The Houston woman who killed 5-year-old Samuel Olson in 2021 was sentenced Wednesday to 52 years in prison, Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg announced.

“This woman robbed the world of a little boy with a big smile and bright future, and there is no prison sentence long enough for someone like her,” Ogg said. “We have now guaranteed that she has been held accountable, will serve decades in prison and can never appeal her sentence, and that is, in small measure, justice.”

Theresa Raye Balboa, 31, who was facing life in prison without parole if convicted of capital murder, pleaded guilty to murder in exchange for 52 years in prison. She must serve at least half of the sentence before she is eligible for parole. Because she pleaded guilty, she cannot appeal the conviction or the prison sentence.

Balboa admitted to killing the boy 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, she took his body to a storage unit 10 days after the 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.

The case was prosecuted by Assistant District Attorney Janna Oswald, a chief in the DA’s Crimes Against Children Division, and ADA Brett Batchelor, a chief in the Trial Bureau.

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