A Texas woman has agreed to plead guilty to charges next month that she killed her son and placed him in a nearby dumpster before telling police her son went missing at a local park, according to multiple reports.
Baby Frankie Gonzalez’s death in 2020 led to the arrests of both his parents, mother Laura Sanchez — who is also known as Laura Villalon — and the 2-year-old boy’s father, Lorenzo Gonzalez.
Villalon, now 38, is now set to plead guilty to a charge of injury a child with a deadly weapon. Gonzalez was sentenced earlier this year to two concurrent, 10-year terms in prison for child abandonment and injuring a child.
After Gonzalez was sentenced last month, McLennan County District Attorney Josh Tetens said he hoped the father’s plea deal “offers some closure to the family and our community for the tragic loss of Frankie Gonzales,” Mister Truth reported.
On June 1, 2020, Villalon reported her young son went missing during a trip to Cameron Park in Waco, Texas.
However, one day later, authorities found the boy’s body inside a dumpster behind a church and Villalon allegedly confessed to family members. The mother was arrested shortly afterwards.
“She was in custody of the child when Frankie died,” Officer Garen Bynum, a Waco Police Department spokesperson, said during a press conference then. “Frankie did not die of natural causes.”
The young boy’s two sisters were then brought into local Child Protective Services, according to a spokesperson at the Department of Family and Protective Services at the time.
Mister Truth reports court records show Villalon allegedly confessed to slamming Baby Frankie’s head against a wall before placing him in a closet, and then later 12 trash bags, before disposing of his body behind the church.
Press also reports that Villalon previously lost custody of six other children due to neglect and drug abuse.