A plea hearing is scheduled Wednesday for a Houston woman charged with capital murder in the death of a 5-year-old boy in 2021.
Theresa Balboa is accused of killing her boyfriend’s child, Samuel Olson, two years ago, then lying about it.
If she enters into a plea agreement, she could potentially avoid the death penalty, which is on the table because of her capital murder charge.
It was nearly two years ago when the case broke wide open.
On May 27, 2021, Balboa contacted police to report the 5-year-old boy missing. She claimed he was taken by a police officer who came to her door because of a custody dispute.
Balboa is not Samuel’s mother, but she was dating his father, Dalton Olson, at the time.
The report launched a massive search to find the boy, meanwhile, investigators started to unravel Balboa’s story. That’s when they discovered the boy had allegedly been missing for a few weeks before Balboa contacted police. Authorities believe he died days short of his 6th birthday.
On June 1, Samuel’s remains were found all the way in Jasper, Texas — about two hours away from Houston. Authorities found Balboa in a motel room with the boy’s body, which was found in a plastic container wrapped in a tarp and duct tape.
The medical examiner ruled that Olson died from blunt trauma to the head.
Dylan Ray Walker, 28, was also found with the child’s body in Jasper. Authorities later revealed that he called in a Crime Stoppers tip that led police to the hotel. Still, he was charged with tampering with intent to impair.
The third person charged in Samuel’s death is Balboa’s roommate, Ben Rivera.
Rivera told police he went to Walmart on May 13 and bought duct tape and a plastic tote bin that they put the child in and took him to a storage unit where he remained until May 31.
Investigators found the Walmart receipt during a search warrant, according to court records.
After his arrest, investigators learned the possible murder weapon had been recovered.
Balboa’s case is set to go to trial in August, but that could change if she enters into a plea agreement.
Her trial was already delayed last year after her attorney said more time was needed to sift through new evidence.
“There’s so much discovery that it requires — there’s like terabytes of information because there’s phone records. There’s DNA. There’s GPS records. There’s so much material,” defense attorney Anthony Osso said.
Balboa’s plea hearing is scheduled for 9 a.m. in the 174th court. Come back to this post for updates.