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A LONGTIME neighbor of a nonverbal autistic teen who was found severely malnourished and mummified in her bedroom said she had not seen the young girl in years despite living steps away.
Delilah Villegas, 19, was in her mother’s house when investigators arrived to find her deceased, covered in bed sores and curled in a fetal position.
Crystal Canales, 41, called law enforcement to her home on Valentine’s Day when she discovered that her severely autistic daughter could hardly breathe.
However, when police showed up at the home in the Dallas suburb of Balch Springs, they were stunned to uncover Delilah’s “mummified” corpse.
“They thought she was probably 13 and didn’t realize she was 19 years old. It was, as described, skin to bone,” Balch Springs Police Pedro Gonzalez said in a press conference.
“There was large lacerations exposing decaying limbs. She looked like she was in a mummified state on the floor.”
Canales claimed that her daughter had eaten a snack of Goldfish that morning, but medical professionals estimated that the young girl had been dead for possibly up to 24 hours before they arrived, according to CBS News.
Even Delilah’s grandmother and great-uncle, both of whom she also shared a house with, mentioned they hadn’t seen Delilah in weeks.
Registered nurse Alicia Calderon, 38, who lives a few houses from where the frail teen was discovered, photos of Delilah projected on news articles was the first time she had ever seen the young girl’s face.
“I mean their face and everything [posted online] was the first time that I’ve seen them,” Calderon, who has been living on Horseshoe Trail in Balch Springs for four years, told The U.S. Sun.
“My daughter also went to the same school that [Delilah] did, and my daughter doesn’t even remember her.”
Calderon said the news of her teen’s heartbreaking death was “shocking” to hear, especially in a community like Balch Springs.
“It’s sad because it’s so close to home. It’s literally just a few houses down. I would never think that something like that would happen,” she said.
“I know we don’t live in the best neighborhood, but I don’t consider it the worst either.
“You have pretty good people around here. I’ve lived in Balch Springs for 20 years. It’s sad that there are people like that. It’s shocking.”
Calderon added, “I hate to hear incidents like that. I’m a nurse myself, and things like that, I can’t fathom the idea.
“What those little kids go through and the abuse and the mother. How do the parents have it in their hearts to do what they do to these children?”
Investigators questioned how Canales could let her daughter get to such an infantile state, especially when her daughter’s grandmother and great-uncle were around.
Canales claimed that Delilah was “violent” with others and said that she didn’t try to get her medical assistance, according to an affidavit seen by CBS affiliate KTVT.
The mother was arrested on February 14, and sits in county jail, facing charges of serious bodily injury to a disabled person under her care.
Although Calderon couldn’t believe someone could do such a thing to their child, she said she “can’t judge the situation.”
“I don’t know if this was like a single mom doing everything on her own. Again, I’m a registered nurse, and I see a lot of caregiver stress.
“That’s a real thing that a lot of people don’t know. People are really quick to judge, but that’s a real thing.
“We see a lot of that in healthcare, a lot of stress. It’s easy for people to just point the finger, but nobody really reaches out to help those people. But I don’t know the situation here.
“It’s just heartbreaking.”
SHOCKING SCENES
When police looked around Delilah’s room, they noticed a single mattress on the floor of her bedroom, two pallets of comforters with sheets and pillows, and a lock and deadbolt on the door.
The 19-year-old was riddled with bed sores, exposing bones on her right thigh, shoulder, hip, hand, buttocks, and ankle, according to police records.
Canales told police that she put Neosporin on her daughter’s sores, however, medical records reveal that she had not brought Delilah to the hospital since 2021, Fox affiliate KDFW reported.
In 2021, police said they did a wellness check on the home but didn’t notice anything peculiar.
Delilah’s cause of death is currently unknown.
HEARTBREAKING TRAGEDY
Just like law enforcement, Delilah’s aunt, Yajaira Pardo, is left wondering how this could have happened to her niece.
“It’s heartbreaking,” Pardo told KDFW.
“To know that she’s in the hands of God and with my brother, in his arms, that’s what gives me comfort.”
Pardo, who is related to Delilah’s late father, hasn’t seen her niece in years but remembers her as a happy and healthy child despite her limitations.
“I do say that I have a blame in all this,” she said.
“And why, because I had a gut feeling that something was wrong.”