A woman is being accused of tampering with evidence after the body of her boyfriend’s 6-year-old son was found in a motel room. Per court records, she allegedly made up a story about handing over him to his biological mother before leaving town. “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.” Explaining her actions, she noted that the young boy’s parents were in a custody battle and when his mother showed up, she simply handed him over to her.
That being said, the HPD Assistant Chief of Criminal Investigations Command, Heather Morris found evidence that revealed otherwise. On the morning of May 27, when Balboa claims to have sent the boy with his mother, the biological mom was at her own home. On further investigation, officers determined that Samuel may have been missing weeks before it was reported. Balboa reported Samuel missing on May 27 but when investigators reached out to Cy-Fair ISD’s Holbrook Elementary School, they learned that the child hadn’t been seen since April 30. On Monday, Balboa revealed that she last saw Sam on Thursday morning in the 8800 block of McAvoy Drive in southwest Houston while he was visiting at his paternal grandmother’s house.
Next, she was seen partaking in the search for the 5-year-old boy in the Webster area. Following this, she drove off to Cleveland, Texas, to meet a male friend. According to the details obtained by Eyewitness News from court records, the two drove back to Webster and arrived at a storage unit. There they picked up a black and yellow plastic container which gave off a foul odor. Balboa was then driven back to a Best Western motel, nearly two hours northeast of Houston, by the male friend who also unloaded the truck and left her there with the container.
The following day, Balboa’s friend called the police and reported her location to them. This information led to the discovery of the child’s body on Tuesday night. When officers arrived at the scene, they located the container in the room and crime scene investigators later took pictures of it. On taking a look inside, officers found a child’s body wrapped in black plastic bags which was secured with duct tape. They suspect that it is Samuel’s body. Balboa was taken into custody on charges of tampering with evidence and is currently in the Jasper County Jail, according to Heather Morris.
The child’s mother, Sarah Olson, was understandably left devasted by the news of Samuel’s death. On Wednesday, her attorney Marco Gonzalez told the media, “She feels that if Samuel is deceased … [and] that this is her child after the identification process, she feels 100% of the blame is on both Dalton [Samuel’s father] and Theresa.”
Meanwhile, Houston Police Chief Troy Finner shared his sympathies on Twitter for the family’s devastating loss. “I ask the entire Houston community to join HPD in sending prayers for Samuel and his family,” read his tweet in part. While the police department believes that the deceased body is of Samuel, medical examiners are yet to establish that it is indeed the missing boy.