Photo: Mark Makela / Getty Images
A 5-year-old Houston boy was dead for weeks before being reported missing , as revealed by new details arising from the investigation.
A search for the boy Samuel Olson led authorities to a Best Western hotel in Jasper, Texas on Tuesday, where the body of a child was found in a plastic box , reported ABC 13 from Houston .
UPDATE: The body – believed to be of Samuel – is now in Houston at the Harris County Institute of Forensic Sciences, where an autopsy will be performed to confirm the identity and manner of death. # hounews https://t.co/xXJn4T8gY1
– Houston Police (@houstonpolice) June 3, 2021
Theresa Balboa , girlfriend of Dalton Olson , Samuel’s father, was arrested and is charged in connection with the child’s death, reported by the Houston Police Department.
Samuel Olson’s mom believes boy’s father should face charges in his death alongside girlfriend Theresa Balboa https://t.co/d2LORh 895 r
– ABC 13 Houston (@abc 13 houston) June 3, 2021
The do judicial documents of the process initiated against Theresa Balboa provide shocking details about the death of the child and his alleged disappearance.
Body found in motel room may be missing 6-year-old Samuel Olson https://t.co/H5v1RQGMrM pic.twitter.com/Z03 xooq 24OR
– WFLA NEWS (@WFLA) June 2, 2021
Samuel’s father, Dalton Olson, called the police on Thursday 27 May to report the disappearance of her son, a few days before the child’s sixth birthday.
Dalton said that Balboa had been taking care of Samuel since 30 April. That has also been confirmed as the last day Samuel was at school.
Balboa claimed that around 7: 30 am on 27 May, Samuel’s mother, Sarah Olson , came to the house with another man and took the child without permission. Sarah, however, provided authorities with surveillance video from her home to show that she could not have taken the child.
As authorities and Texas EquuSearch volunteers combed a field for signs of Samuel on Monday, authorities now they believe the child had already been dead for weeks.
Theresa Balboa’s roommate told police it was around the 10 of May when Balboa called him to tell him that Samuel was dead. Said he arrived at the apartment on the 15600 block of Gulf Freeway and found Samuel bruised and unconscious in bed.
He also told the police that he and Theresa Balboa put the boy’s body in the bathtub and left it there for two days and that the 13 bought duct tape and a plastic box at a Walmart, and that he and Balboa wrapped the child’s body, they placed it in the box and took it to a storage unit on Highway 3 in Webster.
During the search for the boy Samuel on Monday, Theresa Balboa called a friend and said she needed help because she had been in a fight. The man picked her up in Cleveland, Texas, at a Walmart parking lot. They drove to the storage unit in Webster, picked up a smelly storage container and drove to the Best Western in Jasper, according to court documents.
After an information call from Crime Stoppers, Jasper police entered the hotel room and found the body they think is Samuel in a plastic box.
Houston police showed up at the motel room and testified in court documents that they found Theresa Balboa in the bathroom. She told them that the boy was in a box.
The detective noticed that he had to pry open the lid that was fastened with cable ties and found the odor associated with a decomposing body.
Theresa Balboa has been accused of tampering with evidence, in particular, of a human corpse. She is currently waiting to be brought back to Houston from the Jasper County Jail.
So far, Theresa Balboa is the only person who has been arrested and charged in the case of the child’s death Samuel Olson .
On Thursday afternoon, the child’s body Samuel Olson was returned to Harris County for an autopsy.