Here are things to know for Monday, March 14:
1. ‘I think mommy is dead’: Mother, father of 4 abandoned children discovered in Spring charged, sheriff says
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The parents of four children have been charged after Harris County sheriff’s deputies said three of them were found standing in a roadway Thursday night during a welfare check in Spring.
The kids were initially discovered by a man and his girlfriend, and her sister, around 10 p.m. in the 4000 block of Cypress Hill Drive. Lizette Lingle, 17, said they were walking back from a store when they saw the children.
“We were coming back home from the Valero down the street and we just see them,” she said. “They were in the driveway just running around in the street.”
According to Sheriff Ed Gonzalez, the children were left alone for up to two days.
“One of those kids could have got hit, said Jonathan Ubeda, who was among the group that spotted the children. “One of them only had pants on, no shirt, and it’s freezing. One of them was completely naked.”
2. Investigation underway after man’s skeletal remains found in Chambers County, sheriff says
An investigation is underway after possible human remains were found in an area in south Anahuac, according to Chambers County Sheriff Brian Hawthorne.
The discovery was made after deputies were dispatched to the area to a reference call about human remains being found.
Investigators believe the remains may be human due to trauma screws located in a lower extremity bone.
Detectives with the criminal investigations division assisted crime scene technicians to investigate the site where the remains were located in an effort to find additional remains or possible evidence, according to the sheriff’s office.
3. Houston gas station claims thieves stole over 1,000 gallons of diesel fuel from underground storage tanks
A family-owned gas station in southwest Houston claims thousands of dollars’ worth of diesel fuel was stolen from their underground storage tanks by alleged thieves.
Jerry Thayil, the manager at the Fuqua Express gas station, said he first noticed something was wrong while doing his daily inventory checks and began reviewing surveillance video.
Thayil said he noticed a dark-colored van parking over the store’s storage tanks on multiple occasions.
“At first we were like, I wonder what he’s doing there because we didn’t see anyone get out of the vehicle but then we realized there’s probably a trap door inside the vehicle and he’s pumping like that,” Thayil said.
4. No. 18 Houston defeats Memphis 71-53 to win conference championship, automatic NCAA berth
Fabian White Jr. scored 20 points, fellow big man Josh Carlton had 18 and 18th-ranked Houston beat Memphis 71-53 in the American Athletic Conference championship game Sunday.
A day after White played less than three minutes in the Cougars’ semifinal win because of back tightness, the first-team All-AAC forward helped the top-seeded Cougars (29-5) earn the AAC’s automatic bid for the NCAA Tournament for the second year in a row.
Memphis (21-10) didn’t have to wait long to find out it had made the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2014. The Tigers, who have won 12 of their last 14 games and beat Houston by double figures in both of their regular-season games, are the No. 9 seed in the West Region and will play Boise State.
Tigers center Jalen Duren, a 6-foot-11 freshman who was a first-team All-AAC pick, had 14 points and 10 rebounds. DeAndre Williams had 10 points.
5. Houston’s first daughter says ‘I do’
Ashley Turner, daughter of Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner, is officially a married woman.
The social media influencer and popular “first daughter” of H-Town married the love of her life, Jimmie Captain, at a beautiful ceremony on Saturday.
“Yesterday was an unforgettable day as I was truly blessed to see pure happiness and joy as Ashley and Jimmie were married in front of family and friends,” Mayor Turner tweeted. “Our family gained a remarkable son and I look forward to seeing their marriage grow through God’s protection and guidance.”