Police search for girl missing since 2017 after her sister was recently found locked in closet
05/12/2025 12:29 pm PDT
AUSTIN, Texas (TCN) -- The discovery of a malnourished girl locked in a closet launched a missing person investigation involving the child’s sister, who has not been seen since 2017.
Austin Police Department Detective Russell Constable shared in a press conference that on April 7, police received a call regarding a 7-year-old child "locked in a closet and starving." The victim was taken to a hospital for treatment, where she is recovering. Constable said six other children were in the home and they all appeared healthy.
Police learned that the children’s mother, Virginia Gonzales, had an eighth child, Ava Marie Gonzales, but she wasn’t found in the home. Ava Gonzales has not been seen since 2017 when she was 2 years old.
The Austin Police Department issued a missing child alert and said they are "seriously concerned about Ava’s welfare given the circumstances in which Ava’s younger sibling was found on 4/2/2025." The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children shared an age-progression photo of Ava Gonzales, who would now be 9 years old.
According to Constable, none of the seven children was ever enrolled in school. Virginia Gonzales also allegedly "provided conflicting information to many family members" about her missing daughter’s whereabouts.
Virginia Gonzales was arrested April 24 for serious injury to a child. Jail records show she has warrants out in other counties for unlawful restraint and injury to a child/disabled person causing serious bodily injury.
KXAN-TV, which cites Gonzales' arrest affidavit, reports the 7-year-old’s grandmother said she found her "malnourished, soiled and barricaded in a bedroom closet." She allegedly weighed only 29 pounds. One of her sibling’s told police that she was fed a "hot dog/corndog in the morning and in the evening" and given half a cup of water to drink. The kitchen, however, reportedly had a full pantry and fridge.
The closet was reportedly only less than 5 feet long and 2 feet wide.
Constable said Ava Gonzales "could be anywhere at this point," and no one ever reported her missing.
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