Current:Home > NewsTexas mother sentenced to 50 years for leaving kids in dire conditions as son’s body decomposed -CryptoBase
Texas mother sentenced to 50 years for leaving kids in dire conditions as son’s body decomposed
View
Date:2025-04-19 00:19:48
HOUSTON (AP) — A judge on Tuesday sentenced a woman to 50 years in prison for forcing three of her children to live with the decomposing body of their dead 8-year-old brother for more than a year in a soiled, roach-infested Houston-area apartment.
Gloria Williams, 38, expressed deep regret before being sentenced, the Houston Chronicle reported.
Williams’ sentence came after she had pleaded guilty in October to two counts of injury to a child for abuse that involved 8-year-old Kendrick Lee, who was beaten to death by her boyfriend, and another child, the newspaper reported.
When authorities discovered the boy’s body in October 2021, Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez said many officers indicated it was the most disturbing scene they had worked in their careers and that it “seemed too horrific to be real.”
Lee’s three abandoned brothers had been living alone for months and were thin, malnourished and hungry when authorities found them in an unfurnished Harris County apartment that was infested with flies and roaches and had soiled carpet.
Authorities said the children had waited for Williams to call authorities to report that their brother had been beaten to death by her boyfriend, Brian Coulter. Investigators say the mother never made that call and the oldest surviving sibling, then a 15-year-old, finally overcame his fear and called authorities. The two other siblings were 7 and 10 years old when they were found by authorities.
Williams was sentenced following a nearly two-day court hearing that focused on the extent of her role in Lee’s death. Her defense attorneys blamed Coulter for most of the abuse. Coulter was sentenced in April to life in prison without parole for Lee’s death. The sheriff’s office had previously said Coulter had consistently hit the younger children and had fatally beaten Lee sometime around Thanksgiving in 2020.
A few months after the fatal beating, Williams and Coulter moved out and went to live at another apartment about 25 minutes away, leaving the three surviving siblings to fend for themselves as their brother’s body slowly decomposed, authorities said.
Williams relinquished parental rights over her children after her arrest. The two younger siblings have since been adopted, while the eldest is with a foster family, the newspaper reported.
veryGood! (153)
Related
- 'Meet me at the gate': Watch as widow scatters husband's ashes, BASE jumps into canyon
- The biggest big-box store yet? Fresno Costco business center will be company's largest store
- Northwestern football players to skip Big Ten media days amid hazing scandal
- What five of MLB's top contenders need at the trade deadline
- Judge says Mexican ex-official tried to bribe inmates in a bid for new US drug trial
- Alaska board to weigh barring transgender girls from girls’ high school sports teams
- 'Go time:' Packers QB Jordan Love poised to emerge from Aaron Rodgers' shadow
- WATCH: Sea lions charge at tourists on San Diego beach
- Olympic disqualification of gold medal hopeful exposes 'dark side' of women's wrestling
- PacWest, Banc of California to merge on heels of US regional banking crisis
Ranking
- Will the 'Yellowstone' finale be the last episode? What we know about Season 6, spinoffs
- Colorado businessman gets over 5 years in prison for ‘We Build The Wall’ fundraiser fraud
- The heat island effect traps cities in domes of extreme temperatures. Experts only expect it to get worse.
- Viva Whataburger! New 24/7 restaurant opening on the Las Vegas Strip this fall.
- Rylee Arnold Shares a Long
- Kansas football lineman charged in connection with alleged bomb threat
- Pedestrians scatter as fire causes New York construction crane’s arm to collapse and crash to street
- Colorado businessman gets over 5 years in prison for ‘We Build The Wall’ fundraiser fraud
Recommendation
Jay Kanter, veteran Hollywood producer and Marlon Brando agent, dies at 97: Reports
Bronny James, LeBron James' oldest son and USC commit, hospitalized after cardiac arrest
Drew Barrymore to host 74th National Book Awards with Oprah Winfrey as special guest
'Shame on us': Broncos coach Sean Payton rips NFL for gambling policy after latest ban
IOC's decision to separate speed climbing from other disciplines paying off
Anchorage mayor wants to give homeless people a one-way ticket to warm climates before Alaska winter
Bowe Bergdahl's conviction vacated by federal judge
It's hot out there. A new analysis shows it's much worse if you're in a city