MOM OF LITTLE GIRL FOUND LOCKED IN CLOSET STARVED, 1 CORN-DOG A DAY REJECTS PLEA DEAL
Crime Stories with Nancy Grace
iHeartPodcasts and CrimeOnline
3.9 • 7.6K Ratings
🗓️ 21 December 2025
⏱️ 46 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
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.
Now Gonzales has rejected a plea offer related to her arrest. The State offered Gonzales a 40-year prison sentence in exchange for her guilty plea. She and her attorney Gabe Hernandez rejected the offer calling it “utterly absurd.” Gonzales is still in custody. Trial is set to begin Jan. 26, 2026.
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 I-Heart podcast. |
| 0:02.3 | Guaranteed Human. |
| 0:04.7 | Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. |
| 0:10.6 | Virginia Gonzalez, the mom of multiple children, including a seven-year-old little girl, |
| 0:19.0 | found locked in a dark closet that was barricaded down to about 26 pounds, |
| 0:26.7 | fed one corn dog a day. If that, well, I'm looking at her mugshot. Whoa, whoa, whoa, |
| 0:33.4 | what happened to those massive fake eyelashes? Where did they go? Uh-oh. Here she is in the raw. |
| 0:44.1 | And Miss Thing comes into court and demands to speak. Of course, I could not be happier. That's right. |
| 0:52.5 | A mom of a little girl just seven years old at 26 pounds. I think |
| 0:57.8 | John David weighed that at five months for Pete's sake. Locked in a closet, barricaded in the closet, |
| 1:05.9 | the closet dark in their 24-7, 365, gets one corn dog a day if that speaks out in court. |
| 1:18.0 | Now, before I tell you what Ms. Thing says in court, let me jog your memory about what happened. |
| 1:26.8 | On April 3, 2025, Austin Police Department responded to a 911 call for a seven-year-old |
| 1:32.6 | child that was found locked in a closet and starving. |
| 1:37.0 | The seven-year-old was immediately taken to a local hospital for medical treatment and is |
| 1:41.3 | currently recovering. There were six other children found in the home that appeared physically healthy. |
| 1:47.9 | Police officers at an Austin apartment find a severely malnourished seven-year-old girl who is |
| 1:52.6 | barricaded in a bedroom closet. |
| 1:54.7 | The child has found soiled, weighing just 29 pounds, and has been confined to a three-foot-by- by 2 foot closet space for approximately a month. |
| 2:02.3 | Investigators find the child has been given one corn dog and a half a cup of water a day. |
| 2:07.3 | Doctors at Dell Children's Medical Center determine the little girl is suffering |
| 2:10.5 | moderate to severe cerebral atrophy from prolonged malnutrition, damage from which she will never |
... |
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