Deputies find 3-week-old baby submerged in bucket of tar; Texas couple arrested
08/13/2020 2:18 pm PDT
via WFAA:
COLLIN COUNTY, Texas (WFAA) -- The Collin County Sheriff's Department arrested Roland and Donna Grabowski late Saturday following an investigation into the disappearance of their 3-week-old child.
The Dallas Morning News reports sheriff's deputies were called Saturday morning to the couple's home in the 9100 block of Highridge Road in Princeton about the possibility of an unreported death of an infant.
According to arrest warrants, the Grabowskis told "numerous lies" to detectives.
MyTexasDaily.com reports that according to investigators, 42-year-old Roland Grabowski and 41-year-old Donna Grabowski were unable to show their child and declined to cooperate with the investigation. Investigators then obtained a search warrant for the residence.
"They took the child and wrapped him in a blanket and submerged him into a five gallon bucket of tar and put him in a shed behind the residence," Sheriff Jim Skinner confirmed to WFAA.
The sheriff's office said Roland Grabowski told deputies the child had died days earlier of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) on or around July 29, 2020.
WFAA reports the boy's body was turned over to the Collin County Medical Examiner to determine the official cause of death.
The Princeton couple faces multiple felonies including tampering with or fabricating physical evidence with intent to impair human corpse, abusing a corpse without legal authority, and abandoning or endangering a child.
The Dallas Morning News reports Roland Grabowski is listed in the Texas registry of sex offenders. He was convicted in 2008 of sexual assault of a child and aggravated sexual assault of a child. The victims' ages in those cases were 12 and 14, according to the registry.
Authorities said additional felony charges are expected to be filed in the case.
MORE: