By
NBC News
and The Associated Press
The mother of the three children who were abandoned in an apartment in the Houston suburbs, where the skeletal remains of a fourth 8-year-old brother were also found, told authorities that she did not report the child's death because she was afraid, according to It is recorded in court documents.
Gloria Williams and her boyfriend, Brian Coulter, were arrested Tuesday, charged with the death of Kendrick Lee.
Authorities believe the boy was murdered last November, probably on Thanksgiving Day.
Coulter is accused of kicking and hitting the boy "intentionally, knowing what he was doing and recklessly".
The injuries he caused caused his death
, according to the criminal complaint.
Brian W. Coulter, accused of beating a child found dead in a Houston, Texas apartment
Before her arrest, Williams told detectives that she had not reported the death because Coulter had told her not to, and that she was afraid of going to jail and losing custody of her children if police found out, according to documents. judicial.
[They file criminal charges for homicide against the policeman who shot Mona Rodríguez]
After Kendrick was beaten, his mother entered the room and saw him lying on the floor, KPRC station reported.
The other three children, ages 15, 10 and 7, had witnessed the attack, and Williams carried them out of the room while she was fighting with Coulter, the station reported, citing court documents.
The man kicked and punched the boy in the face, back, legs and testicles, according to his brothers and was recorded in court documents.
Gloria Williams, the mother of a boy who was found dead in an apartment in Houston, Texas.
“Brian Coulter kept staring at [Kendrick] as he kicked him.
[Kendrick's] eyes turned black and he stopped blinking during the attack, "said the 7-year-old brother, adding that when they removed the blankets that covered his body they saw that
Kendrick" was really dead and there were cockroaches everywhere. "
.
According to the 15-year-old, his mother moved out of the apartment months after the beating, in March.
Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez said they came to the apartment because the 15-year-old boy contacted them and told them that his brother's body was in a room in the house.
González said that when they arrived at the apartment they found that it was unfurnished, dirty and infested with cockroaches and flies.
The sheriff described the circumstances as "too dire to be real"
and said that even the most veteran police officers had never seen anything like it.
Williams' relatives said they had no idea that the child was dead, or that the other three children had been abandoned.
They explained to KPRC that Williams no longer spoke to the rest of the family, except when he needed money.
Three children were abandoned for months with the body of their brother
Oct. 26, 202101: 47
“She kept assuring that they were fine, that they were in school.
Every time we would go to help and ask him, 'Where are the children?'
She would say, 'Oh, they're at school.'
We never knew his apartment number.
She always said, 'I'll see you all at the entrance of the building.'
We never suspected anything, ”said her cousin Yasmin Creag.
According to his relatives, Williams has a total of six children between the ages of 7 and 17, although he does not have custody of his two daughters, who were not in the apartment.
Kendrick and another of the children had autism.
"My mom has asked him to let her take care of Hendrick since the day he was born and she kept saying no," said Creag.
"We knew that with all these children, eventually, she would not be able to be the best mother we know she can be," he added.
The family assured that they will fight to obtain custody of the three children abandoned in the apartment.