Mom Charged After Police Discovered ‘Mummified’ 19-Year-Old Autistic Daughter on Floor

When police arrived, though, they decided not to administer CPR due to the “position” and “condition” in which they found the teen, Delilah Villegas. Before they’d even gotten to her room, police reported smelling a “strong foul odor.”

Upon entering the room, they found Villegas lying in a “near-fetal position” on the concrete floor. She was described as so “severely malnourished” by police that they initially estimated her age as closer to 13 years.

Responding officers also noted the teen “had multiple bruises and contusions on her body,” as well as bedsores. Her condition was described as “skin-to-bone,” according to Pedro Gonzalez, a public information officer for the Balch Springs Police Department, in a press release seen by People.

“It was just unrecognizable for a 19-year-old to be in that position,” said Gonzalez at a news conference of the teen who was observed to have “large lacerations exposing decaying limbs, and even some of the bones from her shoulder, and on her arm, and her leg,” per the release.

“She looked like she was in a mummified state on the floor,” he added in a news conference on Saturday, per KKTV.

As for the room, CBS News notes it was described as having “a single mattress on the floor and two pallets of comforters, sheets and pillows.” There was also a deadbolt lock on the bedroom door.

According to KDFW, police asked her mother, Crystal Canales, 41, about the severity of her daughter’s wounds, which included bedsores and exposed bone on her right thigh, shoulder, hip, buttocks, hand, and ankle.

She reportedly told officers that she treated the bedsores with Neosporin, but neglected to take Villegas for medical care because she would become violent.

They also detailed discovering an outline on the floor in the shape of her body, which “indicated she had been in the same position for a prolonged period.”

Canales initially told officers that her daughter was breathing shortly before they had arrived, and had even eaten some Goldfish crackers earlier that day, but medical personnel determined she’d been dead at least six, and possibly 24 hours by the time police arrived.

As police investigated Villegas’ death, family members told detectives that she had severe autism and was non-verbal, but had no major health conditions and was purportedly able to cook and prepare food for herself. They also spoke with neighbors, teachers, and students who knew the family.

“Everyone was saying that she was a great mother, always there, never left the house,” Gonzales said. “Was there literally 24 hours caring for her child.”

“It’s heartbreaking,” Villegas’ aunt, Yajaira Pardo, told KDFW after learning how her niece died. She said she chooses to remember Villegas playing outside and organizing her stuffed animal, happy and smiling. “To know that she’s in the hands of God and with my brother, in his arms, that’s what gives me comfort,” she told the outlet.

Police reports indicated Villegas was last seen in a hospital in 2021, and that a welfare check to her home in that same year did not turn up any signs that anything was wrong.

Pardo said she regrets not listening to her gut that told her something might be wrong with the girl, despite getting reports from Villegas’ older sister, who had moved to Fort Worth, telling her that everything was fine.

Canales was arrested on Friday and charged with serious bodily injury to a disabled person under her care, a second-degree felony. She was taken to Balch Springs jail pending a transfer to Dallas County jail.

Police are still investigating whether anyone else should be charged in relation to Villegas’ death. Her grandmother and great uncle also lived in the home where her body was found.

The grandmother told police she’d not been allowed to see Villegas in weeks, while the great uncle said it had been a year since he’d seen her, according to an affidavit seen by KXAS, despite both living in the same residence.

According to Gonzalez, Villegas was purportedly “very aggressive towards family members, and sometimes they would be discouraged to interact with our victim.” He explained that there were “times where she became extremely violent, punching, hitting, kicking family members,” while also citing a physical altercation on a school bus.

Speaking more generally as a parent, Gonzalez added, “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,” he continued. “We would have responded and personally checked on the victim, and maybe we wouldn’t be here if that would have happened.