Wichita Falls man arrested with connection to daughter’s death

WICHITA FALLS, Texas (KAUZ) - The Wichita Falls Police Department arrested a man Tuesday in connection to the death of his daughter in December 2020.

Officers reportedly entered a home on Longview Street on Dec. 20, 2020, at 9 a.m., and found a deceased 2-year-old girl laying face up on the kitchen floor. Court documents state the officers were “instantly taken back by the smell of rotten food and general filth.”

They reportedly discovered the entire house was covered in “spoiled food, dirty clothes, empty soda cans and dirty dishes.”

Officers considered the victim’s death suspicious, according to court documents.

After interviewing the child’s parents and siblings, police reportedly learned there were three other children in the home. A 6-year-old child was then taken to Patsy’s House for an interview.

During the investigation, it was found that on the night of Dec. 20, 2020, the mother of the victim left the home around 7:29 p.m. to go to a bar with a friend, according to court documents. She reportedly didn’t return home until after midnight. The father, identified as Garrett Lloyd Wayne Jos Gestes, had reportedly left the home that same night around 7:53 p.m. to deliver food for Door Dash; it’s reported he took two of the children with him.

The victim and a 3-year-old child were both left alone at the home, according to court documents.

During the interview at Patsy’s House, the 6-year-old child reportedly told investigators the victim had been sick a few days prior to her death, and she had found the victim in her bed with “purple stuff” coming from her mouth several times.

According to court documents, the 6-year-old then said she heard her parents talk about how they were scared that something was wrong with the victim, but the mom said “they’d see in the morning.”

An autopsy of the victim later came back as undetermined, according to an arrest affidavit.

Gestes was arrested on Nov. 22, 2022 on charges of abandoning a child - imminent bodily danger and abandoning a child with intent to return. He remains jailed in Wichita County on bonds totaling $200,000.