Here are things to know for Thursday, Oct. 28:
1. ‘Too horrific to be real’: Court docs say 2 kids saw brother’s beating death -- just one disturbing revelation uncovered in west Harris County abandonment case
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Two boys described in gruesome detail how their brother was beaten to death, just days after authorities found the boy’s skeletal remains in an apartment in West Harris County.
According to court documents read aloud during a probable cause hearing, Brian Coulter, the boyfriend of the children’s mother, fatally beat the boy to death in front of his siblings. The boys said Coulter struck the eight-year-old in the face, feet, buttocks, back, legs and groin and that Coulter continued to kick and hit the boy after he had stopped moving.
The seven-year-old said that he stared at his older brother’s face while Coulter was kicking and hitting him and at some point during the beating, his brother stopped blinking.
Once he had killed the boy, Coulter laid out his body on the floor and covered him, according to the court documents. When the children’s mother Gloria Williams, came into the room, she saw the body on the floor, began crying and made the children leave while she fought with Coulter.
2. Family members said they had no idea children were living in apartment with their brother’s decaying body
The family of the woman accused of abandoning her three children and leaving another child dead in an apartment for nearly a year, is now speaking out.
“I have seen the news article about the kids. You know, when you see things like that, you think like ‘wow,’ you know. But I never thought it was her,” said Christie Smith, a cousin of the mother.
The mother of the children, 35-year-old Gloria Williams, has been charged with injury to a child and tampering with evidence. Williams’ 31-year-old boyfriend Brian Coulter is facing a murder charge for the death of the 8-year-old boy whose body was found inside the abandoned apartment.
Harris County deputies said the 8-year-old boy was beaten and his corpse was left to decompose for 11 months inside the apartment.
3. Ex-gymnastics coach sentenced to 35 years in prison after grooming, sexually assaulting child in Montgomery County
A former gymnastics coach was sentenced to 35 years in prison after he pleaded guilty to three counts of sexual assault of a child, authorities announced Wednesday.
Neptali Narvaez-Rojas, 57, agreed to serve three sentences of 20, 10, and 5 years consecutively, the Montgomery County District Attorney’s Office said in a news release. The charges and plea stem from abuse on one victim in Montgomery County.
Due to the nature of the charges and the plea, Narvaez-Rojas will be required to serve a minimum of 17 and a half years before he is eligible for parole.
The punishment range for sexual assault of a child is two to 20 years in prison.
4. Nearly 50,000 customers without power due to thunderstorms across Houston area, CenterPoint says
CenterPoint is reporting a total of 49,065 are without power Wednesday due to thunderstorms across the Houston area.
To keep up with outages in your area, go to www.centerpointenergy.com.
In addition to thunderstorms, a tornado warning has been issued for parts of southeast Texas as a part of the advancing cold front moving through this morning. A tornado warning is in place closer to the Texas Louisiana border.
5. SERIES TIED: Astros bounce back, dominate Braves in Game 2
The Houston Astros bounced back emphatically on Wednesday, tying the series 1-1 with a dominant 7-2 win over the Atlanta Braves.
Both teams scored in the opening frame, but it was the Astros who maintained that early intensity. In the second inning, the Astros exploded for four runs, and most of it was spurred by the bottom of the order. With the game tied 1-1, Jose Siri’s infield hit scored Kyle Tucker, giving the Astros a 2-1 lead. That was followed by a single by Martin Maldonado, whose hit scored Yuli Gurriel and then Siri, who made it home off a throwing error by Eddie Rosario. Michael Brantley tacked on another RBI before the inning was over for a 5-1 Astros advantage.