An El Paso couple is facing felony charges after their adopted teenager was rushed to the hospital weighing just 33 pounds, with doctors reporting spinal fractures and bedsores more typical of an elderly patient. Timothy Aaron Sibley and Katrina Gabrielle Sibley were booked into custody on October 7 on injury to a child charges after the teen's family brought the child to the hospital because they had noticed the teen walking unsteadily and falling to the ground.
A doctor at the children's medical center told detectives he was concerned the child could be failing to thrive once he saw the teen's condition, according to the police complaint detailed by KTSM 9 News. The Sibleys adopted the child when the child was 2 years old. Doctors told investigators the teen had not been moving around for some time, and a physical evaluation indicated the child had not been properly fed for years, per the complaint.
Injuries Doctors Compared to a Car Crash
According to the complaint, a doctor told detectives on September 28 that the teenager appeared physically like an 8-year-old despite being a teen, and had multiple bed ulcers that the physician compared to wounds typically seen on an 80-year-old's back. The child had spinal fractures at the T7 and L3 vertebrae, injuries the doctor compared to those sustained in car accidents when a passenger isn't wearing a seat belt. The physician also told detectives the child's body bends forward, per the same account relayed by KTSM.
When police searched the home, they reported finding a small air mattress, a pillow, a small blanket, and a camera in the child's bedroom — but no furniture or toys, unlike the rest of the house, which the complaint says was completely furnished. The bedroom door had a reverse lock on the outside along with an alarm sensor to notify someone when it was opened. A pantry elsewhere in the home was secured with a lock and key and stocked with different types of food, the complaint states.
Bond Set at Over $1 Million Combined
Katrina Sibley was being held at the El Paso County Detention Center on a $1 million bond, while Timothy Sibley was held at the downtown jail on a combined bond amount of $265,000, the station reported. Texas Penal Code Section 22.04 addresses injury to a child. The statute applies to both direct physical acts and severe omissions by a parent or legal custodian, and causing injury by omission can carry the same exposure of up to life imprisonment, per the Lahood Norton Law Group.
Texas law defines serious bodily injury under that statute as harm creating a substantial risk of death, causing death, or causing serious permanent disfigurement or long-term loss or impairment of a bodily function, according to the Lahood Norton Law Group.
A Gap Once an Adoption Is Finalized
A Gap Once an Adoption Is Finalized State regulations mandate monthly face-to-face caseworker visits before an adoption is finalized; post-placement visits conclude after finalization, and post-adoption support resources are available, according to Angel Adoption Inc. Families may seek post-adoption counseling and case management as support options.
The teen's condition came to light after a parent took the child to the hospital. Under Texas Family Code Section 261.101, medical professionals and licensed healthcare workers are mandatory reporters required to alert law enforcement or state authorities within 24 hours of suspecting child abuse or neglect, per Bridge Children's Advocacy Center. Failure by a professional to report suspected abuse is itself a criminal misdemeanor under Texas law.
County Sees Thousands of Abuse Investigations Each Year
County Sees Thousands of Abuse Investigations Each Year The case adds to a steady caseload of severe child welfare cases in El Paso County. During fiscal year 2026, the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services completed 3,212 child protective investigations in the county, resulting in 1,138 confirmed child victims of abuse or neglect, according to KTSM 9 News.
This is not the only severe child starvation case to surface locally in recent months — Hoodline previously reported that a 25-year-old El Paso mother was extradited from North Texas last month on capital murder and child injury charges after allegedly starving her two young children in 2023, resulting in one child's death.
