On Thursday, 27-year-old Mayra Gonzalez of Edinburgh, Texas was indicted for murdering her 2-year-old nephew, Eliseo Gonzalez, Jr., earlier this year. But even if she’s found guilty, she may never go to prison—or even court.
No, she hasn’t skipped town. Gonzalez is exactly where she was when she allegedly committed the murder, and hasn’t left since. Mayra weighs 1,000 pounds and can’t fit through the door of her house.
The victim’s mother, Jamie Lee Rosales, left her three kids (2-year-old Eliseo being the oldest) with her morbidly obese sister in March despite previously signing a Child Protection Services safety plan urging her to never leave them in her care. Within two hours of leaving, Rosales got a call from Gonzalez claiming that Eliseo was stuck under her bed after a fall. But investigators say that the child died from two direct blows to the head, and that there were other skull fractures that dated a month earlier.
Even if police bust down a wall to bring Gonzalez into custody, she’d need constant medical attention if she was brought to county jail. “She would die,” said Hildago County Sheriff Lupe Trevino. Sounds like a pickle, but we can think of some possible options.
- Roll the dice and bring her in. They say “don’t do the crime, if you can’t do the time.” If she’s not too weak to kill a small child, she’s not too weak to be taken into custody.
- Two-way video cameras! If the issue is allowing her to testify, face her jury, etc., then technology is their friend. A satellite hook-up has to be less expensive then trying to her haul her ass to court and back.
- House arrest. As long as she doesn’t lose enough weight to bolt and – this can’t be stressed enough – small children are kept well outside of Gonzalez’s wingspan, I doubt many will claim that justice is being perverted if they lock her in her room and let Meals On Wheels take care of it from there. [AP]
