A malnourished 16-year-old girl was found dead in Texas, now her caretaker has been arrested, according to officials.
Tracy Gonzales is charged with injury to a disabled person, according to court records. She was arrested Dec. 30. She is accused of intentionally causing bodily injury by failing to provide fluids, food and supervision to the girl in her care.
Contact information for Gonzales' attorney was not available.
On March 25, Gonzales returned home after being gone all day to find the girl a "little hard," according to a probable cause statement.
When authorities arrived, they found the girl dead in her bedroom, a news release from the Houston Police Department said.
Officials said Gonzales had been granted custody of the girl, but she failed to report her "declining status, because she was afraid of losing custody of her own children.
Gonzales would "close her eyes" and hit the girl with a belt because of the girl's inability to use the bathroom or eat food, court records said.
The 16-year-old, who had unspecified disabilities, weighed just 78 pounds when she was found and was only wearing a diaper because all her other clothes were soiled, officials said.
An autopsy later showed that the girl was malnourished, dehydrated and had a stab wound to her genitals.
Gonzales was the girl's foster mother, according to KTRK. Neighbors told the news outlet they would see the girl regularly, up until about a year ago when she stopped attending school.
"She actually went to school with my daughter," Frank Rodriguez told the news outlet. "She was just a normal girl. Going to school."