Prosecutors began reviewing possible additional charges after Janessa Martinez died while two defendants remained jailed on serious child-injury counts.
HARRIS COUNTY, Texas — The criminal case over injuries suffered by 2-year-old Janessa Martinez entered a more serious phase when the girl died Aug. 12, leaving prosecutors to decide whether allegations initially charged as injury to a child should lead to additional homicide-related prosecution.
Gerardo Gonzalez, 29, and Janessa’s mother, Jazmin Cisneros, 28, had already been arrested before the toddler died. Both were charged with injury to a child causing serious bodily injury, but the allegations against them were materially different. Investigators accuse Gonzalez of repeatedly striking Janessa and stepping on her. Prosecutors accuse Cisneros of failing to protect her daughter or seek medical care after learning that Gonzalez had hit the child. Gonzalez was held on a $1 million bond and Cisneros on a $500,000 bond as homicide detectives and the Harris County District Attorney’s Office reviewed the case following Janessa’s death.
The courtroom record illustrates how quickly the legal stakes changed. When Gonzalez first appeared for a probable cause hearing, Janessa was still alive but medical personnel did not expect her to survive, according to reports based on court documents. Magistrate Judge Temple Ramming took unusual precautions during the hearing and emphasized the severity of the allegations. Days later, after Janessa died, prosecutors said the investigation could support more serious charges. Some subsequent news reports described Gonzalez as facing capital murder, while other detailed local coverage said prosecutors were still reviewing an upgrade. The available reports do not provide a sufficiently consistent later court record to resolve that discrepancy with certainty.
Cisneros’ own bond hearing developed along a separate track. She appeared before District Judge Ana Martinez as her attorney sought to reduce the $500,000 bond. The request was denied. FOX 26 reported that if Cisneros were released, conditions would include GPS monitoring, house arrest, geographic travel restrictions, no contact with Gonzalez and no contact with children younger than 17 without court approval. Those restrictions reflected the court’s concern about the underlying child-injury allegation but did not constitute a finding of guilt. Cisneros, like Gonzalez, is presumed innocent unless prosecutors prove the case against her.
During that hearing, both sides added facts that were not part of the earliest public account. Prosecutors said Cisneros had recently spoken to a detective and allegedly admitted there had been an earlier, unreported abuse incident in July. Her defense attorney, James Stafford, offered a different piece of context, saying relatives reported that Gonzalez had threatened Cisneros and claimed to have cartel connections. Stafford said Gonzalez had allegedly used threats to intimidate her, including a threat to kill her. Those claims originated with the defense and have not been established as facts by the court.
The evidence described by investigators begins more clearly on Aug. 1. Cisneros told authorities she noticed that Janessa’s right ear was swollen and appeared to sag. According to an arrest affidavit, she confronted Gonzalez and he admitted striking Janessa several times in the head. When Cisneros woke the next morning, investigators said, the right side of Janessa’s face was extremely swollen and she had a black eye. Despite those visible injuries and Gonzalez’s alleged admission, prosecutors say Cisneros did not seek medical treatment and did not notify law enforcement. Investigators wrote that she said she feared Gonzalez would be sent to jail.
Those details became the foundation for the charge against Cisneros because authorities have not accused her of personally delivering the blows. Injury-to-a-child cases can turn on a defendant’s alleged omission as well as direct physical conduct, and prosecutors contend Cisneros had a responsibility to act after learning her daughter had been hurt. The defense claims of threats may become relevant to how a jury evaluates her choices. Public reporting does not establish whether prosecutors possess evidence beyond Cisneros’ statements, medical findings and the alleged July episode that would further explain what occurred inside the home during those days.
The allegations against Gonzalez are more direct. Authorities said he initially told investigators that Janessa fell in a bathtub and became unconscious. Doctors, however, found a collection of injuries that investigators said could not be explained by a simple fall. Janessa had a fractured skull, a broken pelvis, a lacerated liver, widespread bruising and a black eye. After receiving Miranda warnings, Gonzalez admitted hitting the toddler in the head four times on Aug. 1, according to investigators. Authorities further said he acknowledged another assault on Aug. 6 in which Janessa was struck in several areas and stepped on.
The Aug. 6 events led directly to police involvement. Cisneros told investigators she had been asleep when Gonzalez woke her and said Janessa was not breathing. Instead of an ambulance first arriving at the residence, the adults ended up seeking help near a gas station in Spring. Precinct 4 deputies who were nearby began lifesaving efforts. Paramedics transported Janessa to a hospital, and she was later flown to another medical facility because her condition was so serious. She underwent emergency treatment and remained critically ill while investigators began reconstructing the preceding days.
Gonzalez was arrested shortly after the hospitalization, and Cisneros was taken into custody several days later as investigators focused on what she allegedly knew before Aug. 6. At that point, Janessa was still alive. The case therefore first entered court as an investigation into catastrophic injury rather than death. That distinction disappeared on the night of Aug. 12, when Janessa died after less than a week in the hospital. Sheriff Ed Gonzalez publicly confirmed the death, and homicide detectives joined prosecutors in reassessing what charges the evidence could support.
Janessa had been in Texas temporarily. Cisneros told investigators that the 2-year-old and her 7-year-old sibling were spending the summer with her and that their father lived in Chicago. Norman Martinez traveled to Texas after his younger daughter’s hospitalization. He had posted a fundraiser while she was still alive, describing Janessa as independent and fond of singing and dancing. Following her death, he said he wanted to bring her remains back to Chicago for burial. Relatives and friends later gathered there for a funeral, while the older sibling was also returned to family in Chicago after initially being placed in child protective custody.
The child welfare and criminal proceedings have different purposes but overlap in their examination of the household. Child protection officials opened their own investigation after the arrests. Criminal investigators have focused on the alleged attacks, the delay in treatment and the possibility of an earlier July incident. Authorities have not publicly reported that Janessa’s older sibling suffered comparable injuries. The older child’s placement with relatives nevertheless removed the child from the Texas household while the criminal case moved forward.
The final charging decisions carry major consequences. Before Janessa died, both defendants faced a first-degree felony allegation involving serious injury to a child. Her death gave prosecutors a different set of facts to evaluate, particularly in Gonzalez’s case, because investigators allege his direct actions caused the injuries from which she died. At the same time, prosecutors must establish the legally required connection between the alleged conduct and the death before any homicide charge can result in a conviction. Reports that prosecutors were considering or pursuing a capital murder count do not themselves establish guilt or settle what offense will ultimately be tried.
For Cisneros, the central legal issue remains different: whether her alleged knowledge and failure to seek help satisfy the elements of the offense charged and whether the defense can establish facts that materially change how her conduct is understood. For Gonzalez, prosecutors must prove the alleged assaults and their relationship to Janessa’s injuries and death. Those questions will be decided through the court process, not by the initial arrest allegations or statements made during bond proceedings.
As of the latest reliable reporting reviewed for this account, the death investigation remained the event that transformed the case from one involving a critically injured toddler into one in which prosecutors were weighing substantially more serious consequences. Janessa’s death, the alleged delay in treatment, the defendants’ different roles and the conflicting claims raised in court will remain central as Harris County authorities determine how the case proceeds.
Author note: Last updated September 22, 2026.