Samuel Olson: Who is Alex Rizo? Theresa Balboa's ex says she tried to use him to flee
HOUSTON, TEXAS: Theresa Balboa, who has been arrested in the disappearance and subsequent death of six-year-old Samuel Olson, had allegedly gotten in touch with her ex-boyfriend after the boy’s believed death. Reportedly, Balboa made contact with him on either May 23 or 24.
While Samuel's father, Dalton Olson, called the police on Thursday, May 27, to report his son missing, the boy had, as per reports, possibly died weeks before. Benjamin Rivera, a roommate of Balboa, told police she called him on May 10 to inform him of Samuel’s death. When Rivera returned to their apartment, he allegedly found the boy, bruised and unresponsive, on the bed. He told police that he and Balboa left the boy in the bathtub for two days.
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Theresa Balboa was moving Samuel Olson's body to another state before motel arrest
Before she was arrested, Balboa had allegedly planned to travel to Louisiana with the child’s body. But her plan was foiled when authorities found her and the body inside a Jasper, Texas, hotel room. She's charged with tampering with evidence in connection with Samuel's death. More charges could be filed after the Harris County Medical Examiner determines how the boy died.
Who is Alex Rizo?
Balboa’s ex-boyfriend, speaking with reporters, said that she had been incommunicado for some time and when she finally contacted him, he was not receptive. "She just called me out of nowhere and said, 'Is the offer to come up there still open?' I told her, 'No,' and that was it, and she stopped replying," he said.
"From what I've heard on the case, she had already done what she did and she had that little boy, where she had him and was trying to use me to run away from it," Rizo said.
After Rizo denied Balboa's request to visit, she allegedly sought the help of a male friend in San Jacinto County who helped her get to Jasper with the boy's body. She met the man on Tuesday, June 1, at a Walmart parking lot in Cleveland, Texas, where he picked her up along with a black plastic box capped with a yellow lid.
Rizo said that he and Balboa were together for more than ten years and that she is the mother of his two children. He said they broke up four years ago and claimed that the break-up was not amicable. In 2019, Balboa lost custody of their children. As per court records, Balboa did not show up to court during the custody hearing. Their two daughters, eight and six years old, are now being raised by their grandmother, Rizo's mother.
Rizo said that he moved to North Dakota and then to Oklahoma for work. Two months ago, he reached out to see if she needed help. He said she did not respond. "It's weird. It's confusing, as the mother of my children," said Rizo. "I know she's had problems. She's had her issues. I know she's had a difficult life. I would have never thought something of this magnitude would ever happen."
"All I've thought about since I've heard about it is my children and that poor little boy," said Rizo. "To be dragged around in a bag and box as a freaking trophy, that kills me for that little boy. That kills me for that mother. That kills me for that father if he had nothing to do with it. That kills me as a dad."
"If she's convicted of killing that child I hope she gets the worst thing that could possibly happen to her as a child. The Theresa I knew, at one time, was a good person. Whatever she is now, that's not the Theresa I was in love with," Rizo said. "I don't know what happened, what flipped in her mind."