TX - Kendrick Lee, 8, murdered, sibs abandoned MEDIA ONLY NO DISCUSSION

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Child abuse suspect faces judge for 1st time in bizarre appearance
Child abuse suspect faces judge for 1st time in bizarre appearance
The judge overseeing Brian Coulter's case also recused himself from it Thursday morning
By Erica Simon
Thursday, October 28, 2021 3:26PM
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HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- The 31-year-old man accused of beating his girlfriend's 8-year-old son to death faced a judge Thursday morning.

Brian Coulter is charged with first-degree murder in the death of Kendrick Lee, whose corpse was found in a west Harris County apartment, along with Kendrick's three siblings.

A judge set Coulter's bond at $1 million on Wednesday, when the charges were read against him, but he did not appear in court, because he was being evaluated at a mental health unit.

On Thursday, he answered to a judge for the first time since his arrest in the boy's murder.

The judge who was supposed to see him recused himself from the case for personal reasons. It's unknown at this time what those reasons are, so another judge filled in.

But prosecutors told ABC13 at the courthouse that all the investigators are traumatized.

"The sheriff's office and I are working very closely together to make sure that justice is done in this case and that everyone's rights are protected and the children that are still surviving are protected as well. This is just a starting point," said Andrea Beall with the Harris County District Attorney's Office.

When Coulter arrived, he walked in slowly, asking the judge several questions. At times, it appeared that he didn't understand what was being read to him.

 

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Brian Coulter, 31, clad in an orange jumpsuit was led into the courtroom in handcuffs and shackles, marking his first public appearance since his arrest on Tuesday.

A judge read the charge against Coulter aloud and asked the defendant if he understood it. Coulter repeated the charge he is facing back to the judge.

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Prosecutor Andrea Beall, who only handles child fatalities as part of her job, told KPRC this case stands out.

'This is the only type of case I deal with, and I will say this particular case is such a gross deviation from what we expect human beings to behave like that it has been very emotional and taxing on the investigators, the DA’s office,,' she said, 'and the priority should be making sure that all the surviving children get the help they need.'
Suspect in Houston House of Horrors make first court appearance | Daily Mail Online

 

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Titania Shorter scrubbed her front porch with Clorox and searched the bushes for dead animals trying to rid her apartment of a nauseating smell. She and neighbors complained to the front office of the west Houston apartment complex about the overwhelming odor that plagued them for weeks.
Neighbors smelled odor for weeks before shocking discovery of child corpse

 

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Williams did no physical harm to the children, but Wilford said she was just as harmful to her children as her boyfriend. “I would say you are both an abuser,” Wilford told reporters. “He is an abuser physically and she is an omission abuser.”
Gloria Williams watched in silence as Brian Coulter beat the nonverbal, autistic son to death

Court documents obtained by DailyMail.com indicate that the mom-of-six more recently had been charged for failing to enroll her children in school.

Alief Independent School District told KTRK that in 2019 and 2020, the school district filed truancy papers against the siblings' mother because two of them, Ja'Veon Kirklin and his older sister, were not attending school. The children were last enrolled in May 2020. Both charges were later dismissed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Suspect in Houston House of Horrors make first court appearance | Daily Mail Online

 

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She got $994/month in SSI/SSDI and another $950 in TANF.

Source is her affidavit of financial condition which can be found at this link under the images tab https://www.hcdistrictclerk.com/edo...Zq1DdE2FiAqpKa/9q559y7zOWWRpUXCsJI1cLFs7WSg==
courtesy @bears10

 

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KHOU 11 reporter Grace White spoke with Gloria Williams in an exclusive jailhouse interview Thursday. She is behind bars after being charged with injury to a child by omission and tampering with evidence (human corpse).

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White asked Williams if she knew Kendrick was dead. Her response was, "No."

But according to court documents, investigators said Williams altered, destroyed and concealed Kendrick's body to get rid of evidence.

When White asked Williams why she left the kids alone, she responded, "I checked on them every two weeks."
Houston abandoned kids: Mother apologizes from jail | khou.com

 

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KHOU 11 reporter Grace White spoke with Gloria Williams in an exclusive jailhouse interview Thursday. She is behind bars after being charged with injury to a child by omission and tampering with evidence (human corpse).

[snip]

White asked Williams if she knew Kendrick was dead. Her response was, "No."

But according to court documents, investigators said Williams altered, destroyed and concealed Kendrick's body to get rid of evidence.

When White asked Williams why she left the kids alone, she responded, "I checked on them every two weeks."
Houston abandoned kids: Mother apologizes from jail | khou.com

 

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Child Abuse Case: Mother's boyfriend arrested in Luling during the week of boy's deadly beating

"ABC13 has confirmed Coulter spent some of that time in jail for a charge out of Luling, which narrows the timeline.

"The manager of Buc-ee's calle0d dispatch and asked for a welfare check on an intoxicated male subject who they thought was possibly armed with a handgun," explained Luling Chief of Police Bill Sala in an interview with ABC13. "My officer went out there and encountered Brian Coulter, and his passenger was Gloria Williams."

 

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Courtney Lee is the biological father of Kendrick and two of the three surviving young brothers who were found abandoned in a Houston house of horrors alongside the little boy's decomposing body last week.

'Kendrick is my baby, he's my youngest son,' Lee said in an exclusive interview with DailyMail.com. 'I still can't believe it.'

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'They are in therapy right now and going through a lot of stuff right now to get back on track, it's still an open case. I know it's going to take time.”

'I'm their father, I'm on their birth certificate. I'll always be their father. I will be in their life. But it's going to take some time.'

'I don't want to talk to her, see her or hear her name. I never thought in my life there was a woman like her,'

'If she wasn't part of it, she should have called the police. She is going to have to deal with this the rest of her life.'

'I'm alive and I've never been incarcerated and want to be and have always wanted to be involved in my boys' life.'

'Those posts aren't mine. I've never asked anyone for money,' he said.

'I only want my kids back.'
Father of Kendrick Lee said he found out about his son's death on the news | Daily Mail Online

 

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Gonzalez said it appears Williams occasionally provided food by some delivery service, but it was never anything substantial, and was instead snacks like noodles, chips and soft drinks.

When deputies found the boys at the apartment, they were visibly thin. Wolfford said the boys said they wanted donuts, so the deputies immediately took them to a nearby shop.

He said an early investigation indicated that the younger boys may have been locked inside the apartment by Coulter.

"Very sweet children. Very nice. Very well spoken... at the same time, that thousand yard stare, that blankness in the eyes," Wolfford said of the kids. "At the same time they were as sweet as you can be. Nice children."
Brothers describe 8-year-old boy's beating death in their family home in new court details

The couple would occasionally visit the boys, as is evident by a severe injury the 9-year-old had to his jaw, Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez said.

Investigators believe Coulter beat the 9-year-old and caused the injury about three weeks ago. No medical attention was given at the time. The boy will soon undergo surgery, officials said.
Texas child abuse suspect faces judge for 1st time in bizarre appearance

 

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HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- A woman charged in the murder of her 8-year-old son after his body was discovered in a west Harris County apartment abandoned with his three siblings is due in court Monday.
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Meanwhile, Williams' was supposed to be in court last Friday, but due to the judge's sudden recusal, that appearance was pushed back.
Houston mother accused in deadly abandonment case due in court

"We got to come together and we have to speak up," Dinnon said. "There were people in these apartments that did speak up, you know what I'm saying, but like I was telling them, sometimes you have to go above and beyond."
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Hedy Carter said she has known the family for more than 40 years and even watched the boys' mother, Gloria Williams, grow up.

Carter said she made multiple attempts to contact Williams over the past year, and at one point, her calls were blocked.

"This week has just been horrific," Carter said. "It's heart-wrenching, devastating and we're trying to just day-by-day make it through this ordeal. Every time we'd get close to her (Williams), she'd go. Get close, she'd go. We didn't understand why at the time, but as you see this whole year of events, we know why now. She didn't want anybody to know what had happened, how it happened, when it happened, so we were like 'What's going on?'"
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"It's tough," Todd said. "Those children are going to have it hard, most likely, the remainder of their lives, so it's definitely heartbreaking."

Todd said she's had to have tough conversations with her son about what to do and how to speak up when something is going on.

"Bringing my child out here to let him know, all of these kids, that they are loved," Todd said. "That they have someone to go to. The community came out today. Even if you feel like you can't go to your parents, you know, maybe talk to a friend, talk to a neighbor. If something is ever going on, talk to a teacher. You have to let someone know."
Vigil held for 8-year-old Kendrick Lee, little boy whose body was found a year after he was killed

 

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Mom charged in abandonment case appears in court Monday (video update from reporter outside courtroom at this morning's hearing)

Gloria Williams, 35, has been charged with injury to a child by omission and tampering with evidence (corpse).

 

[Kristin Esq.]

CHILD DEATH
Kendrick Lee, child whose body was found in apartment 1 year after murder, laid to rest

HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- Kendrick Lee, the 8-year-old boy whose body was found inside a west Harris County apartment a year after he was killed, was laid to rest Friday morning.

Investigators have called this one of the most horrific child death cases they've ever seen, as Lee's body was also discovered in the same apartment with his three surviving siblings.

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According to court records, in November 2020, Brian Coulter, the boyfriend of Kendrick's mother, Gloria Williams, beat the child to death and left his remains under a blanket in their apartment on Green Crest.

Coulter and Williams eventually moved out and left Kendrick's surviving brothers, ages 15, 9 and 7, to fend for themselves.

The teen called police in October of this year and told them about the deplorable conditions they were living in and that Kendrick had been murdered.

Kendrick's death has been ruled a homicide.

The couple has since been arrested.

Williams is charged with injury to a child by omission and tampering with evidence.

Coulter is charged with capital murder. He's expected back in court some time next week.

Kendrick's siblings have been placed in foster care.

Kendrick Lee, child whose body was found in apartment 1 year after murder, laid to rest