Girlfriend of missing Houston boy’s father caught on video with bin
The woman charged in the disappearance of a 6-year-old Houston boy, whose body was believed to have been found in a motel room, met a man at a Walmart with a foul-smelling plastic bin in tow — as it also emerged she lost custody of her two daughters in 2019, according to court documents.
Theresa Balboa, the 29-year-old girlfriend of Samuel Olson’s father, met the unidentified man Tuesday at a Walmart parking lot in Cleveland, Texas — where he picked her up along with a black plastic box capped with a yellow lid, court documents obtained by KHOU show.
The man helped Balboa haul the bin into the back of his pickup truck before the pair drove to a Best Western in Jasper, where they were caught on surveillance video arriving.
The man then carried the plastic bin into Room 106 before leaving, court documents reveal.
But the same man called authorities later Tuesday with an anonymous tip about Balboa’s whereabouts and a foul-smelling bin, the documents state, according to KHOU.
Jasper police then swarmed the motel and found Balboa in the room with the bin.
A child’s body was found inside, preliminarily believed to be Samuel, wrapped in black plastic bags secured with duct tape, KTRK reported. The bin had reportedly been fastened shut with zip ties.
Samuel was reported missing on May 27 and would’ve turned 6 on Saturday.
The chilling new details emerged as it was also revealed that Balboa had lost custody of her own children in 2019, court documents obtained by KPRC show.
The woman reportedly skipped court on the day a judge was to decide who was going to have custody of her two daughters.
The girls’ father also missed the hearing, leading a relative to ultimately get custody of the girls, who are now 6 and 8 years old, according to the report.
“I know she wasn’t taking good care of them,” the girls’ guardian told KPRC Wednesday. “She wasn’t born to be a mom. I tried to help her for many years.”
Meanwhile, Balboa reportedly helped in the search for Samuel just one day before the gruesome find some 135 miles away from his Houston home.
She has been charged with tampering with evidence in the ongoing investigation and may face additional charges, Houston police said Wednesday.
A medical examiner will confirm the dead child’s identity, but authorities suspect the remain belong to the young boy.
Charges against Balboa could be upgraded as soon as Thursday as she waits to be brought back to Houston from the Jasper County Jail, KTRK reported.
The boy’s father has since spoken out, saying he can’t understand why his girlfriend was allegedly involved in his son’s disappearance.
“I can barely breathe,” Dalton Olson told KPRC Wednesday. “Why? He loved you so much … I do not understand what happened. Why did you, why did you do this?”
The boy’s mother, Sarah Olson, also spoke about the case Wednesday through her attorney, the Houston Chronicle reported.
Attorney Marco Gonzalez said his client had not seen Samuel since May 2020 due to the pandemic and trouble locating him.
“All I want is justice for Samuel, my baby,” Olson said, according to Gonzalez. “I do not want people to forget Samuel’s name … I just want to see my baby, please, everyone needs to know I haven’t seen my baby.”
Balboa told cops on May 27 that Samuel’s mother and another person she believed to be a police officer took Samuel from her. She claimed she complied because she thought the person was a police officer, but cops said Wednesday that wasn’t the case.
Dalton Olson later contacted the boy’s mother and learned he was not with her, Houston Assistant Police Chief Heather Morris told reporters at a press conference Wednesday.
