Who is Theresa Balboa? Girlfriend of Samuel Olson's dad says 6-year-old's mom took him as cops find boy's body
HOUSTON, TEXAS: Police found the body of a boy in a motel room in Jasper, 130 miles northeast of Houston on Tuesday, June 1. The body is believed to be that of six-year-old Samuel Olson, who was reported missing from his Houston home on May 27. Reports say that one possible suspect is in custody and will be interviewed by Houston police homicide investigators.
While Samuel was reported missing last week, Houston police Assistant Chief Larry Satterwhite said that the last confirmed sighting of him was on April 30 at Holbrook Elementary School. "All we have are reports. The last time we know, for a fact, he was in school and that was April 30," Satterwhite told reporters. He said that it was possible that the child has been missing since then.
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Who is Theresa Balboa?
Theresa Balboa, the girlfriend of Samuel Olson's father Dalton Olson, is reportedly being questioned now. On Monday, May 31, Balboa said that she last saw the child on Thursday morning, May 27, in the 8800 block of McAvoy Drive in southwest Houston. "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 said.
Balboa claimed the person with Samuel's mother Sarah Olson was decked in full police uniform, with a gun, handcuffs, and a Harris County badge. Balboa claimed that she handed the young boy to the mother because the parents are in a custody battle. However, Satterwhite said investigators have not been able to verify that.
Samuel's mother has reportedly told cops she doesn't know where the missing child was, while his dad Dalton Oltson claims to have "literally tried to do everything from the very beginning to do what's best for my son. That is my whole world and I can't imagine if anything happened to him and I believe he's still out there.”
Attorney Marco González, speaking on the behalf of Sarah Olson, said his client had primary custody and was denied for many months from getting the child. He said Sarah Olson hasn’t had access to Samuel Olson since the last time she saw him in January 2020. González said she wanted them to speak so she could have a voice in the case.
He also said the story Balboa told investigators and the media was a lie and added that Sarah Olson hadn’t seen her child in nearly a year — that she hadn’t been able to get in touch with Dalton or the grandmother, so she hasn’t had much communication with Samuel.
González said the father took Samuel and failed to return him. He said Samuel went two months without going to school before being taken to another school in Jersey Village. When Sarah and Dalton divorced, the custody agreement allegedly placed the child with the mother, which has not been modified since 2019, according to González. He said Sarah would initially exchange the child through the paternal grandmother, Tonya Olson.
He also said his client has been in cooperation with investigators but does not feel comfortable talking to the media. González said Balboa’s accusations implicating that she had something to do with her son’s disappearance is false, saying that there are “too many holes in that story.”
A spokesperson for the Department of Family and Protective Services would not confirm who had custody of the boy, but acknowledged it is working with investigators. “We don’t have details to share because investigations are confidential by law, but Child Protective investigators are working alongside law enforcement to try and locate Samuel,” said Melissa Lanford, a public relations officer for DFPS.