[Warning: Potentially Triggering Content]
A teenager was found dead by police officers in a city just outside Dallas on Valentine’s Day, and the condition of the girl’s body — and the unfathomable living situation in which she found herself — had investigators completely shaken up.
At about 2:30 p.m. local time on Valentine’s Day, police in Balch Springs, Texas received a frantic call from a woman later identified as 41-year-old Crystal Canales (pictured above, in her mugshot). According to KDFW, she reported to dispatchers that her 19-year-old daughter Delilah Villegas was having trouble breathing and needed CPR.
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But when cops arrived, they realized the girl was long past the need for CPR. Instead, per a police affidavit later uncovered by that news outlet, cops immediately sensed a “strong foul odor” in the home before ever getting to the girl’s room. Then, once in the room, they reportedly found Villegas dead and lying “in a near-fetal position” on the concrete floor.
Per the police report, the dead 19-year-old was so “severely malnourished” that responding officers initially believed she was just 13 years old.
OMG…
According to a release later sent by Balch Springs PD public information officer Pedro Gonzalez to multiple media outlets including People, the teenager had “multiple bruises and contusions on her body.” Her flesh had withered away to the point of “skin-to-bone” contact, too, and there were “large lacerations exposing decaying limbs, and even some of the bones from her shoulder, and on her arm, and her leg.” WTF.
At a press conference held for local media outlets on Saturday, Gonzalez said that Villegas had apparently been severely autistic and non-verbal. Regarding her awful death and the state in which she was found by officers, he added:
“She looked like she was in a mummified state on the floor. … It was just unrecognizable for a 19-year-old to be in that position.”
After investigating the case over the last week, detectives arrested Canales on Friday and charged her with serious bodily injury to a disabled person under her care, which is a felony. Per multiple Dallas-area news outlets, Balch Springs investigators still haven’t decided whether to charge her further in relation to Villegas’ death — or whether anyone else ought to be charged, too.
According to CBS News and KDFW, the room in which Villegas’ corpse was found contained a single mattress on a concrete floor, as well as a deadbolt lock on the outside of the door.
Canales told cops that in the hours leading up to the girl’s death, she’d tried to treat her daughter’s bedsores and other skin issues with Neosporin. Further, she said that she hadn’t taken Delilah to receive medical care because the girl would become violent upon interaction. Canales also reportedly told officers that her daughter had been breathing shortly before they arrived, and had even eaten some Goldfish crackers a few hours before that.
But medical personnel later determined that Villegas had been dead for at least six hours — and possibly as much as 24 hours — before officers showed up. Furthermore, the police report stated there was an outline of Villegas’ body on the concrete floor which “indicated she had been in the same position for a prolonged period.”
Oof.
At the police department’s press conference on the case, Gonzalez indicated that Villegas’ severe autism greatly limited her ability to leave the house prior to her death — as well as that of Canales. Speaking of the girl’s mother, the officer said:
“Everyone was saying that she was a great mother, always there, never left the house. Was there literally 24 hours caring for her child.”
Per People and others, previous police reports indicate Villegas was last seen in a hospital in 2021. Cops also performed a welfare check on her at the home later that year, but that check didn’t report any signs that anything was the matter.
According to Officer Gonzalez’s press conference, Villegas was “very aggressive towards family members, and sometimes they would be discouraged to interact with our victim.” He also explained that family members reported times when the girl would become “extremely violent,” and punch, kick, or strike other people.
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But this story gets even more shocking if you can believe it — because two other people also lived in the home in which Villegas’ rotting corpse was found. Per KXAS, a separate police affidavit indicated that Delilah’s grandmother and great uncle also lived in the home with the teenage girl and her mother.
When questioned later by police, the grandmother said she hadn’t been allowed to see Villegas in weeks — while the great uncle claimed it had been a YEAR since he’d last seen her. This, in the SAME HOME.
WHAT?!
Villegas’ aunt Yajaira Pardo — who does not live in the home — spoke to KDFW after learning of her niece’s death. She said that it had been a while since she had seen Delilah, too. However, she said that she’d been getting reports on the girl from Villegas’ older sister, who had moved to nearby Fort Worth a few years ago and had been telling Pardo that everything was fine.
Knowing what happened, however, left Pardo feeling regret about not listening to her instincts and investigating whether something was very wrong inside the house. She concluded:
“It’s heartbreaking. To know that she’s in the hands of God and with my brother, in his arms, that’s what gives me comfort.”
As for the Balch Springs PD, Officer Gonzalez admitted that the department is shaken up by what officers found. He said:
“Our job is to protect our children. When a nonverbal daughter lays helplessly, you sort of wonder what was going through her mind, where she couldn’t communicate or even share some of her pain or suffering to others so that she can get additional help. If someone would have noticed or would have been concerned about the child, they could have easily called 911. We would have responded and personally checked on the victim, and maybe we wouldn’t be here if that would have happened.”
So heartbreaking.
You can view more about this awful case and the cops’ investigation into it via CBS Texas‘ reporting on the matter (below):
We honestly have no words to adequately account for all this.
Our hearts go out to Delilah, as well as everyone who ever cared about her. Such a terrible, terrible end.
R.I.P.
If you have sincere cause to suspect child abuse, call the Childhelp National Child Abuse Hotline at 1-800-4-A-Child or 1-800-422-4453, or go to www.childhelp.org.
[Image via Balch Springs Police Department]
