Texas Mother Sentenced to 50 Years After Children Found Living with Brother’s Decomposing Body

Houston, TX — Gloria Yvette Williams, a 38-year-old mother from Texas, was sentenced to 50 years in prison for abandoning her three sons in an apartment with their deceased brother’s body. Kendrick Lee, her 8-year-old son, had allegedly been beaten to death in 2020 by her boyfriend, Brian Ward Coulter. Williams left Kendrick’s body with her surviving children, who lived in horrifying conditions for nearly a year before authorities were alerted.

The chilling case came to light in October 2021 when the eldest child, then 15, called 911, describing the decomposing body of his younger brother and detailing how he and his siblings, ages 7 and 10, had been abandoned in the apartment. Investigators found the apartment in squalor, infested with insects and filled with a “distinct smell,” according to law enforcement officials. The children testified that they lived without basic necessities like beds or reliable food supplies and that Coulter would regularly return to physically assault them, even after Kendrick’s death  .

Prosecutors described how Kendrick suffered fatal injuries from blunt-force trauma, with Coulter repeatedly punching and kicking him. Williams later testified that she feared her boyfriend’s violence and refrained from contacting authorities, fearing the loss of custody over her remaining children. Despite Kendrick’s death, Williams and Coulter reportedly visited the apartment sporadically, leaving limited food and offering no medical care for the other children.

In addition to Coulter’s life sentence for murder, Williams faced charges of serious bodily injury by omission. At sentencing, Assistant District Attorney Celeste Byrom expressed deep dismay over the tragedy: “The death of Kendrick Lee was so tragic… we felt like we had a duty to be his voice.” Public outcry over the case has been profound, with many calling Williams’s sentence insufficient given the severity of the neglect and abuse involved.

Williams will serve her sentence in the Texas prison system, with parole eligibility possible after half her term.