Police discovered the skeletal remains of a nine-year old’s body Sunday inside a Houston apartment that investigators believe could have been there for nearly a year, according to officials with the Harris County Sheriff’s Department.
Sheriff’s deputies discovered the human remains along with three supposedly abandoned children Sunday afternoon. The homicide sergeant said the young boys were 15, 10, and seven, with the eldest reportedly caring for the others. Deputies said the children looked malnourished and transported them to a local hospital for care.
Authorities said they dispatched officers after receiving a call from a 15-year-old boy Sunday afternoon after 3 p.m. The boy, a sergeant said, alerted them that his nine-year-old brother was dead in the adjacent room. Officials said the boy who called admitted he hadn’t seen his parents in months.
“A 15-year old child called the Harris County Sheriff's Office and advised that his nine-year old brother has been dead for a year, and his body is in the room next to his,” the department said in a statement. “The fifteen-year old stated his parents have not lived in the apartment with he and his two siblings for several months.”
Dispatched deputies confirmed what the boy said, finding their sibling's decayed body, and tracked the mother and her boyfriend, revealing homicide investigators were questioning them.
The department said the deceased 9-year old’s body had not been hidden or covered and was out in the open, ABC 13 reported.
“[We are] connecting all the dots at this point, it appears [the children] were in there while the [9-year old’s] body was deteriorating,” Sheriff Ed Gonzalez disclosed, according to channel 13.
It’s not clear whether the children had been attending school, KRTK said.
The sheriff's department said the county's Institute of Forensic Sciences – the Medical Examiner Service and the Crime Laboratory Service – was working to determine the child's cause of death.
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