Samuel Olson: Body of missing 6-year-old found in tote bag at Texas motel, dad's girlfriend questioned
HOUSTON, TEXAS: The dead body of a missing six-year-old Houston boy has been found in a Jasper motel on Tuesday, June 2. Houston Police Chief Troy Finner said in a statement that the department found a body which is believed to be that of six-year-old Samuel Olson, who was reported missing from southwest Houston last week.
Tonya Olson, the grandmother of Samuel, had issued a tearful appeal to the public begging for help in finding the boy earlier on the day his body was found.
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Samuel's body was found at the Best Western Inn in the 200 block of West Gibson Street shortly before 6.00 am on Tuesday evening, Kjas News reported. The family says that the boy turned six on Saturday, May 5. Jasper Police Chief Gerald Hall stated in a media interaction that the body was found in a tote bag, in a room on the west side of the motel complex. Hall added that looking at the condition of the body "it appears that the body had been there for some time."
On May 27, 2021, Samuel Olson, a resident of northwest Houston, was reported missing by family members, but police said there was conflicting information about the last time he was seen. He last attended school as far back as April 30, 2021. In an appeal, Samuel’s grandmother told the local media that she “saw and held Sam for the last time on May 2 while he and his cousins visited her house.” She said that she spoke with Samuel almost a week and a half ago. On Monday, May 31, Houston police searched the apartment rented by an acquaintance of Samuel’s father’s girlfriend in Gateway at Ellington in Houston. They had received information that this is where Samuel had been last seen. On Tuesday, June 1 night, Tonya told the media: “We’re all just really confused about everything that is going on at the moment.”
Samuel's father’s girlfriend Theresa Balboa reported seeing the child last on May 27, Thursday morning, in the 8800 block of McAvoy Drive in southwest Houston. She said: “I was going to take Sam to school when his mother showed up with the police officer, or who I was under the impression to be a police officer, and they demanded me to release Sam.” She also told the police that she handed Samuel to his mother. But police investigators have been unable to verify this information so far, and are working on the possibility that Samuel might have gone missing weeks ago.
Samuel's mother, Sarah Olson's attorney has said that she has not seen her son for almost a year now. Marco Gonzalez told KTRK-TV: “Our client has primary custody, but our client has been denied access for the child for many months. Our client has not had any access to young Samuel in many, many months.” Gonzalez also rejected the claim by Balboa that Sarah had taken him from her, saying “that is completely untrue”.