HOUSTON – A man who helped his roommate move the body of 5-year-old Samuel Olson’s to a storage unit in Webster in 2021 has entered a guilty plea during his court appearance Thursday.
On June 22, 2021, Benjamin Rivera, 31, pleas guilty for tampering with evidence (a human corpse in this case) in connection with the 5-year-old’s case.
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He will remain out on bond as the judge set his hearing and sentencing for Oct. 20. At that hearing, the judge will hear all evidence and speak with any witnesses to have the sole discretion on punishment. It would be between deferred probation to 20 years in prison.
“Unfortunately, the legal system isn’t what we want it to be because I don’t think that there’s any jail term that will ever suffice, taking him from us,” said Tonya Olson, the child’s grandmother.
READ MORE: TIMELINE: Samuel Olson case
In 2023, Theresa Raye Balboa pleaded guilty to first-degree murder in the death of Samuel Olson. As punishment, she will serve 52 years in prison and must serve 26 of those years before becoming eligible for parole. Because she pleaded guilty, she cannot appeal the conviction or the prison sentence.
Roommate’s involvement
According to charging documents, on May 10, 2021, Rivera told investigators that his roommate, Balboa, called and told him that Samuel was dead. Rivera said he and Balboa placed his body in the bathtub, where he remained for two days, according to court records.
On May 13, 2021, Rivera said he bought duct tape and a plastic tote that he and Balboa used to wrap Samuel’s body in a plastic sheet. They then put the body in the tote bag and into Rivera’s vehicle, according to court documents. He said he and Balboa then drove to a storage unit located at 16650 Highway 3 in Webster, Texas.
Police believe Samuel died weeks before he was reported missing on May 27 by Balboa, according to an arrest affidavit. The identity of Samuel Olson was confirmed following an autopsy conducted by the Harris County Institute of Forensic Sciences in Houston.
He would have turned 6 years old on May 29, 2021.
What happened to Olson?
Balboa admitted to killing Samuel Olson by hitting him with a blunt object while he was under her care on May 12, 2021. The boy’s parents were separated, and Balboa, who was dating the child’s father, was watching him at her apartment in Webster.
After reporting the child missing, Balboa took his body to a storage unit 10 days after his murder. Nine days later, she put the boy’s remains in a plastic bin and took the bin to a hotel in Jasper. She was found and arrested in Jasper the next day by the Houston Police Department and the Texas Rangers.
Balboa was initially charged with tampering with evidence but later upgraded to capital murder.
READ: Theresa Balboa charged with capital murder in death of 5-year-old Samuel Olson
Third person charged
A third person, who investigators say drove Theresa Balboa to the Jasper motel room where Olson was found, was also charged in the case.
Dylan Walker was charged with tampering with evidence.
RELATED: Third person charged in connection with Samuel Olson’s death
Court documents confirmed that Walker was the one who called in the anonymous tip to Crime Stoppers to find Olson. However, they also revealed that Walker was not only the person who drove Balboa to Jasper, but he was also the person who rented the motel room where the 5-year-old’s body was found.
According to his indictment, Walker was charged with tampering because he did “intentionally or knowingly conceal a thing, namely the corpse of Samuel Olson, with intent to impair its availability as evidence in the investigation.”
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