Teen Calls To Report Little Brother's Death - He'd Been Decomposing In The House For A YEAR!

This is horrifying.

A 15-year-old called authorities on Sunday to report that his 9-year-old brother, who has supposedly been dead for a year, was still inside their home. Upon an investigation, Harris County Sheriff’s Office recovered child remains from a Texas apartment and found three other children (including the teen) who had been seemingly abandoned by their parents.

According to police, the teen alleged that his brother’s body was in the room next to his and that the family, including a 10 and 7-year-old had been living among it since his death. At this time, there are more questions than answers, such as: how did the child die? Why was he left to rot inside the apartment? And what inspired the 15-year-old to seek help now after all this time?

Aside from the trauma of losing a sibling, surely, a decomposing body is known to produce putrid smells that can feel suffocating. Those poor kids!! Did the parents just take off? Did the child pass after they left? Did any of their neighbors notice that something seemed horribly wrong? Hopefully, insight into this unusual situation will be provided ASAP.

Noting the severity of the case, Sheriff Ed Gonzalez shared in a press conference:

“Very horrific situation out here, very tragic. Been in this business for a long time, and I had never heard of a scenario like this. It really caught me by surprise.”

While the remains have yet to be thoroughly examined, the Sheriff did add:

“The deceased one, or the skeletal remains, we believe at this point is going to be another juvenile, possibly a sibling that passed away. It appears the skeletal remains have been there for an extended period of time.”

Gonzalez went on to describe the case as “heartbreaking,” adding that the surviving children seemed to be fending for themselves, though the circumstances around their last few months are still fuzzy. He explained:

“I haven’t been told they were necessarily locked in, but at that age, it appears they were basically fending for each other.”

They even “appeared malnourished and showed signs of physical injury.” They have since been taken to a hospital to be checked out and treated for any injuries and will remain in Child Protective Services’ custody until further notice.

According to the early stages of the investigation, the kids’ parents have not lived in the apartment for several months. WTF?? Who leaves their kids like that?? There’s no word yet on how the children were able to keep up with rent and what contact they may or may not have had with their guardians (or any other adult in their orbit).

Their mother, whose identity has not been revealed, was located by cops following the welfare check. She and her boyfriend have been questioned and released by authorities already. No charges have been filed at the time. Their father has not been mentioned much in the case so far (publicly, at least), and it’s unclear if the boyfriend is related to any of the kids either. Hear more on the developing story (below):