In late October, we brought you the heartbreaking story of Harris County Sheriff's Deputies being called to the scene of three brothers that were abandoned by their mom and boyfriend with the corpse of their 8-year-old brother. The mom and boyfriend were arrested and are now awaiting trial with the boyfriend charged in the 8-year-old's murder. Sheriff officials have gone into a little bit more detail as to what they found when they first arrived on scene.

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Harris County Sheriff Deputy, Corey Castro, sat down with ABC 13 in Houston to give them some more details into what they found when they arrived at the apartment that housed the abandoned brothers, ages 15, 10, and 7, with the decomposed body of their 8-year-old brother. Castro said there was a "very distinct smell" and the apartment was empty of furniture, there was no electricity and there were roaches everywhere.

Deputy Castro did not go into exact detail but did point out the position the 8-year-old's dead body was in. Castro said,

The main thing that got me was the position the child died in. Without going into too much positioning, I would say laying down in a certain position, and we have to be careful because of the integrity of this case.

It has also been revealed that two of the boys are autistic but were very aware and were verbal with officers. Deputy John Craig is the lead investigator for this case. He described seeing the fear in the boys eyes but also a happiness in seeing the officers.

They had the fear in their eyes. They didn't know what was coming next. They're happy. They want to talk to you and hug you and express how glad we are here. But you still see in their eyes, they have fear.

Deputy Craig did say that at one point when talking with the boys, they did hug the officer and he hugged them back.

There was some criticism of the sheriff's office because they didn't make a day one arrest after talking with the mother of the boys. Deputy Craig explained that this isn't like watching an episode of Law and Order. They have to take their time and make sure that all of the evidence is in order, get an accurate report from the medical examiner and obtain a proper arrest warrant. Because they did that, the mom and boyfriend were arrested with the appropriate charges.

Both the mom and boyfriend are behind bars awaiting a trial. The boyfriend, Brian Coulter, is charged with capital murder. The mother, Gloria Williams, is charged with injury to a child, injury to a child by omission and tampering with evidence.

The boys remain in foster care where they are receiving therapy.

Pray for these three boys that find a good home and that justice will be served when the boyfriend and mom go to trial. You can find more details on this update at abc13.com.

Below is our original story in October of 2021 and subsequent updates.

October 27, 8:12 a.m. Update

Some good news to finally report in the case of the mother and boyfriend who left their kids in a an apartment for months with the dead body of their younger sibling. Police arrested both the mother and boyfriend Tuesday evening (October 26) at a public library, get this, searching for news articles about themselves according to abc13.com. How arrogant, how self centered, how any more uncaring can two people be? Pathetic. The mother, Gloria Williams, 35, is charged with injury to a child by omission and tampering with evidence, a human corpse. The boyfriend, Brian Coulter, 31, is charged with murder. More charges could filed as the investigation continues.

Here they can be seen being booked into jail.

2:00 p.m., October 26 Update

Obviously this is a very fluid story with updates coming in very quickly. An update we have just learned is that the Harris County Medical Examiner has determined the 9-year-old sibling that was dead in the apartment suffered "homicidal violence with multiple blunt force injuries" according to click2houston.com. This is not a specific cause of death as that will take time to learn. From this finding, however, authorities can determine what charges will come to the mother, the boyfriend or both.

Yesterday, October 25, we told you about a real life nightmare story that was unfolding in Houston. Three children were found living alone with the corpse of their younger brother for several months with the parents nowhere to be found. Authorities placed the children in CPS custody, the mother and her boyfriend were located, interviewed by police, then released. More details have come to light after talking with neighbors.

Erica Chapman lives in the apartment complex and first saw the oldest of the siblings sleeping on one of the slides in the complex. Chapman rarely saw the mother. When the mom did show up, the 15-year-old would run to car, get some food items from the mother then head back up to the apartment.

"She would come and park, and he would run down and grab noodles, drinks and chips and run back up," Chapman said.

Another neighbor said the oldest of the siblings knocked on his door asking for a charger. The neighbor said the teen seemed "paranoid" and would only accept certain food in fear of being posioned. One occasion, the neighbor gave the boy a pizza and asked the boy later if he liked it. The boy said, "What? The pizza we had?" making the neighbor wonder if other children were living with the boy not knowing that was the case.

Where Were the Parents

The mother of the children, along with her boyfriend, were living in an apartment about 15 minutes away from where the children were staying. Neighbors at that apartment complex never saw any children with them. They thought the couple had moved in around January or February.

There were also some truancy issues with the children, too. Alief ISD, where two of the children were enrolled, had filed truancy papers against the mother. The pandemic made the situation more difficult to detect.

Children's Condition

All three of the children were taken to the hospital to be checked out. They were all malnourished and the 7-year-old had facial fractures. Once the autopsy comes back on the deceased sibling, the sheriff's department can determine what charges will be filed.

Keep these kids in your prayers.

ORIGINAL STORY

I'm not one to cover news stories in the building but this one really struck a nerve with me and I'm not even a parent. The Harris County Sheriff Department was called to a Houston apartment complex where they found three children that had been abandoned in that apartment for several months. What makes this even worse is that their 9-year-old brother's body was with them who had been dead for around a year. I wish this were some kind of campfire horror story but it's not.

Sunday afternoon, October 24, the Harris County Sheriff's Department received a call from a 15-year-old boy claiming his parents had left him and his siblings, one 10 years old, the other 7 years old, alone in their apartment for the past several months. Deputies arrived at the apartment and found the children malnourished and had signs of injuries. The other discovery horrified the authorities.

The 15-year-old said in the call that their 9-year-old brother had been dead for about a year and his decomposing body was in the apartment with the children.

There are so many questions to asked here. How did this happen? How did anyone not at all notice a smell? How did no one know these children were alone? Just why? The mother of the children, along with her boyfriend, were found by Sunday night and questioned by authorities but were released. No charges were filed against the pair.

I do not have children of my own so parenting advice is something I can not give out. However, in no way, shape, form or fashion would I just leave and let children, even under the supervision of a teenager like this. It's an investigation by law enforcement and a lot goes into it but how were they able to let the adults go. This is not okay and I hope answers are found soon and the proper punishment is applied.

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