292: Kendrick Lee

In October 2021, police were dispatched to a home in the suburbs of Houston, Texas. They had received a call from a teenage boy who reported he and his two younger brothers had been abandoned by their mother. The officers expected to find children left to fend for themselves, but when they entered the apartment, the reality was far worse…

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YOUTUBE: https://youtube.com/morbidology

Audio Credit:
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Evening of Chaos - Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Empty Reflections - ErikMMusic - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bgq4SPKHlyI
A Mothers Sacrifice - OurMusicBox - https://ourmusicbox.com/
Dark Tranquility - Anno Domini Beats - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F6mBav72Ak

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Believe me. If I started murdering people, it'd be none
of your.

Speaker 2 (00:04):
Laugh True crime has always captivated us. But what if
there's more to these stories than what we're told, the headlines,
the verdicts, the familiar narratives. What if that's just the beginning.
I created a Truer Crime to dig deeper, to uncover
the stories that go beyond the surface. We're diving into mysteries.
You think you know, the Manson murders, Jonestown, the assassination

(00:28):
of doctor King, and the ones you've never heard.

Speaker 3 (00:31):
They would have thought he was the sweetest thing in
the world because he portrayed that.

Speaker 4 (00:37):
He portrayed the happy family. He haunts me. He's with
me every day. We were robbed, all of us. If
it takes me twenty years, then I can live that long.
I'll be working on this case.

Speaker 2 (00:49):
We're not just telling stories, We're uncovering hidden truth. Listen
to Truer Crime for free on Apple Podcasts.

Speaker 1 (01:34):
And sir, those children have haunted me this last week.
They have haunted my mind, and they have interrupted my
safe space when I leave this building.

Speaker 3 (01:56):
Houston, Texas is one of the largest cities in the
United States, known for its diverse population, booming industries, and
a vibrant cultural landscape. It was originally founded in eighteen
thirty six by land speculators, and the city was named
after Sam Houston, a military leader. Houston grew rapidly over

(02:17):
the decades, with its success largely rooted in oil discovery
in the early twentieth century, the establishment of the Texas
Medical Center and its designation is the home of NASAs
Johnson Space Center. However, beneath the glistening skyline in the
bustling city life, Houston's nine one one Dispatch Center often

(02:39):
bears witness to the darker sides of urban life. The
dispatch center is a lifeline to those in need, a
place where distressing calls come in at all ours, connecting
emergency responders with those experiencing some of their worst moments.
Calls to Houston's nine one one often involve high stake situations, accidents,

(03:02):
violent crimes, fires, and sometimes truly horrifying discoveries. One of
those horrifying discoveries came on the twenty fourth of October
twenty twenty one. A teenage boy had called nine one
one and directed officers to an apartment on Green Crest Drive.

(03:22):
What officers found inside that apartment would horrify the entire world.

(03:43):
The caller was a fifteen year old boy named Jordan,
and he asked police to come to an apartment at
five three five zero Green Crest Drive in Houston.

Speaker 1 (03:54):
Well, my weather is okay? Any much idea for a while? Sorry,
you're a partner right now? Oh yeah, right? What's your
brother's name?

Speaker 3 (04:12):
The name of Jordan said that his brother was dead,
and that he had been dead for some time. His
voice quivered with emotion as he said that his mother
and boyfriend had moved out. The operator could hear the
weight of loneliness in his words as he admitted, it's
just me and my two other brothers here. The nine

(04:33):
one one operator immediately dispatched officers to the scene, unsure
of what exactly they were responding to. It was broad
daylight when Sergeant Dennis Woolford and his team arrived outside
the unassuming building. The door opened to reveal Jordan standing
uncertainly in the threshold. Behind him were his two younger brothers, Trayvon,

(04:56):
just ten years old, and Javaon only seven years old.
Both boys looked frightened, but there was a flash of
relief in their wide eyes as they spotted the officers.
Deputy John Craig later described their reaction. They were happy
to see us, they wanted to talk, dolled on to
us as if we were our lifeline. But beneath it,

(05:18):
in their eyes you could still see the fear. Jordan
explained that his two younger brothers were autistic, vulnerable, but
very aware. As they stepped inside, the officers were hit
with the suffocating stench in the dim, stale air. Deputy
Corey Castro noted it was a very distinct smell. Sergeant

(05:43):
Wilford's flashlight cut through the murky darkness, illuminating a scene
of neglect and decay. Cockroaches scattered across the garbage strewn floor,
Their quick movements oblique mockery of life in a place
that was completely devoid of it. The boy's clothing was threadbare,
and their thin frames showed that they hadn't been eating.

(06:06):
They lived among empty bottles and bulk rammon packets, the
last remnants of survival in an apartment that had no power,
no furniture, no blankets, an only squalor for shelter. As
the officer surveyed the filthy walls, soiled carpets, and buzzing flies.
They realized that the horror of this home ran far

(06:26):
deeper than they'd first feared. After the three boys were
escorted outside and secured in the back of a patrol car,
Sergeant Wilfrid steered himself to re enter the grim apartment.
He knew there was something else, something darker, still waiting inside.

(06:49):
Jordan had said that one of his brothers was dead
in the apartment while on the phone to the operator.
His footsteps echoed as he moved through the empty rooms,
finally arriving at a door that stood out from the rest.
A heavy lock bolt had been installed where the doorknob
should have been, creating a prison like barrier from the inside.

(07:11):
If someone had been in that room, they would have
been trapped without any means of escape. Only somebody on
the outside could have unlocked the door. Taking a deep breath,
Sergeant Wilfrid slid the bolt open, and immediately the stench
hit him. It was thick and putrid, A concentrated rake
of rot and decay. Flies buzzed in the air, with

(07:35):
swarms trapped on sticky fly strips that dotted the walls
and ceiling. The floor was stained, smeared with sylph and
raked of urine and excrement. Amid the grim scene lay
a faded, tattered blue blanket crumpled on the floor, covering
something indistinct. As the sergeant lifted the corner of the blanket,

(07:57):
his flashlight revealed the nightmare. Beneath it was the skeletonized
body of a little boy, eight year old Kendrick Lee.

(08:17):
Detectives separated and spoke with each of the boys, trying
to piece together the horrifying story. They learned that their mother,
thirty five year old Gloria Williams, and her boyfriend thirty
one year old Brian Cold had abandoned them at the apartment,
moving to another apartment twenty minutes away. For months, the
three brothers had been left to fan for themselves, surviving

(08:40):
in the filthy apartment alongside the decaying body of their brother,
Kendric Travon, the ten year old boy, tearfully recounted the
brutal assault that had killed his brother. He said that
his mother's boyfriend, Calder, had beaten Kendrick mercilessly while he
and his younger brother Javaon in terror The blows came

(09:03):
without mercy, striking Kendrick's face, body, and legs, and even
his testicles. Colder's eyes had a vacant, chilling stare as
he used whatever was nearby, a spider man figuring then
a model jet to strike the boy. Eventually, Kendrick stopped
crying and he stopped moving. The blows ceased, and in

(09:26):
the silence that followed, it was clear that Kendrick was dead.
Colder then simply threw a blue blanket over Kendrick's body
and walked away, leaving his tiny corpse to rot as
days turned into wakes. Williams and Colder never called the police.
They simply left Kendrick to decompose while life continued around

(09:48):
his skeletal remains. In the weeks after Kendrick was killed,
his brothers found themselves returning to the grim scene and
able to comprehend the horror that had unfolded around them.
They lifted the blanket themselves, shocked to see cockroaches crawling
over Kendrick's decaying body, his hair beginning to fall out,

(10:09):
and a small frame turning skeletal. For nearly a year,
the boys had lived alongside his remains, prisoners of the
horror their own mother had lied into their lives. Kendrick
Lee's murder was the tragic crescendo of years of abuse

(10:32):
suffered at the hands of Brian Colter. Alongside Kendrick, his
younger brothers injured relentless torment, often locked together in a
bedroom that was filled with an exterior dead bolt. The
lock was a cruel trap. If they needed to use
the bathroom, they had no choice but to go in
the small room where they were confined. Jordan, the eldest,

(10:54):
had bravely confronted his mother, Gloria Williams, pleading for an
end to the abuse, but his appeals had fallen on
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Nothing changed, and the boys continued to be abused, but
it was Kendrick who received the worst. After Kendrick's death,

(14:07):
Williams and Colder continued to abuse the remaining boys as
though his death were nothing more than an inconvenience. Then,
in March of two thousand and twenty one, Williams and
Colder made a decision. They left the apartment for good,
abandoning the three boys with the decaying remains of their brother.
The boys were left alone to survive as best they could,

(14:29):
scrounging for food in a filthy apartment, haunted by the
silent witness of their brother's body. Williams and Colder meanwhile
moved into a clean and comfortable apartment across town, one
with a stalked fridge and every basic need met a
stark contrast to the squalor in which William's sons were trapped.

(14:50):
Despite the horror they had left behind, Williams and Colder
carried on as though nothing had happened. They continued posting
on social media, presenting a pick sure of happiness and
material wealth. On Valentine's Day, Williams had posted about a
gift from Colter, gushing, my husband brought this for me.
I love him very much. Everything is real. Colter, too,

(15:14):
flaunted his luxuries in a video on Instagram, showing off
a large ring engraved with CEO and a silver chain
with a cross pendant. As Captain read, we've been through
the mid and mac Reil talk, we made it and
were blessed. In the video, he advised gentlemen, treat your
ladies right if they deserve it. The couple even marked

(15:36):
their twisted union with matching tattoos that read Warrior. Though
they rarely visited the apartment where the boys were, every
few weeks they would appear briefly to drop off scraps
of food, mostly noodles, since nothing could be cooked with
no electricity. For the boys, these visits were a mix
of fear and hollow relief. While they got some food.

(15:58):
Colter often used the opper eternity to beat the two youngest.
When officers finally discovered the boys, they fond Trayvon suffering
from a painful, untreated broken jaw that had turned into
a serious infection. For him and his brother, Survival had
become a daily struggle against hunger, fear, and the looming

(16:18):
shadow of abandonment. The hunt for Glory Williams and Brian
Colter came to a swift end just two days after
the horrifying discovery of Kendrick's remains. Detectives tracked them down
at a library on Willcrest, where they sat using the computers,

(16:41):
reading up on news articles about the case. It was
a cold and surreal scene to people attempting to monitor
the fallout of their own crimes, as though they were
distant spectators. When questions, Williams claimed that she hadn't been
there the night that Kendrick died. She told detectives that

(17:01):
she found her son the next morning, lifeless and bruised,
beneath a tattered blanket. She claimed that she confronted Colter, who,
in her words, expressed remorse, saying that he lost control
and had punched Kendrick repeatedly until he went to sleep.
But when she was pressed on why she hadn't reported
her son's death, william said the Coultre had insisted she

(17:24):
remained silent. She said she feared losing her children and
going to prison, ironic considering a few months later she
simply abandoned her children. After the arrest, william was charged
with injury to a child by omission and tampering with evidence,
while cold faced a murder charge. Their bonds were set

(17:45):
at one point five million dollars one million dollars respectively.
During a court hearing, prosecutors revealed that Williams had been
receiving two thousand dollars a month in government benefits intended
for the care of her children, including Kendrick. Meanwhile, her
surviving sons were finally placed under the protection of Child
Protective Services, receiving much needed medical care, therapy, and counseling.

(18:12):
The pathologist confirmed what had long been evident, Kendrick's death
was a homicide, although his body was much too decomposed
for an exact cause of death to be determined. He
had sustained severe injuries, including fractured ribs and a broken Pelvis.

(18:34):
After the news began reporting on the discovery of the children,
a woman named Linda Smith reached out to detectives. She
said that one of the surviving boys was her grandson
and that she hadn't seen him since twenty sixteen. Linda's
son was the father of Javion, but he had been
in and out of jail for years and hadn't been

(18:54):
a part of his son's life before the murder. Williams
and the children had actually been living with Linda, but
after a dispute, Linda kicked her out of the home.
She recollected. I soon found out when my son was
in jail and I was in work, Gloria would have
different men come over to my house. I don't know
what she was doing with them. Williams gathered up her

(19:16):
children and left. After that, she cut off all contact
with Linda, and the only time she ever got to
see her grandson and the other boys was on Facebook,
but the photographs that Williams posted of her children were
very few and far between. Lynde express guiled over what
had happened. Knowing how the children had ended up, she commented,

(19:39):
I feel like I failed them. She could have brought
them to my house. She knows I would have taken
them in. She also spoke about Kendrick, saying he had
such a loving spirit. Much like two of his other brothers.
Kendrick was autistic. His cousin Yasmin Craig said that Kendrick
was mostly nonverbal. It's recalled when he would come around

(20:03):
our family. All he did was smile and be playful
with you. The grizzly discovery of Kendrick Lees remains sent
shock we have through the community, with Harris County Sheriff
At Gonzalez calling it one of the most horrifying cases
he had ever seen.

Speaker 5 (20:19):
Very horrific situation out here, very tragic. Been in this
business for a long time and I had never heard
a scenario like this. It really called me by surprise.
What we have right here is we have an apartment unit.
It appears to be worth three juveniles were left abandoned
pretty much. I'm told they range in ages from fifteen,

(20:42):
ten and seven years old. They've been here for an
extended period of time. At the same time, we also
have the skeletal remains of what appears to be a juvenile.
It appears to have been there for also an extended
period of time. We don't know how long that'll be
part of the forensic investigation. We don't know the exact age,

(21:03):
but we anticipate again that it's the skeleton remains for
a juvenile and other than that. Right now, it's just
very preliminary information. We're trying to identify next to ken
to determine exactly what's happened and how we got to
this point. But again, a very horrific set of circumstances.

Speaker 3 (21:22):
Gonzales acknowledged that the shaer brutality of the case seemed
almost too nightmarish to be real. Yet it was tragically
and undeniably, so it's a detailed surface. The community and
the public at large began to grapple with questions about
how this tragedy had gone unnoticed. How had nobody realized
that Kendrick hadn't been seen in over a year? I

(21:45):
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start the year with smarter, stress free storage. Neighbors shared
accounts of the unbearable stens that seemed to seep out
from the apartment. One woman explained that the smell had
been so overparing that she couldn't use her air conditioner
as it seemed to pull the odor into her own space.

(24:19):
Another neighbor, Titania's shorder, scrubbed her front porch with bleach
and searched her bushes certain that an animal must have
died somewhere. She and the others had reported the smell
to the apartment management, but no investigation ever followed. Neighbors
also recalled brave, haunting encounters with Jordan, the eldest brother,
who had done his best to hold his fractured world together.

(24:43):
He had occasionally knocked on doors asking for small amounts
of food. Erica Chapman remembered seeing him once curled up
and sleeping on one of the slides in the playground.
Trevor Thompson described Jordan as appearing paranoid, often pacing by
the window in the dark apartment. Despite his desperation, he

(25:03):
had never asked for help beyond a piece of food,
clinging to the faint hope that his mother might one
day return and make things right, but that day never came.
Some neighbors saw subtle signs of the underlying nightmare, but
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(25:25):
Shoulder witnessed Colder exiting the apartment with one of the
younger boys. She noticed called her mother something to the
child before bending down and punching him hard on the shoulder.
At the time, she thought it was a form of
discipline and didn't consider reporting it. Looking back, she and
the others were haunted by these small moments they now

(25:46):
saw in a different, devastating light. Karen Payne, another neighbor,
expressed the collective regret felt by the community when she said,
we all feel like we let them down. With Williams
and Colter securely behind bars, detectives intensified their investigation, determined

(26:11):
to unravel how such a profound tragedy could go unrecognized
for so long. The family's complex history revealed troubling layers.
Gloria Williams had six children in total, four boys, including Kendrick,
and two daughters. While Kendrick's brothers endured unimaginable neglect in
the apartment, William's daughters were in the custody of one

(26:32):
of their grandmothers, Melody Robinson. Melody had raised William's thirteen
year old daughters since she was a toddler, and had
recently gained guardianship of her seventeen year old daughter. She
had been kicked out after trying to protect her younger
brothers from the abuse. For a year. The older sister
survived on the streets before hospital visit led Children's Protective

(26:54):
Services to reach out to Melody for assistance. She wasn't
the buy law grandmother, but took the girl in as
her own. Kendrick's father, Courtney Lee, who had once shared
a life with Williams, was blindsided when he saw his
youngest son's death on the news. After the relationship had ended,

(27:15):
Williams had vanished with the children, severing all contact. Heartbroken,
he told reporters, Kendrick's my baby. He's my youngest son.
I still can't believe it. Friends and relatives both noted
that Williams had changed after meeting Colter. She had cut
off almost everyone, only reaching out when she needed money.

(27:37):
As authorities continued to pace together. The family's background then
covered years of involvement with the Texas Department of Family
and Protective Services, also known as d FPS. Allegations of
abuse dated back as two thousand and fifteen, with the
first reports arising when William's former boyfriend was accused of
physically abusing the children and leaving bruises. At the time,

(28:02):
they were living in a shelter. D FPS investigated, but
didn't confirm the allegations, listing no areas of concern. In
two thousand and seventeen, reports surface that one of William's
daughters had a black eye. She also alleged sexual abuse,
although she later recanted. Once more, d FPS found no

(28:23):
evidence of abuse. The following year, d FPS noted that
one of the children's fathers, who had a prior charge
of sexual assault against a minor, still had access to
the children. Yet the report dismissed further investigation, saying that
the claims were similar to those that were previously explored.
Another report surfaced, this time regarding William's refusal to take

(28:46):
responsibility for her seventeen year old daughter, the one she
had kicked out. The agency rolled that Williams had committed
medical neglectful supervision, but once more no further action was taken.
Schools too had raised concerns about the boys prolonged absences.
In twenty nineteen, jave On missed twelve consecutive school days,

(29:10):
prompting a school official to finally reach Williams during a
home visit. Javon briefly returned to school, but the absence
has soon returned. When the pandemic closed, schools. In twenty twenty,
the Texas Education Agency requested logs of students who hadn't
been in contact. That May was the last time that

(29:31):
any of the Williams boys were enrolled in school. After
multiple attempts at home visits went unanswered, the boys faded
from the school's radar Entirely months later, Kendrick was dead.
As dfps's history with the family came to light, public
outcry was swift when he felt that the system had

(29:52):
failed the children in nearly every way. Mike Schneider, a
retired judge, reflected on the missed opportunities, noting, there are
some very understandable and excusable reasons to have assessed some
of these as low risk, but taken as a whole,
it's just amazing there wasn't a deeper intervention. Lisa mcaush,

(30:12):
Chief Operating Officer of Justice her children, echoed the sentiment daring,
I just think they absolutely dropped the ball. There are
red flags all through this from behind bars. Williams granted

(30:37):
an interview with k H O U eleven and denied
that she knew Kendrick was dead. This was contradicted by
her three surviving sons. Who all said she had seen
Kendrick's body. Williams herself had also told detectives she knew
that Kendrick was dead and had confronted Colder just today
after he was killed. When she was asked why she

(30:59):
had abandoned her other children, her response was I checked
on them every two weeks. Then on the twenty ninth
of October, a vigil was held for Kendrick outside the
apartment where he was killed. There was already a growing
memorial out the front. Capo Joe, a community activist, said
to the crowd, I think the biggest thing we need

(31:20):
is to seek resources for the kids that are dealing
with the same type of situations. Eddie Carter, who was
a friend of the Williams family, said that Kendrick was
a very sweet boy. She said that she had tried
to reach out to Williams many times in the past,
but she was always ignored. In January, Bran Colder was
indicted on a charge of capital murder, while Gloria Williams

(31:43):
was indicted on counts of injury to a child, serious
bodily injury, and tampering with the corpse. If convicted of
capital murder of a person under ten years old. Colder
would be facing life in prison or the death penalty.
Prosecutors announced that they were still deciding whether or not
they would be seeking capital punishment. Then, in early twenty

(32:05):
and twenty four, Colder announced that he was waiving his
right to a jury trial. He opted instead for a
bench trial, meaning that a single judge would hear the
evidence and then serve as the jury to determine his fate.
The murder trial of Branholder began on the ninth of
April two thousand and twenty four. It was kicked off

(32:25):
that morning with Colter pleading not guilty to the murder.
He took his place alongside his defense Teham and listened
intently to the opening statements. Prosecutor Celeste Byrom said to
the judge, You're going to hear testimony that Brianholder had
a phase that he liked to use f o a
family over everything. But Judge, what the evidence shows in

(32:49):
this case is that this man did not put family
over everything. He put Brankholder over everything. She displad photographs
and videos from the apartment, including the bedroom where Kendrick
was killed. These videos and photographs showed food wrappers, unidentified trash, insects,
and no furniture. The prosecution also said that Colter had

(33:12):
beaten Kendrick to death. Colter's defense attorney, James Stafford said
during his opening statements that the prosecution needed to prove
that Kendrick's injuries were what had caused his death. He stated,
the medical examiner or an anthropologist described some horrible broken bonds,
but they cannot tell you beyond a reasonable doubt what

(33:33):
caused his death. It was anticipated that the key witnesses
of the murder trial would be Kendrick's brothers. They were
ordered to testify, but their adoptive mother pleaded with the
judge to allow them to testify virtually. She said that
seeing Colter could cause the boys to have fear and
anxiety and set back the process that they had made.

(33:55):
The judge agreed. Javon, who was now ten years old,
said that after his brother was killed by Colder, he
was locked in the bedroom with his body for days.
As flies began to gather. He said to the court,
I know that he died. I was in the room
when Kendrick died. According to Jerveon, the fatal beating had

(34:17):
come after Colter accused Kendrick of being selfish because he
drank the water that was in the bedroom. He recalled
peeking under the blue blanket some time after Kendrick was killed.
He testified he was only Boones. Colter's defense attorney was
given the opportunity to cross examine Javaon. He asked him

(34:38):
what he wanted to be when he grew up. He
responded that he wanted to be a lawyer. Defense attorney
Stafford decided not to press him any further. When Trayvon,
who was now twelve years old, testified, the defense attorney
asked him if prosecutors had told him what to say.
He said that they did, before elaborating always tell the truth.

(35:01):
The two boys detailed the horrific abuse they had endured
and said that they were always locked in their bedroom
where they were forced to go to the bathroom. While
they too had been abused, they said that it was
Kendrick that received the worst. They also described living under
vastly different conditions to the barren apartment they were rescued from.

(35:23):
They'd both been adopted into a family together, where they
had three more adoptive siblings and even two dogs. Their
life before was a thing of the past, and they
said they couldn't even recall their biological mother's name. Defense
attorney Stafford was later thanked for his kindness to the
two boys by the prosecutor. He responded, as a defense lawyer,

(35:46):
you want to represent your client, but realistically and intellectually,
what could you say to those kids. It's not my
role to damage them anymore. They were troopers. Jordan decided
that he wanted to testify in the courtroom, and he
told the judge about the abuse that had been inflicted
on Kendrick and his other brothers. He said that one

(36:06):
day after Calder beat Kendrick so hard he lost the
ability to walk. After the brothers testified, members of the
Children's Assessment Center took to the witness stand to talk
about them. Doctor Whitney Creusen said that they were both
afraid of Coulter and the juveon often hid under the bed.

(36:26):
It took him six months to speak about what had
happened to himself and his brothers. She testified he had
been living in the locked room with his brother's corpse
for a year. The psychological implications of that are quite severe.

(36:48):
The courtroom also heard about text messages between Williams and Colter.
To offer some insight into their relationship, Colder betrayed himself
as William's husband and the father to her children. In messages,
Williams would profess her love for Colter, but also challenge
him for beating and neglecting her children. In the months
leading up to Kendrick's murder. She appeared to be well

(37:11):
aware that Kendrick was receiving the brunt of the abuse
and questioned why he had injuries that the other children lacked.
Colter mostly denied the abuse, claiming that it was the
other boys or saying that he didn't hit Kendrick too hard.
There were text messages from March of twenty and twenty,
when the COVID pandemic hit. Williams accused Cold of beating

(37:34):
the children and causing Kendrick's eye to swell shut. She
asked him to stop, but then she added, let the
swelling go down in their face before you hit them again.
The prosecution also presented a photograph and text message that
Jordan had sent to his mother on the third of
October twenty and twenty. It showed a little boy lying

(37:56):
faced on alongside the text you need to get here noh.
According to a forensic entomologist, the photograph was of somebody
who had been dead for at least four days. He
said that there was insect residue surrounding the body. It
appeared as though the image had disturbed Williams, if only

(38:16):
for a little while. She told Colder that Kendrick needed
a bath and a doctor, telling him on the sixth
of October, I'll be leaving. I can't do this no more.
My kids come first. But she seemingly changed her mind
the same day when she and Colder went out for
dinner at Golden Corral and the defense had opted out

(38:38):
of calling any witnesses. During closing arguments, prosecutor Byrom urged
the judge to find Colder guilty of capital murder. The
defense team, on the other hand, recommended that the judge
convict Colder on a lesser charge of either murder or
injury to a child. Defense attorney Stafford said, I know

(38:58):
this is a horrible case. Everyone in this court wants
justice to be done, but it has to be based
on what was said on the witness stunt. His co
consul Jimmy Ordez said that the younger boys had failed
to specify how Colter had hurt Kendrick and the severity
of those injuries during their testimony. The judge took only
twenty minutes to reach a verdict.

Speaker 4 (39:20):
All right, mister Culter, please stand art. Mister Halter, after
considering all the evidence in his case and arguments from council,
the Court hereby finds you guilty of capital murder as
far as nandagman. Is there any legal reason, now, sir,

(39:42):
why the court should not pronounce sentence.

Speaker 3 (39:46):
No, we will, okay in announcing the verdict, she stated.

Speaker 4 (39:52):
And Sir, those children have haunted me this last week.
They have haunted my mind, and they have.

Speaker 1 (39:59):
Interrupted my safe face when I leave this building.

Speaker 4 (40:04):
This is child abuse month.

Speaker 1 (40:06):
I don't know if you know.

Speaker 4 (40:06):
That, April, is how you, sir, could have done what
you did to those children. When you look at them
in the face, children that you led to believe were
your own kids, you represented your father. You told them that,
you told them in such a way that the oldest

(40:27):
child did your bidding for you. He stayed in his
own bedroom and he went in and did what you
told him to do because they trusted you, they loved you,
maybe as a father because that's what she led them
to believe, all right.

Speaker 1 (40:46):
And you know.

Speaker 4 (40:48):
I think about what those kids went through.

Speaker 1 (40:50):
I think about all three of them and their injuries.

Speaker 4 (40:53):
I think about how you could look at each and
every one of.

Speaker 1 (40:56):
Them and hit them in the face so much so
that in the end one had to have jaw surgery,
and so the courage that.

Speaker 4 (41:04):
They had to have to testify in this case. And
I hope that all three of them remaining will go
on and live a very, very healthy, happy life.

Speaker 3 (41:16):
Colter was automatically sentenced to life in prison without parole.
There were no victim impact statements, but the judge had
some more comments for Colter. She told him in prison,
I hope those boys who have haunted my mind haunt yours.
She expressed hope that the surviving brothers would lead happy
lives surrounded by those who loved them. The guilty verdict

(41:51):
in life sentence for Brian Cold closed one chapter in
the Harrowing case, but the journey for justice continued as
Gloria Williams faced her own day in court. In April,
she was charged with additional counts of injury to a child.
Then in October she appeared in court and pleaded guilty
to two charges of child injury. On the thirteenth of

(42:13):
November twenty twenty four, she was sentenced to fifty years
in prison. Outside of court, District Attorney Kim Aug stated,
we expect parents to protect their children, not hurt them,
because children really are our most vulnerable victims. This case
shocks the conscience, not just because a child lost his life,

(42:34):
but because of his parents complete and total disregard for
human life. As justice was served for Kendrick and his brothers,
the boys have truly settled into their new lives in
the care of a loving adoptive family. Their resilience is
said to shine through as they heal, supported by those
who now protect and nurture them. Kendrick Lee's life was short,

(42:57):
and the scars his siblings bear may last a lifetime time,
but they're now surrounded by people determined to give them
the care and love that they were denied for so long. Well,

(43:28):
Bessie's that is it for this episode of Morbiology. As always,
thank you so much for listening. I'd like to say
a massive thank you to my newest supporter of bomb Patreon, Coral.
The link to Patreon is in the show notes if
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(43:50):
along with a handwritten thank you card. I also do
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(44:11):
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