Kendrick Lee: Texas boy whose body was found in home was 'beaten to death' by Brian Coulter in 2020
Warning: Distressing Content
HOUSTON, TEXAS: New details have emerged about the chilling death of an eight-year-old boy, whose remains were discovered with his abandoned siblings in the family's apartment.
Court records revealed on Wednesday, October 27, how the children's mother and her boyfriend were held on bond as a devasted grandmother of one of the kids expressed regret for not having adopted her neglected seven-year-old grandson.
Authorities found the skeletal remains of Kendrick Lee on Sunday, October 24, after his older brother Jordan Lee, 15, called police to report how he and two surviving siblings had been living in horrific conditions for nearly a year without adult supervision. Gloria Williams, 35, the children's mother, has been charged with neglect, while her boyfriend Brian Coulter, 31, is charged in the beating death of young Kendrick.
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As reported by KTRK-TV, Harris County Sgt Dennis Wolfford shockingly revealed on Wednesday that Coulter pummeled the boy to death sometime between November 20 and 29 of 2020. His siblings were subsequently abandoned by the parents to live about 25 miles away. Trevon Lee, 10, and 7-year-old, Ja’Veon Kirklin -- Williams' two younger boys -- witnessed the murder of Kendrick and endured abuse themselves, court records revealed. The outlet reported how the mother told deputies she herself had witnessed part of the fatal assault, but failed to report it to law enforcement because her boyfriend had warned her not to and she feared going to jail and losing custody of her children.
ARRESTED: Gloria Williams, the mother of the 3 children left alone with their dead brother, and her boyfriend, Brian Coulter, are in custody. He is charged with felony murder. She was arrested related to the abandonment. More to come. #abc13 https://t.co/IHtG2SpPPG pic.twitter.com/inYuAegPoK
— Jessica Willey (@ImJessicaWilley) October 26, 2021
Meanwhile, Trevon and Ja’Veon reportedly told deputies they saw Coulter repeatedly kick and punch Kendrick until he stopped moving. He subsequently covered the victim with a blanket and Williams found her son dead under the cover a day after the alleged beating. She told the police that she tried to stop her boyfriend during the attack but failed to do so. Coulter later apologized and told her he had lost control and pummelled the kid “until he went to sleep.” The tragic youngster died of multiple multiple blunt-force injuries, an autopsy revealed Tuesday.
Officers found one of the two younger surviving siblings with a broken jaw, Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez said on Wednesday, adding that investigators believe it was Coulter who caused the injury weeks ago when she visited the apartment, which was "filthy, cockroach and fly-infested," per the New York Post.
A judge set bond for a mother and her boyfriend charged in a horrendous scene out in west Harris County, involving abandoned children and the discovery of another child’s skeletal remains.
— Mycah Hatfield (@MycahABC13) October 27, 2021
Bond was set for Brian Coulter, charged with the 8-year-old's boy's murder, at $1 million pic.twitter.com/C1Sg1XawIX
Wolfford said the three siblings were “special-needs children” who were left to fend for themselves, with at least two of the boys believed to be autistic. “Very sweet children. Very nice. Very well spoken . . . at the same time, that thousand-yard stare, that blankness in the eyes,” Wolfford said.
The surviving kids have now been placed in the custody of Child Protective Services. Speaking to The Post, one of the kids' grandmother Linda Smith, 71, said she held herself "partly responsible," She bemoaned, "I should have taken Ja’Veon and adopted him. I should have held on to him.