Mom of Texas Boy Allegedly Killed by Boyfriend Watched Deadly Beating but Didn't Report It: Cops

The boys were found living in "a horrible condition"

Gloria Williams and Brian Coulter. Photo: Harris County Sheriff (2)

Authorities have released new details about the three kids found abandoned in a Texas apartment along with the skeletal remains of their brother.

"There aren't many jobs in our agency that are tougher than those involving abused children," Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez said at a press conference Wednesday. "These cases are horrific, heartbreaking cases of abuse and neglect. And they involve the most innocent and defenseless among our community."

The boys' mother, Gloria Williams, 35, and her boyfriend, 31-year-old Brian Coulter, were arrested Tuesday in connection to the death of her 8-year-old son.

According to Gonazalez, Williams has been charged with injury to a child by omission, failure to provide medical care, and failure to provide adequate supervision. Coulter has been charged with murder.

The boy's body was found Sunday after a 15-year-old called authorities to report that his younger brother "had been dead for a year and his body was in the room next to his," Gonzalez previously told reporters.

Upon arrival, deputies found three children — ages 15, 10 and 7 — left behind in an apartment, with "skeletal remains ... also found inside the unit."

"The apartment was in a horrible condition. We saw soiled carpet, no furniture at all. No bedding, no blankets that we could see. We saw roaches and flies and a very bad condition for anyone to live in," Gonzalez said Wednesday.

The three boys were taken to the hospital and appeared "malnourished and showed signs of physical injury."

The children, who have special needs, had not been in school since May 2020.

The 8-year-old had died of multiple blunt force trauma, according to the sheriff's office. He is believed to have been killed around Thanksgiving 2020.

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Williams told investigators she didn't report her son's death because Coulter told her not to. The couple had moved out of the apartment earlier this year and lived about 25 minutes away.

"This mother had a year to contact law enforcement so you can't tell me that for every minute for a year you were afraid," Lt. Dennis Wilford said Wednesday, describing Coulter as "manipulative."

When asked why the boys didn't call authorities sooner, Wilford said: "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."

Although Williams didn't physically abuse her children, Wilford said she is just as harmful to her children.

"I would say they are both an abuser," Wilford told reporters. "He's an abuser physically, and she's an abuser by omission."

The children are in the care of Child Protective Services. Both Williams and Coulter remain behind bars. Attorney information was not available Thursday.

If you suspect child abuse, call the Childhelp National Child Abuse Hotline at 1-800-4-A-Child or 1-800-422-4453, or go to www.childhelp.org. All calls are toll-free and confidential. The hotline is available 24/7 in more than 170 languages.