Junior High Cheer team
When the cheerleader's condition deteriorated, her mother finally contacted authorities on Monday.
'It appears the mother finally called 9-1-1 when the girl went into respiratory distress,' the police statement said.
By Tuesday, Balbaneda and Gonzales were booked into the Atascosa County Jail, where they were charged with first-degree felony for injury to a child by omission.
If convicted, the parents could face between five and 99 years in prison and a fine up to $10,000.
The investigation into Sipps' death is ongoing and a full autopsy to determine the girl's cause of death is pending.
Sheriff Soward said investigators were not releasing details of her injuries as they were not yet sure how they were sustained. He confirmed that she did not have any broken bones or marks on her body.
He did disclose that the police had previously been called to the family home without providing further information.
'They told us how the injuries happened and they told us they failed to act,' Sheriff Soward said.
'You can throw out how the injuries occurred, you still have a duty as a parent to provide medical care for a 12-year-old child,' the indignant law enforcement officer continued.
'We're not talking them assaulting the child, trying to kill the child or anything like that we're talking about them failing to act.'