What could have happened to 22-month-old Cyleste Gonzales? The little angel had bruises all over her body, a broken arm and an injury to her abdomen when she died four years ago. Cyleste, and her older brother, were under the care of Sarah Sifuentes, who'd agreed to look after them since their mother, a good friend of hers, was going to jail. Although a jury found Sifuentes guilty of injury to a child by omission causing seriously bodily injury and she has been sentenced to 19 years in prison, it is still unknown how and by whom little Cyleste's body ended up so battered.
What San Antonio prosecutors were able to prove is that Sifuentes knew Cyleste was injured, but she didn't do anything about it until it was too late. Basically, she allowed her to die from her injuries.
Read more in ¿Qué más?: Father kidnaps kids, steals a sailboat and disappears
There are so many disturbing things about this case that's it's hard to know where to begin. For starters, among the theories about who could've caused Cyleste's injuries was Sifuentes own suggestion that her own autistic son, who was 7 at the time, was to blame. What kind of mother does something like that? I mean, even if it were true, wouldn't your first instinct be to protect your child?
Another one of the theories is that taking care of two more children in addition to her own four might have been too much for Sifuentes, who essentially reached a point where she could no longer take the pressure and took her frustration out on little Cyleste. If so, why did she even agree to take both children in in the first place? I don't get it.
Meanwhile, Sifuentes had the audacity to say that she wasn't really aware of the majority of the injuries presented by investigators. And yet, little Cyleste was so bruised when paramedics came to her aid that one of them described her as being spotted like a leopard.
Want to connect with other moms? Like us on Facebook!
Again, I have to ask, why did Sifuentes agree to take care of her friend's children if she couldn't handle the pressure?
What do you think happened in this case? Share your thoughts with us by leaving us a comment below.
Image via Handout
