Content Warning: This article discusses domestic violence and allegations of child abuse. If you are in distress and need someone to talk to, pleasecall the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233 or text START to 88788. If you need to report suspected abuse, you can call the Texas Abuse Hotline at 1-800-252-5400.
AUSTIN (KXAN) — Austin Police expanded a child abuse investigation into a possible capital murder case, as they investigated the disappearance and possible death of Virginia Gonzales’ firstborn daughter and third child, who has not been seen since 2018, according to court records obtained by KXAN.
Austin police looking for child last seen in 2017 after younger sibling found ‘emaciated’
The recently filed search warrant authorizes detectives to obtain potentially new evidence that investigators believe is connected to the disappearance and possible death of Gonzales’ daughter, Ava Marie Gonzales, who was born in 2015 and has not been seen or located in approximately seven years, authorities said.
KXAN reached out to Gonzales’ attorney regarding the new details surrounding the disappearance of Ava Gonzales. J. Gabriel Hernandez told us he found the timing “suspicious” and revealed he intends to file for a continuance and a change of venue in the wake of this search warrant. “The state’s case as indicted is weak. It appears the facts are being stretched to fit a narrative intended to convict my client on a higher charge,” his statement said, in part.
The warrant comes less than two weeks before Virginia Gonzales’ trial is set to begin in a separate child abuse case uncovered in April 2025. Austin Police said they rescued her severely malnourished 7-year-old daughter from a locked bedroom closet inside an apartment on Ross Road, according to an arrest affidavit filed last year. The affidavit alleges Gonzales unlawfully restrained the child for weeks, exposing her to serious bodily injury…