Samuel Olson case: Theresa Balboa charged with capital murder; 2 others charged with tampering

HOUSTON (TCD) --

A Texas woman arrested with the body of a missing 5-year-old boy in a motel room on June 1 was charged with murder on July 8 and appeared in a Harris County courtroom Monday morning.

The Harris County District Attorney's Office has 90 days from Balboa’s June 1 arrest to take the case to a grand jury, WOAI-TV reports.

Samuel Olson, 5, was reported missing at about 6 p.m. on May 27. Houston Police officers interviewed the boy’s father, Dalton Olson, that night, and also interviewed Theresa Balboa, Dalton Olson’s girlfriend.

Balboa, 27, told officers the child’s mother and another man, dressed as a police officer, had picked up the boy around 7 a.m. that day. Houston Police investigators later said Samuel's mother was actually at her own home the morning of May 27, and said Balboa had been giving inconsistent statements.

On May 31, police searched Balboa’s apartment in Webster, a city within the Houston metropolitan area, and towed her car.

On June 1, Jasper Police investigated a Crime Stoppers tip at the Best Western Inn on West Gibson Street in Jasper, about 150 miles northeast of Houston, where they found Balboa. Then officers found a boy’s body in room 106.

Officers smelled "possible decomposing human remains,” according to Balboa’s probable cause affidavit. The officer found a tote bag with a yellow lid that was zip-tied. When he opened the lid, the officer "observed what appeared to be a child's body wrapped in a black plastic bag laying inside the tote."

After an autopsy was performed, Samuel Olson’s identity was confirmed, and his cause of death was ruled a homicide from blunt-force trauma.

Theresa Balboa was initially charged with tampering with evidence. On July 8, she was charged with capital murder. Balboa was held without bond in Harris County.

Olson was reportedly living with Balboa at the time of the child’s disappearance on May 27, though he had not been at school since April 30, KPRC-TV reports.

Balboa's friend and roommate Ben Rivera was also arrested and charged with tampering with evidence in the case.

Rivera reportedly told investigators Balboa called him on May 10 and said Olson wasn't breathing, according to a probable cause affidavit.

Rivera and Balboa allegedly placed Olson's body in a bathtub for two days, then into a plastic tote and plastic kept in a storage unit, until the body was finally found at the motel with Balboa.

Balboa and Rivera were recording on Walmart surveillance video buying duct tape and a plastic container, KPRC reports.

Ben Rivera appeared in court on June 24, and was later released on $100,000 bond but was ordered to held under house arrest, and was banned from the use of firearms, as well as being in contact or around children and family members of Balboa or Olson, according to KTRK.

Prosecutors said Rivera was cooperating with homicide investigators.

Another man, Dylan Walker, has also been charged with tampering with evidence, KPRC reports. Court documents say Walker drove Balboa to Jasper and rented the motel room.

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