A Texas mother accused of locking her 7-year-old daughter in a dark, filthy closet and feeding her just one corn dog a day attempted to shift the blame onto her other children during a court hearing this week.
Virginia Gonzales, 33, appeared before a Travis County judge on Tuesday as prosecutors sought to raise her bond, arguing she posed a flight risk. Gonzales is facing multiple felony charges after her daughter was discovered severely malnourished and covered in filth inside a tiny closet—measuring just 3 feet by under 2 feet—at their Austin home.
“I don’t dispute that I was in the wrong,” Gonzales told the court, per NBC affiliate KXAN, though she claimed there was “adequate food” in the home and denied any violence. She insisted she merely told her sons to keep the girl confined to a bedroom—not the closet.
“We’d catch her in the restroom doing something bad. It was easier for [my sons] to watch her that way,” Gonzales explained, seemingly justifying the brutal confinement as punishment for the child’s behavioral and bladder issues.
Police allege Gonzales instructed the girl’s six siblings—aged 2 to 14—to keep her trapped in the closet as punishment for “getting into stuff” or eating without permission. According to her 10-year-old brother, the girl was given just one corn dog per day and half a cup of water, and was forced to relieve herself inside the closet.
“The fat in her cheeks was nonexistent,” APD Child Abuse Unit Detective Ryan Constable testified. “Her body had used those stores to sustain itself.”
The child, who weighed only 29 pounds, was discovered by her grandmother in April. Prosecutors say she had suffered prolonged starvation and permanent brain damage.
Adding to the gravity of the case, authorities say another child of Gonzales—Ava Marie Gonzales—has been missing since 2017, when she was 9 years old. Austin police are still investigating that disappearance.
Gonzales has been charged with three counts of injury to a child and one count of unlawful restraint. During the hearing, her mother, Valerie Gonzales, testified that her daughter has a history of skipping court and would likely flee.
“She didn’t show up for a weed charge, you think she’s going to show up for this?” Valerie told the judge. “I know my daughter—she’ll run from this.”
Judge Chantal Eldridge agreed and raised Gonzales’ bond from $75,000 to $250,000. Gonzales was immediately arraigned, pleaded not guilty, and is scheduled to go to trial in January 2026.
Anyone with information about Ava Marie Gonzales’ whereabouts is urged to contact the Austin Police Department.
