LITTLE GIRL, 7, FOUND LOCKED IN CLOSET STARVED, 1 CORN-DOG A DAY, SEARCH ON FOR LITTLE SISTER, MISSING SINCE 2017
Crime Stories with Nancy Grace
iHeartPodcasts and CrimeOnline
3.9 • 7.6K Ratings
🗓️ 18 July 2025
⏱️ 39 minutes
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Summary
Police search for 9-year-old girl missing after her little sister is found locked in a closet. After police rescue a malnourished child from a closet, Austin police work to track down her missing 9-year-old sister, Ava Marie Gonzales, who is now nine, remains unaccounted for. Austin police respond to a home in Del Valle after receiving a 911 call about a 7-year-old girl is discovered starved and locked inside a bedroom closet. Six other children are also found in the home, but police say it appears they are physically healthy. According to reports, the child was soiled and barricaded in a closet with heavy boxes blocking the door.
An arrest affidavit reveals Virginia Marie Gonzales is accused of locking the 7-year-old girl in a closet for “weeks at a time.” The affidavit further states the girl’s grandmother told police that the child had trouble controlling her bladder and often ate things she shouldn’t. This allegedly led to her siblings being instructed to keep her locked in the closet.
The 7-year-old was hospitalized and is now recovering. During the investigation, detectives learn about another child, Ava, who has been missing for years. Virginia Marie Gonzales, Ava ‘s mother, was arrested on a charge of serious injury to a child in connection with the 7-year-old’s case. According to police, the missing now 9-year-old child was last seen when she was just 2 years old and in the custody of her mother, Virginia Marie Gonzales.
Joining Nancy Grace today,
- LeAnne Marie, friend of mom, Virginia Gonzales
- Bronwyn Blake- Adjunct Professor, University of Texas School of Law; Chief Legal Officer, Texas Advocacy Project; Founder: Teen Justice Initiative, advocating for teen victims of dating violence. Website: texasadvocacyproject.org; Facebook and Instagram: @TexasAdvocacyProject
- Dr. Angela Arnold - Psychiatrist, AngelaArnoldMD.com, Expert in the Treatment of Pregnant/Postpartum Women, Former Assistant Professor of Psychiatry, Obstetrics and Gynecology: Emory University, Former Medical Director of The Psychiatric Ob-Gyn Clinic at Grady Memorial Hospital
- Daryl Parker - Fmr. Lieutenant in the Fannin County Sheriff's Office / Private Investigator at Blackfish Intelligence; Former Marine, Former Texas police officer; has worked with the Innocence Project of Texas for the last ten years; website: wwww.blackfishintel.com; instagram: @blackfishintel, FB – blackfishintelligence
- Virginia Bagby - Director of the ChildHelp National Child Abuse Hotline, website: ChildHelp.org; Facebook and Instagram: @ChildHelp
- Dr Kendall Crowns - Chief Medical Examiner Tarrant County (Ft Worth), NEW Podcast "Mayhem in the Morgue" launching soon, Lecturer: Burnett School of Medicine at TCU (Texas Christian University)
- Christina Aguayo- Investigative Reporter, website: www.ChristinaAguayoNews.Com, Facebook: @ChristinaAguayoNews, Instagram: @Christina.AguayoNews
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | This is an IHeart podcast. |
| 0:04.8 | Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. |
| 0:09.4 | A little girl just seven years old, found locked in a closet, starved, at best, getting one |
| 0:19.6 | corn dog a day. |
| 0:21.6 | And tonight, the search is on for her little sister, |
| 0:26.6 | Lassine, 2017. |
| 0:30.6 | I'm Nancy Grace. This is Crime Stories. Thank you for being with us. |
| 0:34.6 | With me, and all start, pound to make sense of what we know right now. |
| 0:39.2 | Listen to this. |
| 0:39.9 | On April 3rd, 2025, Austin Police Department responded to a 911 call for a seven-year-old |
| 0:45.5 | child that was found locked in a closet and starving. |
| 0:49.5 | The seven-year-old was immediately taken to a local hospital for medical treatment and is currently recovering. |
| 0:55.0 | There were six other children found in the home that appeared physically healthy. |
| 1:00.0 | Police officers at an Austin apartment find a severely malnourished 7-year-old girl who is barricaded in a bedroom closet. |
| 1:07.0 | The child has found soiled, weighing just 29 pounds, and has been confined to a three-foot-by-two-foot |
| 1:12.3 | closet space for approximately a month. Investigators find the child has been given one |
| 1:17.4 | corn dog and a half a cup of water a day. Doctors at Dell Children's Medical Center determine |
| 1:22.2 | the little girl is suffering moderate to severe cerebral atrophy from prolonged malnutrition, |
| 1:27.4 | damage from which she will never |
| 1:29.3 | recover. What did that even mean? How can a child survive day after day, week after week, |
| 1:38.4 | month after month locked in a dark closet living off nothing? Again with me, an all-star panel, but first straight out to Christina, Oweyo, joining us, |
| 1:47.7 | investigative reporter. |
... |
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