Kids Lived in Dire Conditions as Brother’s Body Decomposed – NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Worth

What you should know

• The woman’s boyfriend was charged with murder; She is charged with injuring a child by neglecting to commit a crime.
• The main cause of child death is listed as “murderous violence with multiple blunt violent injuries”.
• The surviving siblings are temporarily in the care of the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services.

Skinny, malnourished, and hungry, the three abandoned brothers lived alone for months with no blankets to keep them warm in an unfurnished Houston apartment with dirty carpets, flies and cockroaches. The trio barely survived, was abandoned and herded next to the rotting corpse of their 8-year-old brother.

Authorities claimed on Wednesday these were the dire conditions the children lived in for months while waiting for their mother to call authorities to report that their brother had been beaten to death by their boyfriend. Investigators say the mother never made that call, and the oldest living sibling, a 15-year-old, finally got over his fear and called authorities on Sunday.

“For many of the agency’s veterans, it was the most disturbing scene they handled in their entire law enforcement career. It seemed too horrible to be true, “Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez said at a news conference Wednesday, the day after the indictment was reported.

The children’s mother, Gloria Y. Williams, 35, was charged Tuesday with harming a child through omission and manipulation of evidence (human corpse). Her friend Brian W. Coulter, 31, has been charged with murder. Both remained in prison. Court records did not list any lawyers for her to speak on her behalf. Authorities say they could expect additional fees.

MPs found the 15-year-old and two other siblings, ages 10 and 7, living alone in the apartment, Gonzalez said. Authorities also found the skeletal remains of 8-year-old Kendrick Lee under a blanket in a bedroom.

The 15-year-old told the authorities that, according to court files, his parents moved out of the apartment in March.

Williams and Coulter had been together for a couple of years, and Coulter is believed to have started beating the younger kids at some point, Harris County Sheriff’s Office Sgt. Dennis Wolfford said.

Authorities claim that sometime around Thanksgiving last year, Coulter fatally beat Kendrick and later covered his body with a blanket.

The 7- and 10-year-old siblings told investigators they saw Coulter hit Kendrick with his fists and feet on the face, feet, buttocks, back, legs and testicles, according to court records.

“Brian Coulter continued to stare at (Kendrick) as he kicked him. (The 7 year old) said (Kendrick’s) eyes were black and he stopped blinking during the attack. (The 7 year old) said they were each other pulled back the covers and the saw (Kendrick) was really dead and saw cockroaches all over him, “the court records read.

Wolfford said a few months after the fatal blows, Williams and Coulter moved out and moved to another apartment about 25 minutes away, leaving the three surviving siblings to fend for themselves. According to the Alief school district, the children last attended school in May 2020.

Gonzalez said Williams provided the children with some food, either through a delivery service or by dropping off. But it was mostly junk food like pasta, fries and soft drinks, he said. Authorities say there is not enough food for the children and some neighbors also fed them and charged a cell phone for them. But the neighbors did not know what conditions the children were living in.

“One of the first things I asked them if they were hungry. They said they had … They wanted donuts,” Wolfford said of talking to the kids after authorities found them.

Wolfford said investigators believe the younger children were not allowed to leave the apartment and continued to live in constant fear of being beaten by Coulter. Authorities claim that Coulter punched the 10-year-old child in the jaw a few weeks before the body was discovered and that neither he nor Williams provided any medical care to the child. The child’s injured jaw needs surgery, Wolfford said.

During that time, the children continued to live alone in an apartment where they saw their brother’s decaying remains, which were clearly visible, Gonzalez said.

Prior to her arrest, Williams told investigators that she failed to tell authorities what happened to Kendrick because Coulter told her not to do so, and she feared they would go to jail and take their children away from child protection services, according to court records would.

The Texas Department of Family and Protection Services has been granted provisional custody of the three children.

Two of the children could be on the autism spectrum, Gonzalez said.

Wolfford described the surviving siblings as “cute children”, but they were traumatized and had a “void in their eyes”.

“My prayer is that the remaining children will find the love, support, and protection they so desperately need, deserve, and miss for so long. And I hope their future is better than their past,” said Gonzalez.

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