Bond raised for mom accused of abandoning 3 sons with brothers skeletal remains as new details come out
HOUSTON - Bond has now been increased to more than $1.5-million for the mother who investigators say abandoned her three sons, leaving them living in an apartment with their deceased brother.
It also came out in court that Gloria Williams and her boyfriend Brian Coulter were able to rent that second apartment for themselves, according to the prosecutor, thanks to government assistance she allegedly continued receiving for 8-year-old Kendrick Lee even after he was killed.
"It’s hard to deal with," explains the founder of Parents Against Predators Sonia Parker who was in the courtroom for Williams’ bond hearing. "Kendrick is not my child. He’s not my grandchild but every day I get up and I think about him and it’s hurtful. It’s hard seeing her. It’s hard hearing all the information that’s coming out about the case."
"She doesn’t deserve a bond," Parker added. She doesn’t deserve food, clothes - nothing because her kids had nothing. She doesn’t deserve anything. She deserves to rot in jail."
And that’s where Williams remains, in jail. Her bond has now been increased from $900,000 to $1,550,000.
"The judge did take into consideration all of the factors and took a special focus on community safety because this is such an egregious case," says Prosecutor Andrea Beall.
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Willams is charged with Injury to a Child by Omission and Tampering with a Corpse for the death of her son Kendrick Lee.
Investigators say Williams’ boyfriend Brian Coulter beat the 8 year old to death and they say Williams not only knew it but lived with her son’s rotting corpse for months before leaving her three sons living alone with their brother’s skeletal remains.
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"I don’t want her to be painted in the same light as the co-defendant but she is the mother and I’m not going to be able at least right now to paint any other picture than what’s going to be perceived by the public just from the basic facts of the case," says Williams’ court-appointed attorney Neal Davis III.
Williams is also charged with Serious Bodily Injury to a Child after detectives say Coulter beat Williams' 10-year-old son, leaving him with an untreated wound in his jaw that became so infected he had to have reconstructive surgery after the three brothers ages 15, 10 and 7 were rescued last month.
Prosecutor Andrea Beall says Williams was receiving $2,000 a month for three of her children who are disabled, including little Kendrick.
Beall says Williams used that money to pay for the apartment she and Coulter lived in which had food and furniture, while the apartment Williams’ sons was left in had neither.
So was Williams also being abused?
"At this point, I can’t comment about that," says Williams' attorney who has held that title for just five days. He says he too is seeking answers. "I have an investigator who’s going to find out more and we’re going to reach out to the family," he says. "We’re going to reach out to everybody we can. I think there’s more to this case than what meets the eye."
Coulter, who is being held on a $1-million bond is charged with Capital Murder as prosecutors also continue investigating.
"We will then present the case to the Capital Review Committee in order to see what we’re doing with the two cases since the male has been charged with Capital Murder," says Beall. "From there we take it to the grand jury so they can determine whether to indict the cases."
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Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg hasn’t yet announced if her office will seek the death penalty.