A Texas mom admits she left her three children in a “horrible” house with the decomposing body of their dead brother

A Texas mother has pleaded guilty to charges related to the death of her eight-year-old son and leaving three other children in a dilapidated house with the decomposing body of her deceased brother.

Gloria Williams, 38, last week pleaded guilty to two counts of injury to a child in connection with the 2020 death of her autistic son Kendrick Lee.

She was accused of knowing her boyfriend Brian Coulter was beating her children and failing to intervene.

The mother of four was also accused of tampering with evidence when she kept his decomposing body under a blanket in the apartment with her three other sons, Click 2 Houston reported.

Her guilty plea comes just months after Coulter, 34, was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole in the boy’s death.

Prosecutors say Coulter punched and kicked Kendrick to death around Thanksgiving 2020, and Williams refused to report him to police, saying she feared her children would be taken away and she would go to prison.

Months later, in March 2021, Williams and Coulter moved out of the apartment but left Kendrick’s body under a blue blanket and Williams’ three surviving sons, then ages 7, 10 and 15, in a bedroom next to their brother’s body.

According to ABC 13, they had no beds to sleep in because there were cockroaches climbing everywhere.

Williams and Coulter then returned to the apartment every few weeks to drop off some food for the children, but later alleged that Coulter also beat them during these visits.

In September or October 2021, the apartment’s electricity was also cut off.

However, on October 24, 2021, Williams’ teenage son called 911 and reported that his brother had been dead in their apartment for over a year.

The police found the boys – all three were malnourished, and the 10-year-old had a swollen jaw.

The boys then told investigators how Coulter hit the eight-year-old with closed fists and kicked him in the face, feet, back, testicles and buttocks.

Williams’ 7-year-old son also told officers that Coulter continued to kick Kendrick, who was lying on the floor and not moving, staring at his younger brother, who was in the room.

When Kendrick’s eyes turned black and he stopped blinking, Coulter covered him with a blue blanket, the child told deputies.

When Williams then went into the bedroom to check on her son and saw he was dead, she began crying and arguing with Coulter, her 15-year-old son said.

He told investigators he believed his mother would call police about Coulter, but “she never did.” She then moved out of the apartment, leaving the surviving children with their brother’s rotting corpse and without adult supervision.

William’s 10-year-old son told investigators that when Williams later came to the apartment and removed the blanket from Kendrick, she found that “his body, feet and teeth had turned to a skeleton” and that “his hair was off.” It is said that his decaying corpse was covered with cockroaches.

The 10-year-old also alleged that Coulter also beat him, punching him in the face, stomach, buttocks and legs, and broke his jaw three weeks ago.

When police arrived at the apartment on Sunday, they found the child with a swollen jaw. At the hospital the next day, the boy said his mother “was aware of his injuries but did not seek or obtain medical help for him,” the prosecutor said.

Coulter and Williams were ultimately arrested two days later outside the library, where sources said they were looking for news articles about the case.

At the press conference announcing the charges against the couple, Lt. Dennis Wilford described Coulter as a “manipulator” but said Williams should still take the blame for his son’s death.

“I would say they are both perpetrators of violence,” he said. “He commits physical violence and she commits violence by omission.”

However, Coulter later pleaded not guilty to murder charges and faced a five-day trial in April.

During the week, the surviving boys repeated their testimony about what happened, and prosecutors released text messages sent between Coulter and Williams after the boy’s death.

In one of them, Williams told Coulter that Kendrick had feces on him and was not moving. According to ABC 13, she said her son “looked dead” and asked her boyfriend to clean up.

Other text messages show Coulter telling Williams that “it’s in God’s hands” and “don’t worry.”

Crime scene photos shown in court also showed the 10-year-old with a swollen jaw that required surgery.

Houston Judge Kelli Johnson said the case represented “the most terrifying set of facts I have ever had to witness, hear and imagine” in my career, sentencing Coulter in April to life in prison.

“I think about what his children went through,” she said before the sentencing, according to Click 2 Houston.

I think about all three of them and their injuries. I think about how you could look at each of them and punch them in the face. So much so that I finally had to undergo surgery.

“And I hope that they, all three of them that are left, will go on to live and lead very, very healthy and happy lives,” the judge said, noting that she was pleased that the boys appeared to be in the care of a loving family.

“You will leave this manor now, but you will not leave my thoughts,” she continued to tell Coulter.

– And I hope, sir, when you’re in prison, I hope that the same boys that haunted my mind will haunt you too.

Williams is now scheduled to face his own sentencing hearing on November 11.