Authorities arrest mother and boyfriend in connection with abandoned children living in house of horrors with brother's skeletal remains



Texas law enforcement officials have arrested the mother of the children abandoned with the skeletal remains of their dead sibling.

Authorities also took her boyfriend into custody just two days after the three children were found abandoned inside the squalid Houston-area apartment after months of being alone with their dead brother's corpse.

What are the details?

According to a Tuesday report from the Daily Mail, authorities arrested 35-year-old Gloria K. Williams and 31-year-old Brian W. Coulter in connection with the abandonment and alleged murder.

Authorities charged Williams with injury to a child by omission, failure to provide medical care, and failure to provide adequate supervision. Coulter was charged with murder in connection with the 8-year-old child's death.

A spokesperson for the Harris County Medical Examiner's Office said that the deceased 8-year-old child suffered multiple blunt force injuries at least one year ago.

Williams' 15-year-old son, who was caring for two younger brothers — ages 10 and 7 — called 911 on Sunday, prompting the welfare check that revealed the grisly findings. Just before calling emergency services, the 15-year-old reportedly texted his mother and said he could not take living this way any longer.

According to Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez, the three siblings were left to fend for themselves for months at a time and relied on food donations from concerned neighbors and more.

"It appears they were basically fending for each other," he told reporters. "The older sibling was doing the best he could to take care of the others."

He added, "Very horrific situation here, very tragic. I've been in this business for a long time and I've never heard of a scenario like this, it really caught me by surprise."

"We are trying to identify next of kin to determine exactly what happened and how we got to this point," Gonzalez continued. "We're going to make sure we conduct a thorough follow-up investigation."

All three siblings were taken to a local hospital for treatment and were determined to be suffering from malnourishment and other injuries, including broken bones in the 7-year-old child's face.

Child Protective Services has also launched an investigation into the incident.

In a statement, the agency said, "To ensure the safety of the children, the Department of Family and Protective Services is seeking emergency custody of the three boys. Child Protective Services does have history with the family, but there was no active CPS investigation at the time the children were discovered alone in their apartment."

Abandoned children found living in Texas apartment alongside 9-year-old brother's skeletal remains



Three children — ages 15, 10, and 7 — were found abandoned inside a Houston, Texas, apartment Sunday alongside the skeletal remains of their 9-year-old brother.

What are the details?

The children, all males, were discovered after the eldest brother called police to alert them that his 9-year-old sibling had been dead for a year and was located in the room next to his, the Houston Chronicle reported.

Police said that a neighbor had been caring for the children in recent weeks by periodically bringing food and drinks to them and charging their cell phone. All three of the surviving children were reportedly malnourished and showed signs of physical injury. They were taken to a local hospital for assessment and treatment.

Houston Police Sheriff Ed Gonzalez said it appeared that the children had been left abandoned inside the apartment for an "extended" period of time.

"And I emphasize extended," he added. "They were in there while the body was deteriorating" and "were fending for each other. ... The 15-year-old was taking care of the others."

According to NBC News, the eldest child reported that his parents had not been by for "several months."

3 children, including skeletal remains of possible 9-year-old, found inside abandoned apartment ... www.youtube.com

What else?

Both the mother of the children and her boyfriend were reportedly located and brought in for questioning before being released, Gonzalez confirmed in a tweet Monday morning. He added that there were no developments in the case as of yet.

"In our experience, it's always best to not speculate and just let the investigation take its course, but a very disturbing set of circumstances, so we definitely want some answers for these children," the sheriff said, according to CBS News.

Deputy Thomas Gilliland, a spokesperson with the Harris County Sheriff's Office, told reporters that forensic investigators found the scene at the apartment to be disturbing. Thomas added that authorities are now trying to figure out why neighbors at the complex didn't notice that anything was amiss.

Anything else?

Neighbors who have been interviewed by authorities and media representatives have expressed shock and horror at the news.

One resident, Kayla Williams, a mother of two, told the Houston Chronicle that she doesn't plan to tell her kids about the tragedy.

"I don't need to put this in their heads," she said, adding, "This is crazy."

Another resident, Dianne Davis, was mortified that a parent could abandon their kids in this way, saying: "These children can't take care of themselves. This is like something you see on TV, in the movies. This is like fiction."

She also wondered how apartment inspectors didn't discover the abandoned boys sooner.

"How come they couldn't detect this?" Davis remarked. "How could that not have been found?"