This 1000lb Woman Loses 800lbs After False Confessing to Rolling Over and Killing 2-Year-Old Nephew

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From the archives: This story was last updated in May 2019.

Bed-bound and hugely obese, this woman had given up on her life. After she witnessed her nephew being beaten to death by her sister, she couldn’t do a thing to stop it. After this horrific tragedy, she agreed to make a false confession—she told police that she had accidentally rolled on and killed her nephew—to cover for her sister.

Mayra Rosales was bed-bound because of her enormous size, weighing 1,000 pounds (approx. 454 kg). She felt hopeless, depressed, and had given up on life. But it was at a very traumatic turning point that she decided to lose weight.

In 2008, Rosales, who was 36 at the time, was labeled the “Half-Ton Killer” after making a false confession that she had accidentally rolled on her 2-year-old nephew and smothered him.

But the fact was her sister had hit and killed her nephew.

At that time, bed-bound Rosales had given up on life—so when her sister Jamie begged her to take the blame in 2008, she agreed.

“I thought I was dying anyway so I decided to admit that I'd done it to protect my sister because I love her,” Rosales told the court. The claim was disproved after the autopsy revealed that the boy had died from injuries to his head.

Rosales’s sister then confessed and was sentenced to 15 years in prison.

It was at that moment that Rosales decided she must lose weight so that she would be able to take care of her sister’s two remaining children.

Now, the siblings are very happy to see her walk again, said Rosales.

Rosales, from Texas, has lost hundreds of pounds since 2011 with the help of 11 surgeries. She has also made huge changes in her diet and to her mindset surrounding food.

“Food to me is I have to eat to live,” she told ABC 13. “Before it was living to eat, and now you know, it’s just something normal.”

Rosales admitted she wouldn’t have been able to go through her drastic weight loss journey without the support of Houston vascular and bariatric surgeon and star of TLC’s “My 600-Pound Life” Dr. Younan Nowzaraden.

Alluding to Rosales, Nowszaraden said, “I think Mayra is very motivated.”

“Once you’re in bed for several years, she had no life. Once she get up and walk and do things, you'll be amazed how motivated people become,” he further added.

For Rosales to shed those extra pounds it took a lap band surgery plus multiple skin removal surgeries to finally shed the 800 pounds (approx. 363 kg) she aimed for.

Though the journey to losing weight hasn’t been easy, Rosales said, “Do not lose hope and keep fighting because we only have one life, and it’s well worth fighting for it.”

Rosales is surely proud of the journey she has been through. In a post on Facebook on April 30, 2019, Rosales put a photo of herself along with a caption, writing: “This Woman is a WARRIOR. She’s not perfect but she has a lot of WORTH! She’s UNSTOPPABLE. Gracefully broken but beautifully standing. She is loved. She is life. She is transformation. She is Grace. She is BRAVE!”

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