A Texas man will spend the rest of his life in prison for murdering his girlfriend’s son and leaving his decomposing body in an apartment that his three brothers were forced to live in by themselves.
Brian Coulter, 34, was found guilty of capital murder Monday in the death of 8-year-old Kendrick Lee.
Prosecutors narrowed down the date of Kendrick’s death to sometime between October and November 2020. His skeletal remains weren’t found until October 2021.
Coulter opted for a bench trial without a jury that lasted four days as arguments played out between defense attorneys and prosecutors, but it only took a judge 20 minutes to deliberate his fate.
Coulter will serve a life sentence in prison with no possibility of parole.
“Those children have haunted me this past week — they have interrupted my safe space when I leave this building,” Judge Kelli Johnson said. “In prison, I hope those boys who have haunted my mind, haunt yours.”
Kendrick’s brothers, now ages 17, 12, and 10 testified on the extent of Coulter’s abuse.
Two brothers described how Coulter would often lock them in a bedroom where they were forced to use the bathroom. They also recalled instances where Coulter would hit, punch, and kick Kendrick in the months leading up to his death.
The prosecutors characterized Coulter as a spiteful, jealous, and angry boyfriend who increasingly competed with the children for their mother’s attention.
The 10-year-old brother testified that he was in the room when Coulter beat his brother to death.
“I saw (Coulter) beat (Kendrick) up. (Coulter) used his fists,” the boy said, adding that he saw Kendrick stop moving and blinking at some point during the beating before Coulter “put the blue blanket on top (of him).”
Kendrick’s oldest brother was the one to call 911 about the body. At that point, the boys had been living in the apartment with Kendrick’s decaying body for a whole year. He told dispatchers how his brother had “been dead for a while” and that he and his younger brothers were at the apartment alone.
Deputies found the remains with fractured ribs and pelvis under a blue blanket on Oct. 24, 2021. Investigators described the scene inside the apartment as horrific. One said the home was filled with roaches and a distinct smell.
“The apartment was in a horrible condition. We saw soiled carpet, no furniture at all. No bedding, no blankets that we could see. We saw roaches and flies and very bad conditions for anyone to live in,” Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez said when Kendrick’s body was found.
Coulter and Kendrick’s mother, Gloria Williams, were arrested at a local library two days after authorities found Kendrick’s body. They were found searching for news articles about the case. Williams was charged with injury to a child and tampering with a corpse.
She and Coulter moved out of the apartment about five months after Kendrick’s death and abandoned the other boys to live there in squalor, without electricity or beds to sleep on.
The boys testified they would return every few weeks to drop off food. Coulter would beat the younger boys during those visits. When investigators were finally called to the home, they said one of the boys had a swollen jaw and was beaten so severely he needed surgery.
Williams and Coulter traded texts about Kendrick’s body right after he died. Williams messaged Coulter saying he had feces on him and “looked dead,” to which Coulter responded that “it was in God’s hands” and “not to worry.”
A search warrant revealed Williams knew Kendrick had died but she didn’t want to call police to avoid being jailed and losing custody of her sons.
Her trial starts Friday.
