A Texas mom was sentenced to 50 years in prison after abandoning her three children in an apartment with the remains of their brother, who had been murdered. The children were left with the body for about a year before the crime was reported to police.
The mom pleaded guilty to being complicit in the boy’s murder and lack of care for her remaining children. It is unclear what has happened to her other children, especially now that she will remain in prison for decades.
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The mom was arrested in connection with her son's death in 2021.
In October, 38-year-old Gloria Williams, pleaded guilty two charges of injury to a child in connection with the death of her 8-year-old son Kendrick Lee. She was sentenced to 50 years in prison, according to a news release from the Harris County District Attorney’s Office. Williams’ partner, Brian Coulter, was sentenced to life in prison without parole in April for beating the boy to death in 2020.
The whole situation is horrific.
Two of the three children testified at Coulter’s trial, saying that they saw Coulter repeatedly beat Kendrick. After the boy died, Coulter covered the body, and he and Williams moved into a different apartment. They forced the children to stay in the apartment with the dead body, prosecutors said.
“We expect parents to protect their children, not hurt them, because children really are our most vulnerable victims,” Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg said in the release. “This case shocks the conscience not just because a child lost his life, but because of his parents’ complete and total disregard for human life.”
It was of one Williams' children who finally sounded the alarm about their living conditions.
In October 2021, Williams’ 15-year-old son called the police. He told police his sibling “had been dead for a year and his body was in the room next to his,” Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez shared with news outlets at the time.
“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 revealed.
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Police don't fully blame the mom, but maintain that she had a responsibility to her children.
In 2021, People reported that the mom told investigators that she didn’t report her son’s death because Coulter told her not to. Lt. Dennis Wilford called Coulter “manipulative.” He added, “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.”
And while she didn’t physically abuse her children, Wilford says that the mom is still harmful. “I would say they are both an abuser,” he said. “He’s an abuser physically, and she’s an abuser by omission.”
The mom did one right thing.
According to the news release, Williams requested that her children would not have to testify about the death again as a part of her plea agreement. The district attorney’s office stated that Williams will serve at least half of her sentence before she’s eligible for parole.
“By pleading guilty and waiving the right to a jury trial, the defendant finally acted like a protective mother,” prosecutor Edward A. Appelbaum said in the release. “For one day of her children’s lives, she was a good mother.”
If you suspect child abuse, you can call the Childhelp National Child Abuse Hotline at 1-800-422-4453 (1-800-4-A-Child), or go to Childhelp.org. The hotline is available 24/7.
