The people responsible for the death of an 8-year-old boy and the abuse of three other children are finally facing the consequences for it. But it’s the details behind the boy’s death that are particularly sickening.
In October 2021, a then-15-year-old in Texas called local authorities, sharing that he and his two other siblings, who were 7 and 10 at the time, had been living with their brother’s dead body for more than a year, according to KPRC.
During their investigation, police learned that the children’s mother, Gloria Williams, and her boyfriend, Brian Coulter, covered the body with a blanket after he died in late 2020 and then moved to another home, leaving the minors behind all alone.
After being with Williams for years, Coulter allegedly started to consistently beat her children. According to KPRC, Lee’s siblings told police that Coulter beat Lee to death in 2020 and continued to hit and kick him even after his body stopped moving. One of the siblings recalled Lee stopped blinking during the assault.
Weeks after the oldest sibling’s 911 call, local authorities arrested the couple for the murder of 8-year-old Kendrick Lee, and the abuse of the other three children who lived with his dead remains. Williams was charged with injury to a child by omission and tampering with evidence. Coulter, however, was charged with first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison in April.
Last week, Williams pleaded guilty to two charges of injury to a child by omission. When speaking to reporters, Lt. Dennis Wilford said, “I would say they are both an abuser. He’s an abuser physically, and she’s an abuser by omission.”
Williams is scheduled to be sentenced on Nov. 11, according to the Harris County Sheriff’s Office.
Back in November 2021, when asked why the 15-year-old child didn’t call the authorities sooner after living with his brother’s remains for months, he stated, “I believe it was absolute fear. Over time, I believe that the beatings were consistent, mainly directed at the younger children, and the 15-year-old was absolutely afraid, basically, hoping and relying on his mother to at some point to contact law enforcement... and that didn’t happen.”
Shame that they had to live in those conditions after witnessing the death of their younger brother.