HOUSTON – In her first court appearance Monday, a judge increased the bond of a woman charged after a child’s body was found in a motel room.
Police believe the body that was found is that of missing 5-year-old Samuel Olson.
Balboa, the girlfriend of Samuel’s father, was charged with tampering with evidence - human corpse, according to documents. On Friday, she was transferred from Jasper County Jail to Harris County Jail where she will be held during the investigation. Her bond was set at $500,000.
Documents show her bond conditions, if not altered by the court, would include no contact with any minor child and a maintained distanced from them of 1,000 feet, surrendering travel documents and any weapons, refraining from consuming any alcohol or controlled substances, and house arrest, among other named conditions.
On Monday, Balboa was seen walking into court dressed in an orange jumpsuit. Prosecutors said they expect to file additional charges later Monday when preliminary autopsy comes back from the medical examiner’s office. In court, prosecutors asked to give Balboa a new bond in the case by raising it from $5,000 to $100,000 in addition to the $500,000 for the tampering with evidence charge.
WATCH: Balboa makes her first court appearance
According to court documents, Samuel was dead two weeks before his father reported him missing to law enforcement on May 27.
Authorities said the boy’s body was at an apartment that Balboa shared with a roommate in Webster for days before she allegedly took the body to a storage facility and later to a motel in Jasper. Samuel’s father denies any involvement in his son’s death.
Tim Miller of Texas EquuSearch told KPRC 2 sadly, we may never know what happened to Samuel and why he died.
Miller, who is no stranger to horrific and challenging cases, said he was skeptical when Balboa said Olson was taken by his mother and a man posing as an officer.
“The morning we start with search, I actually forced Theresa to do an interview (and) put out there what she knew,” he said.
However, what Balboa told investigators at the time, is not what court documents illustrate happened in the days before the child was reported missing.
RELATED: Tim Miller, founder of Texas EquuSearch, discusses the death of 5-year-old Samuel Olson
