Surveillance footage reportedly showed 29-year-old Theresa Balboa, the girlfriend of little Sam's dad, transporting a foul-smelling bin by the Jasper motel room she was later arrested at, according to court records.
Texas boy Samuel Olson's father Dalton Olson has denied any involvement in the death of his son. "He had nothing to do with the death of his son," attorney Samuel Veenstra said, according to KPRC. "[The] family is in mourning, shocked and in disbelief."
This comes as Dalton's girlfriend Theresa Balboa was allegedly caught on camera transporting a foul-smelling black plastic box with a yellow lid from the Best Western Hotel in Jasper, KHOU reported, citing court records.
Authorities later found a body in the box that is believed to be the little boy's, KTRK reported.
Balboa, 29, has been charged with tampering with evidence, according to Heather Morris, the assistant chief of the Houston Police Department.
She had allegedly planned to leave the state and travel to Louisiana with Samuel's body, The Daily Beast reported, citing court documents.
The surveillance footage, which captured the events of the May 31, also reportedly showed a man helping Balboa with the black-and-yellow bin. The man was Balboa's friend, whom she had called for a ride home in the middle of the night, saying that she had been in a fight, The Daily Beast reported.
The man told authorities that he had met Balboa at a Walmart parking lot in Cleveland, and helped her bring the bin into the back of his pick-up car.
He dropped her off at the Best Western located about two hours away, where he was caught on motel surveillance cameras helping her with the plastic bin and carrying it into room 106, court documents showed.
He later called the Jasper Police department to report that she had Olson, The Daily Beast reported.
When authorities arrived, they said they found the bin in the room, and Balboa in the bathroom. One police officer said he "detected an odor that through his experience in law enforcement ... to be possible decomposing human remains," The Daily Beast reported.
The body in the bin, which police are still working to confirm is Samuel's, was found in the Jasper motel room wrapped in black plastic bags and secured with duct tape. The bin was secured shut with zip ties, KHOU reported.
Balboa was taken into custody from the motel room and has since been handed over the Houston police. She is now in custody in Harris County Jail.
Balboa had been out on bond pending trial for an assault charge involving Dalton Olson, who reported in November that Balboa had choked him, Morris said. According to online court records, Balboa was freed on $15,000 bail and her arraignment is scheduled for June 24.
Balboa had also reportedly lost custody of her two daughters in 2019, the New York Post reported, citing court documents.
Samuel's disappearance was first reported last week with witnesses now saying that he may have been dead since May 10. The last time little Samuel had been seen by someone outside of his family was on April 30, the last day he attended school.
His dad's girlfriend had been under suspicion since giving a bizarre TV interview on Monday, claiming that Sam had been taken by his mother and a police officer.
"I was going to take Sam to school when his mother showed up with a police officer, what I was under the impression to be a police officer, and they demanded me to release Sam. They said I would go to jail, because I have no rights to him. So I had no choice but to hand him over," Balboa said.
She stood side-by-side with the boy's father as he made an emotional appeal for his son's safe return.
Samuel was 5 years old when he disappeared, and would have celebrated his 6th birthday on May 29.
