Abandoned boy’s mother fighting depression; has two girls in CPS care, stepfather says

The stepfather of the 25-year-old woman accused of abandoning her four-year-old son in Juarez for more than three months told ABC-7 the woman has two younger daughters now in the care of Child Protective Services.

El Pasoan Jorge Gonzalez, who Ruby Gonzalez lived with for 14 years, said the two girls are approximately 18 months and three-years-old.

A source close to the investigation told ABC-7 CPS placed the girls in the care of family. The U.S. Consulate in Juarez is working to bring Ruby’s son back to the United States.

“She has a wonderful heart,” Jorge Gonzalez said. “I saw that when she cared for the babies.”

Jorge Gonzalez said Ruby Gonzalez struggles with depression and takes medicine to help with her condition.

“When you take medicines, sometimes you forget something,” Jorge Gonzalez said. “Maybe you have a baby and you say, ‘Hey, where is my baby?'”

Ruby Gonzalez remains at the El Paso County Detention Facility under a $10,000 bond. An investigation revealed she took the child to Juarez on February 22 and left him in an abandoned building, police say. Gonzalez returned to the United States without the victim on that same date, police added.

Sources close to investigation in Juarez tell ABC-7 the boy was found in the Colonia Central near Francisco Villa and Cristobal Colon streets, not that far away from the international port of entry.

A man who appeared to be an American tourist spotted the boy and brought it to the attention of a parking attendant. When police arrived, they questioned the boy, who told them his name is Luis and that his mom had left him there. The parking attendant told police the boy had been sitting on a pile of discarded rags for hours, had scratches and bruises on his head and was very hungry. The officers took the boy to a judge’s office, who sent the boy to a children’s home, where he has been cared for since.

“When Ruby was a baby, she thought life was wonderful,” Jorge Gonzalez said. “But when Ruby was over 21, she saw too many problems and depression and too much medicine.”

When asked by ABC-7 if she had a drug problem, her stepfather replied: “No, She did not have a drug problem, medical problem. Life broke her heart, broke her head.”

ABC-7 also asked Jorge Gonzalez if he wished Ruby had come to family for help with the boy.

“The family tried to care for the grandson,” he said. “The grandmother tried to care. She wanted the grandson. And I know the family tried to care for the babies.”