Texas couple drowns baby son's corpse in bucket of tar, asks friend if they can tell police 'your baby is ours'
COLLIN COUNTY, TEXAS: Authorities have revealed that a couple is facing felony charges after their newborn son was found dead in a five-gallon bucket of tar. Collin County Sheriff’s deputies apprehended Roland Grabowski, 42, and Donna Grabowski, 41, of Princeton, after responding to their home regarding reports of the possible death of an infant, the New York Post reported.
The couple reportedly refused to cooperate with the authorities and were subsequently arrested on child endangerment charges. During interrogation, they told detectives they found Micah, their baby boy, dead in their bed on the morning of July 29. Sheriff Jim Skinner told WFAA how investigators were able to obtain a search warrant to scour the Grabowskis' residence and found the one-week-old infant "submerged in a five-gallon bucket of tar in a shed behind the home," per the report.
According to arrest warrants obtained by WFAA, the couple told several lies during interrogation. They even claimed that the boy was staying with a friend at the time. “There was an attempt to deceive us as to what had happened and the whereabouts of their child Micah,” Skinner said. "It's tragic and it's sad enough every time we have the death of an infant but its absolutely reprehensible when you lie and you deceive investigators as to the location of the body." What's more? Warrants show the horror duo reportedly texted a friend asking if they could “say your baby is ours". “Quick in and out,” they wrote, according to police. “They just need to see.”
The mother reportedly told authorities Micah was born at a hospital in McKinney, but they later found it had no record of the child's birth. It also emerged that the couple had told friends their son had died of sudden infant death syndrome. “They took the child and wrapped him in a blanket and submerged him in a five-gallon bucket of tar and put him in a shed behind the residence,” Skinner told WFAA.
Meanwhile, the authorities are now awaiting autopsy results to determine the boy's cause of death. “I’ve been in this business over 30 years and I’ve seen a lot of crazy things, but this is the first time I’ve found a dead infant in a bucket of tar... and hopefully the last,” Skinner added.
Roland Grabowski has been charged with "child endangerment, abuse of a corpse, and tampering with evidence with an intent to impair a human corpse," while Donna Grabowski is facing the same charges and an additional count of tampering with physical evidence. Sheriff officials said they are expecting more felony charges against them in the boy's death.
Roland Grabowski is also listed on the Texas Sex Offenders registry after his 2008 conviction on charges of sexual assault of a child and aggravated sexual assault of a child, according to Dallas News. The registry lists his victims at 12 and 14 years old and the offenses reportedly took place in September 1995 and October 1996. Grabowski was sentenced to two years in prison and released in May 2009. However, he was arrested again in June the following year after failing to register as a sex offender. He later registered at an address in Garland, but police eventually found it was vacant. For these offenses, he was sentenced to five years in prison in 2011.
Grabowski is reportedly considered a high-risk offender and must register as a sex offender for life.