Milan Markovic
A horrific story has been unfolding in Harris County, Texas.
On Oct. 24, officials from the Harris County Sheriff’s Office received a harrowing call from a 15-year-old boy who confessed that he had been living in an apartment with his two younger brothers as the body of their dead sibling lie decomposing in one of the rooms.
The incident occurred at West Oaks Apartments, where the young teen said he and his younger brothers,’ ages seven and 10, had been left destitute and starving for months. According to ABC 13, shortly before calling for help, the 15-year-old “texted his mom to tell her he could not take it anymore.”
“The first time I saw him, he was sleeping on one of the slides,” said Erica Chapman, a neighbor who lives at the complex. Chapman said she began giving the 15-year-old food almost six months ago after she noticed the mother was barely home. “She would come and park, and he would run down and grab noodles, drinks and chips and run back up,” she explained.
Other neighbors revealed the boy was quite suspicious of taking cooked food. He would only accept packaged goods. A resident named Trevor said the young teen was afraid of getting poisoned–hence his hesitation.
“A few times I noticed the lights weren’t on, and it was quiet upstairs, so I figured there was trouble because the parents haven’t been there in a while,” Thompson shared. “One day, he came here and knocked on the door and asked if he could use the charger, and we built a bond from there. I started offering him food because I knew he needed more than just a charger.”
Trevor continued: “I asked, ‘Did you like the pizza?’ And he asked, ‘What? The first pizza we had?'” Thompson added. “That made me wonder why would he say, ‘We.'”
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Neither Chapman nor Trevor was aware of the young boy’s brothers, something they believe the teen hid out of fear of potentially being punished.
“After finding out what happened [Sunday], I think he was more nervous and scared,” Chapman explained. “Are they going to blame me for this? Are my parents going to punish me for this? Maybe his parents told him they would be separated if he told anyone.”
According to CNN, the children’s disgraced mother has been identified as Gloria Y. Williams. She has been charged with injury to a child by omission and tampering with evidence involving a human corpse, Sherrif Ed Gonzalez told the outlet. Her boyfriend, Brian W. Coulter, 31, was also charged with murder in the death of the 9-year-old child, who reportedly died in 2020 and whose skeletal remains were found inside the apartment.
According to CNN, the Harris County medical examiner revealed that the body of the child suffered from “multiple blunt force injuries, resulting in his death by homicide.”
Sheriff Gonzalez said it appeared as though the children were “fending for each other” to survive adding that the boys were living in “pretty deplorable conditions.” Officials say the two younger boys were severely malnourished and exhibited signs of physical injury. All three children have been transported to a nearby hospital where they are receiving treatment as the investigation weighs on.
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