Mom at center of capital murder investigation of missing 2-year-old, search warrant says
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.
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.
According to that affidavit, the child was found weighing just 29 pounds, covered in filth and suffering from long-term starvation. Medical professionals said she faced life-threatening complications, including the risk of refeeding syndrome and permanent brain damage caused by prolonged malnutrition.
Investigators said the girl was confined inside a dark, unventilated closet measuring just a few feet wide, with boxes weighing more than 75 pounds barricading the doors. Siblings told police the child was given minimal food and water and was forced to urinate and defecate inside the closet.
Gonzales was offered a
40-year prison sentence in exchange for a guilty plea on the charges of unlawful restraint and injury to a child, causing serious bodily injury. Gonzales and her attorney denied the proposed plea agreement.
A jury trial in those cases is scheduled to begin on Jan. 26, court records show.
As detectives investigated the abuse, they discovered references in government records to another child — Ava — who could not be found. Court documents state there are no school, medical or law enforcement records showing Ava alive beyond the age of 2, no photographs of Ava, and no confirmed sightings of her since 2018.
Gonzales’ attorney Hernandez also said in his statement, “By seeking this warrant at this time, they are effectively poisoning the jury pool by reintroducing these allegations into the news cycle just before the January 26th trial date. This creates an unfair bias and prejudice against my client, making it nearly impossible to select an impartial jury. To protect my client’s constitutional rights, we have no choice but to seek a continuance and a change of venue.”
Gonzales’ son, the firstborn of her eight children, confirmed to investigators that Ava was his sister and stated she was given away to “a family” when she was about three, according to court records.
Documents state that attempts by APD cold case detectives to confirm Gonzales’ statements and government records about what happened or where her 2-year-old daughter was taken in 2018 were repeatedly unsuccessful.
APD obtained records from Child Protective Services from November 2023 that stated Ava Gonzales “moved in with her father.” The document was allegedly signed by the grandmother of one of Gonzales’ children.
When detectives questioned the grandmother about the document, the grandmother informed APD that the phone number on the CPS was not hers nor was it her signature, which APD was able to verify, according to the search warrant.
Records show APD was able to track down Gonzales’ previous boyfriend, who was listed as the father of Gonzales’ fourth child on CPS records. He informed APD that Gonzales claimed Ava was her sister’s child that she was caring for and that she was living in San Antonio with an aunt and uncle.
The ex-boyfriend said Gonzales referred to Ava as a “crack baby” who was born prematurely and described her as a “sickly” girl who had health problems and looked “malnourished,” records state.
Hospital records obtained by APD confirmed Ava was born to Virginia Gonzales on Oct. 21, 2015, at 39 1/2 weeks. Records said she weighed six pounds with no complications, according to the search warrant.
In April 2025, after Gonzales was arrested and accused of injury to a child, detectives questioned her about Ava and she stated Ava was now living in Mexico with her father, records show.
APD detectives located and contacted Ava’s alleged father in Mexico, who denied ever having custody of Ava and that he hadn’t seen Ava since she was about one and was last told by Gonzales that Ava was living with another family in San Antonio, according to the search warrant.
Unable to locate Ava and any of Gonzales’ relatives’ homes and with no further leads as to her whereabouts, APD detectives conducted a forensic interview with Gonzales’ oldest child, who would have been approximately 6 years old when Ava went missing.
According to court records, Gonzales’ now 14-year-old son explained to investigators in detail what he remembered seeing in the bathroom of an Austin motel nearly eight years ago.
On May 6, 2025, the young teen told investigators they were living in a motel when he heard Ava in the bathroom screaming “really bad,” which is when he walked over to peek in and witnessed his mother violently assaulting Ava in a bathtub with the water running, according to the search warrant.
The child said he went back to the bedroom and heard the water turn off at the same time Ava stopped screaming, the search warrant states.
The child told investigators that once she was removed from the bathtub, Gonzales put clothes on her and put her in a car seat, the warrant says.
He didn’t hear Ava say anything or cry after the shower. He told detectives, “Ava looked like she was sleeping,” according to the search warrant.
When the child asked his mother where Ava was going, Gonzales told him she was going to live with a new mom and dad, the affidavit states.
The child said he went to sleep and when he awoke the next morning, Ava was gone. He stated his mother seemed “completely new. Like happy, like a whole new person,” according to court records.
Detectives believe Ava may have died on or around Jan. 2, 2018, and allege Gonzales intentionally caused the death of a child under 10, a capital felony under Texas law.
Gonzales has been arrested and charged in connection with the abuse of her surviving child. As of the filing of the search warrant, Gonzales has not been formally charged with capital murder or any other criminal offense related to the disappearance of her daughter.
To date, Ava Gonzales has not been found, and police said they have no evidence she is still alive.
cbsaustin.com
