Mom of Abandoned Boys Says She Visited 'Every 2 Weeks'

Gloria Williams now claims she also didn't know her 8-year-old son, Kendrick Lee, was dead
By Jenn Gidman,  Newser Staff
Posted Oct 30, 2021 6:00 AM CDT
Mom of Abandoned Boys Says She Visited 'Every 2 Weeks'
This undated photo shows Gloria Williams.   (Harris County Sheriff's Office via AP)

A Texas mother charged after the body of her 8-year-old son was found in an apartment along with three abandoned siblings now says she checked on her boys "every two weeks" and that she hadn't realized one of the brothers was dead. "I'm sorry. I didn't do it," Gloria Williams, 35, told KHOU on Thursday from a Harris County jail, where she's being held on charges of injury to a child by omission and tampering with evidence—i.e., the human corpse of her son, Kendrick Lee. When asked by a KHOU reporter if she'd known Kendrick had died, Williams said no—contradicting what she'd said a day earlier, which is that she hadn't told cops about Kendrick's death because she was scared her children would be taken from her and she'd go to jail, per court documents.

Police found Kendrick's body Sunday, along with his brothers, ages 7, 9, and 15, per CNN. Kendrick's cause of death, according to the Harris County Institute of Forensic Sciences: "homicidal violence with multiple blunt force injuries." Authorities believe he died around Thanksgiving. KHOU reports that none of the boys had been in school since May 2020. "I do not believe that the two [younger] boys were ever allowed to leave that apartment," Harris County Sheriff's Office Lt. Dennis Wilford says. "It's possible they were locked in, possibly different parts of the apartment."

Charged with murder in the case is 31-year-old Brian Coulter, Williams' boyfriend, who's accused of beating and kicking Kendrick to death sometime around Thanksgiving last year. Bond for Coulter has been set for $1 million. Williams, meanwhile, allegedly tried to "alter, destroy, and conceal ... a human corpse," according to a criminal complaint, despite her assertions of not knowing about Kendrick's death, per CNN. Her bond has been set at $900,000. Her surviving sons are now under the care of Child Protective Services.

story continues below

Williams also is said to have two daughters, ages 13 and 17, and Melody Robinson, whose son used to date Williams, tells KPRC 2 that she's had the 13-year-old, her granddaughter, under her care since she was a toddler. Even though the 17-year-old isn't Robinson's biological granddaughter, that teen also came to live with her, about a year ago, after the girl had left home due to the abuse she said she witnessed by Coulter. Robinson says the sisters talked to their brothers when they could on FaceTime and that no mention was ever made of Kendrick's death. She adds that the last time she saw all six children together was about four years ago, at her granddaughter's birthday party. "My heart goes out to that baby," she says of Kendrick. (More Texas stories.)

Get the news faster.
Tap to install our app.
X
Install the Newser News app
in two easy steps:
1. Tap in your navigation bar.
2. Tap to Add to Home Screen.

X