Crime Stories with Nancy Grace - OUTRAGE: Little tot boy found in tote bag in hotel room.

Episode Date: June 7, 2021

A Texas woman behind bars in connection with the death of 5-year-old Samuel Olson reportedly had plans to flee the state with his body. According to a motion for bail obtained by the Daily Beast, 26-year-old Theresa Balboa is accused of making plans with friends to travel to Louisiana with the child’s remains. She was captured in Jasper, Texas, at a Best Western motel before she could carry out her plans after a friend called in a tip to Crime Stoppers. Balboa is the girlfriend of Samuel’s father, Dalton Olson. Balboa was transferred back to Houston on Friday, on charges of tampering with evidence. She’ll likely face additional charges once the autopsy results are available. As CrimeOnline previously reported, Samuel was reportedly last seen May 3 in Houston, in the 8800 block of McAvoy Drive. Balboa said someone dressed up as a cop showed up with the boy’s mother and took him.Joining Nancy Grace Today: Jason Campo - Chief Prosecutor, 107th District Court (Cameron County, Texas), 5 years in District Attorney's Office Family Violence Unit, Domestic Violence Task Force Dr. Alan Blotcky PhD - Clinical Psychologist (Birmingham) specializing in Criminal, Child Custody and Forensic cases Dr. Jeffrey M. Jentzen - Professor of Forensic Pathology and Director of Autopsy and Forensic Services at the University of Michigan Medical School, former Medical Examiner in Milwaukee County, Wisconsin  Tom Ruskin - Private Investigator, President of the CMP Protective and Investigative Group, Inc., Former New York City Police Detective Investigator, cmp-group.com, @tomruskin Sarina Fazan - Four-time Emmy Award-Winning TV Anchor & Reporter, Sarina Fazan Media, sarinafazan.media, Podcast: "On The Record with Sarina Fazan" @sarinafazannews, YouTube: Sarina Fazan TV, Andy Kahan - Director of Victim Services and Advocacy at Crime Stoppers of Houston, crime-stoppers.org  Tim Miller - Founder, Texas Equusearch Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an iHeart Podcast. A five-year-old little boy's body found in a tote bag in a hotel room. I'm Nancy Grace. This is Crime Stories. Thank you for being with us here at Fox Nation and Sirius XM 111. How does that happen? A little boy's body found in a tote bag? In a hotel room? Take a listen to our friends at KFDM Fox 4. We're here at the Best Western in Jasper and at around six o'clock this evening we're told that a Crimestoppers tip

was called into the sheriff's office and at point, that call was transferred to the police department. Chief Gerald Hall says he sent one of his officers here to the room because according to him, the call said something to the effect that a missing boy was inside in a tote bag. Well, we understand one of his officers went inside and immediately backed out. We don't know if because he saw something disturbing or something suspicious, but immediately the chief says that all his officers would not go inside. They wanted to protect this scene and not contaminate the scene. And basically it has been sealed off from even

Jasper officers. An officer is standing guard. But other than that, this is the most activity we've seen in the last hour. And that is someone taking photos outside the motel room. And from what we'd understand, the Texas Rangers just arrived. And that's what we're doing right now, is waiting for Houston authorities to come and actually begin this investigation. I guarantee you that was not a photog or a journalist taking those pictures. That was a crime scene technician. I'm trying to get the visual. Police get a tip, an anonymous tip, that a little boy is in a tote bag in a hotel room. They bust in and immediately stop and back up and start backing up. Why? What did they see? What was in that room that made them all back up,

holding the journalists and the reporters at bay? I can only imagine, again, for those of you just joining us, the body of a little boy found in a tote bag in a hotel room, and you can bet your bottom dollar we're on it and i want answers don't you don't you for those of you that have children or maybe you're an aunt or an uncle who in the hay would do this to a little boy with me an all-star panel to try and sift through the clues that have been left behind. Jason Campo, Chief Prosecutor, Cameron County, Texas, five years in the DA's Office of Family Violence Unit. Dr. Alan Blotke, PhD, clinical psychologist out of Birmingham. Blotky specializes in criminal cases and child forensic cases.

Dr. Jeffrey M. Jensen, Professor of Forensic Pathology, Director of Autopsy and Forensic Services, University of Michigan Medical School, former medical examiner in Milwaukee County, Wisconsin. Tom Ruskin, private investigator joining us today, president of C&P Protective and Investigative Group, former New York City police detective investigator, and you can find him at cmp-group.com. Andy Kahn, director of victim services, advocacy, crime stoppers in Houston, and Serena Fazon, first out to her four-time Emmy award- winning TV anchor and reporter. You can find her at her podcast On the Record with Serena Fazan. Serena, this is just so bizarre to me. A very narrow question to you to start it off.

Let me understand. An anonymous tip led police to this hotel room? It's crazy, isn't it, Nancy? An anonymous tip, but was it really anonymous? Well, I mean, I have a hard time understanding. Don't police have caller ID? I mean, is it really anonymous? Who would know that there is a boy in a tote bag in a locked hotel room?

Big question, right? And we see things on TV all the time let me go to you tom ruskin private investigator where there's a phone call and somewhere somebody is tracking that call and they know where it comes from that's just on tv that's not real life, right? No, that's real life. I mean, most of the police lines are tapped and taped and also have caller ID, enhanced caller ID. So some of the numbers that are calling are going through an 800 number, which shows the number. So it would lead police potentially to that person who is calling for the tip. And then they would respond to it. And I got to tell you, so often I would handle felony cases with an anonymous tipster.

It's not always anonymous. It's someone very close to the case that wants to remain anonymous. In this case, I can tell you why. Because there is a dead child involved in a tote bag. But how did the whole thing get started? Take a listen to our friend Steve Campion, ABC 13 Houston. This little boy's grandmother is pleading for help, pleading for information to find Sam.

You really could hear the worry in her voice when she spoke with us less than 12 hours after police wrapped up a search warrant that they had executed at this apartment complex in southeast Houston as they have continued their search looking for this missing boy. She described the boy as sweet, kind, smart. She says Sam loves dinosaurs and Toy Story, and that there's been conflicting information about this case, that it's been complicated from the get-go. She says someone knows something, and she shared this message with us.

As a mom and as a grandma, if you know anything or you think your child is capable of this, you need to sit them down and pray with them and make them do the right thing. I know it's hard to have to think that you love somebody and somebody could do something. But we need to know. You were hearing the grandma reaching out, begging for clues. And I find that very, very interesting. Right off the top to Jason Campo, chief prosecutor joining us out of Cameron County, Texas. Jason, thank you for being with us.

Because right there, you're hearing the grandma. She doesn't know what's happened to baby Samuel. But she's saying, if you think your child, I guess adult child, did this right there, that's telling me she doesn't think this little boy just wandered away and maybe accidentally got into a pond. She thinks at the get go, somebody took the child. That's very clear to me. What do you think? That's right. She's looking for somebody to report somebody, to tell somebody something that they know. She knows that somebody did something to this child, and they just need answers. You know, I'm thinking about a search warrant that was filed, and I find it very, very interesting.

A lot of people, Serena Fazan, think that there is something nefarious about a search warrant being filed where the child went missing. It's not. That's where you start every investigation. And cops never know when they go to the home, are they going to give us permission to go in or do we need a warrant? So they better have a warrant when they go. Of course, I always assume that parents are going to give permission, but they went with a warrant anyway to search the home and they found nothing in the home and the search for little Samuel goes on. Is that correct? Well, absolutely,

Nancy. And you know, in order to get a search warrant, you know that the judge in the case has to find some probable cause to be able to go in. Yeah, the fact that that's the last place that the boy was seen and now he's missing. You're the grandmother pleading and pleading for answers. I'm trying to figure out in this case, straight out to Dr. Ellen Blotke, PhD, clinical psychologist, joining us out of Birmingham. Dr. Blotke, when a child goes missing, last seen at the home, there are a few alternatives. But I noticed when my children were just two years old, Dr. Blotke, they weren't even two years old. They knew how to, they were like monkeys. They could unlock the lock on the handle of the door that led into the laundry room that led to outside.

And there was a stairway going up beside that door, right beside it. They figured out how to go up two stairs and reach over and turn the deadbolt. I had to end up putting another bolt way up high where I had to go up the stairs too and reach all the way up to turn it. So they wouldn't just wander out if I turned my back. Children are very curious and very inquisitive, and they know how to get out the door. That is absolutely the truth. Of course, there are other times when they can't get out the door. And so we're left wondering what exactly happened. This is such a confusing, almost unfathomable situation.

It really is. Go ahead. Obviously, there's so many unanswered questions. There's so many different possible players in this situation and so many unexplainable relationships in this. Oh, my goodness. Of course, because you've got the parents separated and there's a custody battle going on. And that muddies the water about who took little Samuel. Crime stories with Nancy Grace. What we know is that the child is found.

The child is found after an extensive search in a hotel room in a tote bag, obviously dead. But let me ask you this. Serena Fazan joining us, four-time Emmy Award winning reporter and anchor. Serena, tell me about the area. Tell me about Jasper, Texas. Well, Jasper, Texas, in fact, I know it's about two hours from Houston, but why don't I even look up details about Jasper? I mean, it's not a very big community.

It's a small town where people are looking out for each other. It's not... Well, hold on, hold on, Serena Fasan. Andy Kahn wants in. Andy Kahn, Director of Victim Services at Crime Stoppers of Houston. Tell me about Jasper. Jasper, Texas is rural Texas, period.

It's a small town, little crime. Everybody knows everybody there. I mean, you still have the old-fashioned Main Street there where everybody pretty much congregates. So it's quite a quintessential American small town. Everybody knows everybody. You know, Andy Kahn, you've handled so many cases. Andy and I have been colleagues for many, many years. You've handled big city cases. You're right there in Houston. You've handled rural cases and you advocate for victims. And I'm very, very curious to Jason Campo, as Andy is accurately telling us about how this is

a very rural setting, everybody knows everybody else, But the reality is, Jason Campo, we all also know that you think you know somebody. You don't know them. You don't know what they're doing behind closed doors. You don't know what neighbor may have been watching this child. Let's think about Delphi for a moment. The two girls taken off the bridge in Delphi, I think sex assaulted, we'll find out, but I know murdered. And now, this many months later, a guy turns up grabbing the neighbor girl, I think she was nine, and taking her down into a torture chamber, raping her. and if the parents hadn't reported her missing immediately, she'd be dead, right?

Nobody knew the next door neighbor was a child predator. Nobody knew that. So even in a small town, you don't know who people really are. We see this all the time in family violence cases when I'm doing the board dire on a trial and I ask, you know, who has experience with family violence? And people always speak up and say, you know, we didn't know that anything was going on until months after it actually started because nobody really knows what's going on behind the closed doors of somebody else's house. They know the image that

they present in public or even in private with family members, but they don't know what's going on once the doors of the house are closed. To Dr. Jeffrey M. Jensen, Professor of Forensic Pathology, Director of Autopsy Forensic Services, University of Michigan Medical School, former medical examiner, Milwaukee County. I could keep on reading his resume forever. Dr. Jensen, thank you for being with us. How much... I'm glad to be here. Yes, sir.

How much does it hurt a case, hurt the medical examiner in trying to find a COD cause of death? I mean, we know manner of death. People can get confused. In an autopsy, you get cause of death. I mean, we know manner of death. People can get confused. In an autopsy, you get cause of death. For instance, I just shot Jackie and Kelly to boot. That would be COD. Manner of death would be either accidental natural causes, murder, homicidal violence. So, Dr. Jensen, we know that this boy has been missing for a period of time. We now know, at the very least, he's been, I guess, folded up into a tote bag in a hotel room. How badly, if the room is at room temp, how badly decomposed would his body be

if he had been there, let's just say, a month? Well, it would depend upon the storage of the body. If the body was held in a cool area, for example, or a heated area, the temperature would drastically change the opinion as to the time of death. Okay, let's go with room temp. Room temperature, a body would start to decay within a matter of 48 to 72 hours and be in an advanced state of decomposition within four to five days. Okay, speak to, you know what you just reminded me of, Dr. Jeffrey M. Jensen, of decomposition within four to five days. Okay.

Speak to, you know what you just reminded me of, Dr. Jeffrey M. Jensen, and I mean this in a loving and caring way. You remind me of all the times the medical examiner would see my beat-up Honda pulling up and probably try to hide because I would have to go through every line of the autopsy report, which can be many, many pages, to get it in regular people talk so I could understand it. So when you say, if a body had been in a tote bag for 29 days and with the tote bag zipped, I imagine it would have been put in a closet or under a bed in a hotel room. At Ambient Air Temp, what do you mean by advanced state of decomposition? Break it down for me. Would the body be skeletonized? Probably not. Would it be

gelatinous goo? Maybe. I don't know. I'm an MD. I'm a JD. You're the MD. What do you mean by advanced decomp? Advanced decomposition typically has evidence of putrefaction, meaning bacterial destruction of the body tissues. There is a purge of fluid coming from the body. There's also blackened discoloration throughout the body. There's also black and discoloration throughout the body. If the body is in a heated area, that's when you start to get mummification. And in those cases, the body would be hard and almost odorless. Going back to the initial scene, I think the well-trained police officer that entered that scene probably detected an odor of decomposition in the um in the hotel room maybe a disarray of the of the surroundings that indicated some kind of an assault uh but uh knowing that he probably did need um uh you know legal uh approval to go into that scene is one of the reasons why he probably backed out.

The combination of an odor, suspicion of criminal activity, and then the need to maintain a chain of custody and legal permission to enter the scene. You know, Andy Kahn with me, Director of Victim Services at Crime Stoppers Houston. I think you have a little less problem with this than I do, because sometimes it's very hard for me to reconcile a five-year-old little boy with what Dr. Jeffrey M. Jensen said. I remember the district attorney, the elected DA, called me down to his office one time, Andy, and said,

Do you think you're a little too emotionally involved in your cases? And I thought a moment and said, Yes. He said, Okay. That was it. That was the whole thing. And I continued to prosecute for the next 10 years. But how do you hear what Dr. Jeffrey Jensen just said and you look at a picture of five-year-old Samuel Olson. And I mean, think about it, Andy. When I say he's in a tote bag, somebody had to like fold the little boy up dead and put him in a tote bag. I can tell you, Nancy,

all of us at Crime Stoppers were absolutely heartbroken. And you could actually see tears visibly coming out of our staff's eyes, especially when you look at the little boy's face at Samuel. Five years old, doesn't know what's going to be happening to him. I mean, we've seen a lot of depravity in our career. But to do this to a five-year-old boy and just stuff him in, you know, like he's a bag of chips, and then crush him, and then just pretend that nothing's happened. This is about as cold-blooded, diabolical, depraved as I've seen in my 30-year career as a victim advocate. You know, Andy, I just, people think that prosecutors and cops are like hearts of stone and you don't feel anything when you see this or read this or prosecute this. The reality is very often I have to stop myself from going there in my mind, actually thinking through what the killer did because it's so awful.

Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. We now have the body. It's in a horrible state of decomposition. And I think Dr. Jensen was absolutely correct. It was the smell. They opened that door and it was like getting hit with a brick. A brick. And there's something about it.

Once you smell a decomposing body, you know what it is. It's instinctive. Like when you jump in the water, you know what it is. It's instinctive. Like when you jump in the water, you know you have to get to the top to breathe. When you smell a dead human body, you know what it is. Now we have to figure out how this child ended up in that tote bag. Straight out to you, Tom Ruskin, private investigator, president, CMP, protective and investigative group, and former NYPD investigator. The first thing you would do to process that room is what? We know that rightly the crime scene techs were there taking photos immediately of the outside of the door.

What else do they need to do? Well, you noticeably secure the crime scene. And as you said, most cops who are seasoned officers walking down the hall will know that stench, that smell that you never get rid of in your mind. At that point in time, it's the officer's responsibility to secure that crime scene, to make sure that detectives and crime scene detectives come and start to forensically process that room, moving towards where they know that body will exist. And then to document everything for your purposes as a prosecutor to basically catalog everything, take the body out of wherever it's contained, and then process the body to determine if there's any noticeable cause of death that will later be determined by the medical examiner.

Nancy, this is Dr. Jensen. Yes. I'd just like to point out that it's important to get the medical examiner or forensic pathologist involved early in the case because the autopsy essentially starts at the scene. And it's important for the forensic pathologist to get a firsthand view of the remains as soon as possible in order to start the process of determining the actual time of death or establishing the time of death. You know, one other point is that I think disposal of the body is the last thing that many perpetrators think about.

It actually causes a lot of creative methods of body disposal. And this is just one of those cases. Whoever that is, just jump in, please. It's Serena Pizan. And as you and I both know, especially, you know, with your background at this point, it is so crucial to take every one of these steps very slowly and carefully because we don't know. There's so many twists and turns in this case.

Oh, man, there really are. And the processing of that scene is everything. Guys, take a listen to our friends at ABC 13 Houston. Little Samuel Olsen turned six years old today, but his family has no idea where he is. Sam went missing on Thursday when he was being looked after by a family member. His grandmother, Tanya Olson, has full custody of Sam. But she says Sam's mother showed up with someone else claiming to be a police officer and took him. Though both parents say that he is not with either one of them we're not even

sure who took him how happened we just know that the mother showed up with a police officer and then we just found out the police officer wasn't real oh so tough sam was last seen on mccovoy drive in southwest houston okay take a listen to more of what we're learning from ABC 13 Houston. We're talking about a five-year-old little boy, Samuel. Hours ago, we found out it was a fake police officer. Sam is missing. They're saying they do not have him. So we would like to reach out to the public to get Sam's picture out there anybody that knows anybody anybody who knows that they've seen sam somewhere somebody picked him up to hide him for the mother's family please reach out i mean that's what we're wanting we just need sam home and he is missing two bottom teeth and his front tooth is loose and he was wearing a gray t-shirt with a kool-aid van on it some

jean shorts some buzz light year tennis shoes with two mismatched superhero socks sam actually has two ears that are pierced he has on his right side of his head if you pick up his hair it's like a golden brown he has a white birth spot that he's had since he was a baby that's like this big and it's white. But you kind of have to lift his little curls up to see it. So if anybody has seen him, please, please, please call HPD. You know, I'm hearing that. I immediately thought of my little boy at this age five when he had his teeth wobbledy and snaggletooth and that tender, tender time in them growing up and this child is missing. And now I'm hearing a story that a fake police

officer showed up with the bio mom, but Serena Fazon, isn't it true that the bio mom was elsewhere she was nowhere near where samuel was right she wasn't even near where sam was so this is can you imagine how that mom is feeling after hearing the story so we know it's not her so who was it and what's this business about a fake cop? Guys, enter my friend, my longtime colleague from Texas EquiSearch, Tim Miller. I want you to hear what he says to Jason Miles, KHOU 11 Houston. Miller said it was difficult from the beginning, pinning down the last time family members saw Samuel. The last person Sam was seen with was with Teresa Balboa. Including the boy's father and paternal grandmother with whom we spoke yesterday. Okay, right there.

I thought he was with his bio-grandma, but no, he's with Teresa Balboa. And it's my understanding Teresa Balboa is daddy's girlfriend. Is that correct? Joining me right now is Tim Miller from Texas Equestrian. Let me tell you something about Miller. Tim Miller's daughter was murdered. And he has devoted his life since that time to helping to find missing people. Just like you might get up and I might go to the DA's office or Jackie might come to the studio. He gets up every morning and

tries to find missing people, wading through water, riding horseback, riding an ATV, bringing out the cadaver dogs, the scent dogs every day. Tim Miller, thank you for being with us. Who is Teresa Balboa? Well, we got called on this on a Friday after little Sam apparently disappeared. We knew in the beginning there was no truth whatsoever. Some police officer came up and took that child. Now, that Sunday night... How did you know that at the very beginning, Tim Miller?

Well, I mean, her stories were fabricated. We knew where Sarah was, the biological mother, so we knew no mother was there with no police officer. And let me understand something, Tim Miller, Echo Search. The grandmother did not have Sam when he goes missing, correct? It was the girlfriend. It was the girlfriend. And you know what was crazy about that?

I got Dalton in my house the night before we started the search, and I said, Dalton, what do you know about this guy, Ben? And he said, well, nothing. I said, when's the last time you talked to him? He said, never. I said, are you telling me you're allowing your fiance and your five-year-old child to be staying with an ex-boyfriend? And he said, well, Teresa said he's a good guy.

He helps her out. So, you know, I was kind of... Well, wait a minute. So the six-year-old was with the dad's girlfriend and her ex? With the ex. Supposedly, Sam got sick. They thought he had COVID. They didn't want him to be around the grandfather.

So Teresa said, I'll go to my ex-boyfriend's house. He's a nice guy. And so anyhow, I was with him until 1.20 in the morning at my house with Dalton, the father. The next morning, we started the search, and I did an interview, and Teresa was down there. And I told Teresa, I said, Teresa, you need to do an interview. You need to tell the whole world what happened, and people will be looking. Maybe we'll get Sam back safe, which I knew that wasn't the case. She didn't want to do it, didn't want to do it, didn't want to do it.

Wait, so Teresa Balboa did not want to speak publicly? No, but finally, I literally, I forced her into it. And then when she got done doing it, I went over to her and I said, Teresa, every word you just said to the world is nothing but a lie. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. Straight out to Andy Kahn. Andy Kahn, how many days passed before this child was reported missing? You're looking at 29 days where nobody did anything about a five-year-old boy that was last seen April 30th. And then May 27th, you decide, oh, wait, nobody's seen him. Where is he?

I mean, oh, my God, we were just dumbfounded that nobody would say, okay, he hadn't been in school. He's not living here. He's not living here. How could a father wait that long not to know where his son is? How could everybody, the mother, everybody? It was so convoluted what happened. And then when I spoke with Tim, you know, Tim had called me and just kind of cued me in on what was going on. And like Tim said, Tim knew from the beginning that Teresa Balboa was lying out of her face.

Tim, how did you know immediately that she was lying? I mean, it was obvious. We knew where Sarah was at at that did you know immediately that she was lying? I mean, it was obvious. We knew where Sarah was at at that time. We knew that she was lying. There weren't any police officers or anything or CPS. There was nothing. So again, I tricked her into doing that interview. And when she got done doing it, I said to her, I said, every word you just told the entire world is a damn lie. What did she say? Well, I didn't let her say anything. I told her, I said, two years ago today, I was in Arkansas bringing back to body a little Malia Davis. And if you think I want to be here today, you're crazy as hell. You know exactly what happened and you need to talk to God right now.

You and him have a lot to talk about. And I said, we're getting this over with. They asked, do you understand? And I'm yelling at her. And she just looked at me with them cold eyes and said, yes, sir. When you say looked at you with cold eyes, what do you mean by that? I mean, there was no emotion. There was no tears.

There was no nothing. Okay, right there. Hold on just a moment, because I want to go to Jason Campo, Chief Prosecutor, joining us out of the District Attorney's Office there in Cameron County. Have you ever looked across at a defendant and they look like the eyes

of a frog or a snake or something cold-blooded? There's just nothing there. Just no... Absolutely. And you can tell because there's also no physical emotion like from the body. It's not just in the eyes. I got to tell you something, Jason. There's I will never forget the first time I looked at a guy like that. It gave me the chills. There was no feeling, no emotion, nothing.

And that is what Tim Miller from EquiSearch is saying right now. Take a listen to our cut 16. This is Shelly Childers, ABC 13. Court records being made public today have filled in the timeline of five-year-old Samuel Olson's disappearance and death. His father telling investigators the little boy had been staying with his girlfriend, Teresa Balboa, at this Webster area apartment since April 30th, the last day he was seen in school. On May 10th, Balboa's roommate says she called him, saying the boy was dead in their apartment. The roommate left work and found the boy laying in a bed covered in bruises. They put him in a bathtub for two days.

Today, this apartment near Webster now has a notice to vacate. On May 13th, duct tape and a storage tote were purchased by the roommate. He told investigators he helped Balboa wrap the boy's body in a plastic sheet, place the child in the tote, then stored it at this storage facility in Webster. On May 27th, Samuel was finally reported missing, Balboa making up a story that he was kidnapped from her mother's home in southwest Houston. And there you have it, too. Dr. Ellen Blotke, clinical psychologist,

joining us out of Birmingham, who specializes in criminal forensic cases. Dr. Blotke, why, who, who would put a dead child covered in bruises in the bathtub for two days? I have no clue. It makes no sense. I mean, to buy them time, to put them somewhere before they put them in a tote bag, it makes no sense to me. None of this case makes any sense to a rational mind, right? Back to you, Tim Miller.

We are now learning through police investigation what happened to Sam Olson, a five-year-old little boy with a wobbly tooth. What else do you know, Tim Miller? Well, you know, the father just kept sticking up for Teresa, sticking up for Teresa. And then about 3.30 that afternoon, they were down at the end of the apartment complex outside the fence. And I seen that the ex-boyfriend was outside. So I went down there. And again, I'm talking loud. And I say, I say to Dalton, I say Dalton, again I have a problem. How in the world can you leave

your child with somebody just a part of the conflict you've never seen in your life? Are you there? You're cutting out on me. Guys, you're just going to have to bear with me because Tim Miller is already out at a scene looking for someone, a missing person right now. He's going in and

out on me, but I'll follow up with Tom Ruskin, private investigator with CMP Protective and Investigative Group. I mean, the stories just aren't fitting together and I don't need anybody to give me a COD. Now that I know the little boy was covered in bruises, Tom Ruskin, you know what's going to happen. You've got the ex-boyfriend and the girlfriend, Balboa. They're like two wet cats in a barrel. They're going to start blaming each other. And that's your role as a detective. That happens every single day, as you know, as a former prosecutor. The cops will bring them in and start to talk to them separately and start unraveling this myriad of stories that has developed over this period of time.

It's sort of amazing that no one reported this poor little boy missing for weeks. But the question is first, when did he go missing? When did you last see him? And then starting to unravel the story and even as we all know, they start blaming each other. And then you start narrowing the story down. Serena Fazan, following up on what Tom Ruskin is saying, has the ex-boyfriend been charged? Where does the case stand right now?

And where is little Samuel's body? I know right now, I mean, there's only one person that's charged and that's, and that's her. And she's not even charged with any, she's just charged with tampering with evidence at this point. There's, there's so many questions still out there. That's going to a grand jury. She's going to be charged with murder. And that ex-boyfriend, do I have Tim? Did he come back in tim are you there yeah i'm here can you hear me now yeah tim so the word is that the boyfriend helped her dispose of the body all right let me go back to when uh when i lost you but anyhow we're we're down there close

to where the boyfriend lives and i'm telling dalton again dalton i can't understand you allowing your child to stay in this apartment complex right over here with somebody you don't know. And the ex-boyfriend, Ben, he's outside. And I says, and again, this person right here that you're sticking up for is 100% responsible. And then Dalton starts literally shaking and crying and hits the ground and I and then he said well you don't understand about Sarah last year she almost ran over me I said you're right she almost ran over you but guess what your son is not almost missing and this you keep sticking up for this girl that had everything to do with it and then what happened then is Teresa said that she wanted to go in Ben's

apartment and change clothes. Well, she did go in Ben's apartment. She came out with a change of clothes, but I know exactly what the hell happened. She went in there and said, Ben, it is getting hot right now. We got to make our move. Then I told them, listen, you got all these flyers, go pass flyers out. So they're on this street. They're passing out flyers. Teresa says, look at the apartments across the street. I see people outside. I'm going to give them flyers.

She went over there. They waited, waited, waited. She did not come back. Dalton comes to the command center. He's crying his eyes out. Teresa's gone. She's gone. She's gone.

And I went to Homicide Detectives and I said, listen, maybe the best thing happened. Teresa just bailed. And they said, yep, she bailed. That's the best thing that happened. Now maybe we can make progress. So I think when I pushed her so hard at that end, she went in and told Ben, we've got to get the hell out of here. Tim Miller, every day you laid on the line. I appreciate you being with us, joining us from where you are right now on the job.

I guarantee you there are going to be more charges in this case. They're probably waiting on an official cause of death, which is hard to do with a decomposing body. And that ex-boyfriend, I guarantee you, he is not walking away from this. We wait as justice unfolds. For right now, I'm going to find my children, and I'm hugging them and making sure they're safe from people like Teresa Balboa. Goodbye, friend.