Background: The high-rise apartment building in Houston, Texas, where Lakesha Woods Williams allegedly left her two young children while she went on a cruise (via YouTube/KTRK). Inset: Lakesha Woods Williams appears in court on April 12, 2024 (Harris County District Courts via KTRK).
A Texas mom is accused of leaving her two young children to fend for themselves while she went on vacation — and not for the first time.
Harris County Sheriff’s Office records show that Lakesha Woods Williams, 29, is being held in detention on $25,000 bond as of Saturday. She allegedly flew to Florida to take a cruise while her kids — an 8-year-old boy and a 6-year-old girl — were left alone in their apartment.
According to a probable cause affidavit reviewed by Law&Crime, peace officers with the Harris County Constable’s Office Precinct 5 responded to a call on April 9 to check on two children in an apartment building in Houston that local ABC affiliate KTRK described as a luxury high-rise. The witness who called in the request told officials that she was “made aware by other residents in the apartment complex” that the kids’ mother had left days earlier.
“The witness stated that other residents had observed the juveniles’ mother leaving with luggage and bags on approximately April 4, 2024, around noon, and never saw her return to the location,” the affidavit says.
Neighbors apparently said that this has happened before.
“Many of the residents were worried for the children and have said this is not the first time that something like this has occurred,” the affidavit says.
Deputies found the apartment in “complete disarray and had trash and left-over food all over the unit,” the affidavit said.
“The unit also had a very potent smell of urine and both juveniles stated that their mother (Defendant) had left them since April 4, 2024, to go on vacation on a cruise and they did not know when she would return,” said the affidavit, which also noted that no adults were supervising the kids and “none appeared to have been present” since Williams allegedly left.
The defendant was allegedly using a camera and phone “to watch and talk to the children while she was away,” according to the affidavit. The 8-year-old also was apparently using a phone “to text with the Defendant while she was gone.”
When deputies were able to reach Williams, she allegedly “was not cooperating and was switching up her story on her whereabouts.” KTRK reported that Williams had flown to Miami and boarded a cruise for Puerto Rico.
The children were examined by child services workers and released to the custody of their aunt, the affidavit says.
Jail records show that Williams was arrested on Thursday, and KTRK reported that she appeared in court Friday afternoon. She has been charged child abandonment with intent to return.
Records show that she has a court date scheduled for Monday.
More from Law&Crime: ‘The ultimate act of betrayal’: Judge throws book at mom who left toddler to starve to death in Pack ‘n Play while she went on 10-day beach vacation
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