June 2nd 2021 UPDATE:

Unfortunately what police believe to be Sam Olson’s body has been uncovered in a Jasper motel room. Very disheartening to hear this, as I know we were all hoping for a happy ending. The father’s girlfriend, Theresa Balboa, has been charged with tampering with evidence. I can only assume further charges for Balboa and other family members will arise as the facts of this case become clear.

https://www.khou.com/mobile/article/news/crime/timeline-samuel-olson/285-bc90e1b5-b225-4ca3-957d-455225378713

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This story is unraveling in the south Houston suburb where I grew up - only a couple miles away from NASA Johnson Space Center. I didn’t see any other Reddit posts on this story and I feel this needs to be shared.

Something clearly suspicious is going on with the estranged parents and the father’s girlfriend. Absolutely heart breaking and I hope Samuel gets the attention and justice he deserves.

“The search for a missing six-year-old boy entered a fifth day Monday, with crews shifting their focus to a field behind an apartment complex along the Houston-Webster municipal line.

Samuel Olson was last seen Thursday morning in southwest Houston, according to his father, who accused the boy’s mother of using a fake police officer to take him.

However, Houston police would not confirm if they were investigating allegations of an abduction, telling KPRC 2 the matter was a custody battle.

Moreover, while the boy’s father alleges the boy’s mother took him, HPD said the boy’s mother does not know of his whereabouts either.

Questions mounted Monday about the search and how the boy truly went missing.

Dalton Olson, Samuel’s father, visited the search site Monday with his girlfriend. She was the last person to see the boy, he said.

“I feel like I’m having a bad dream that I can’t wake up from,” Olson said. “We stuck to our routine. I mean. It’s just very overwhelming and it’s hard.”

The routine, according to Olson, had Samuel with his girlfriend, Theresa Balboa. Balboa told KPRC 2 she brought Samuel with her to her mother’s home in southwest Houston Thursday morning.

“I was going to take Sam to school when his mother showed up with a police officer, or what I was under the impression to be a police officer, and they demanded me to release Sam,” Balboa said.

Balboa said because she doesn’t have any legal rights to the child, she turned him over.

“They had a full police uniform. They had a gun, handcuffs, everything. I thought it was a Harris County police officer because on the badge it said Harris County,” she said.

Balboa said she does not remember any physical characteristics, nor the name of the man she accuses of posing as a police officer to take Samuel.

“I had no choice but to hand him over,” she said.

Volunteers from Texas EquuSearch and detectives from HPD searched a grassy field behind an apartment complex at the intersection of Dixie Farm Road and Gulf Breeze Drive in Webster. ATV’s and search dogs scoured the area into 6 p.m. Monday. Officials would not disclose the significance of that location, but Tim Miller told KPRC 2 Houston police asked EquuSearch to search there.

“We’re getting a lot of flyers out, actually in this apartment complex to see if anybody has seen little Sam. If so, when is the last time they saw him,” Miller said.

Miller added while Balboa said the fake officer and Samuel’s mother took him Thursday morning, there are questions about the specifics of when he was taken – and how.

“We’re really trying to figure out when is the last time Little Sam was actually seen so we can fit somewhat of a starting point of when something possibly happened,” Miller continued.

Samuel’s mother could not be reached for comment Monday, but Olson confirmed she had legal custody of the boy.

When asked why the boy was with Balboa, Olson said she would help watch the boy because he didn’t have a car and worked long hours in construction.

A spokesperson for the Department of Family and Protective Services would not confirm who had custody of the boy, but acknowledged it is working with investigators.

“We don’t have details to share because investigations are confidential by law. But Child Protective investigators are working alongside law enforcement to try and locate Samuel,” wrote Melissa Lanford, a public relations officer for DFPS.

Olson maintained he and the boy’s mother have had problems in the past; however, KPRC 2 uncovered court documents that confirm Olson and Balboa have had issues, as well.

According to court documents, Balboa, 29, was charged with Assault of a Family Member – Impeding Breathing in Nov. 2020. Balboa is accused of “impeding the normal breathing and circulation of the blood of [Olson] by applying pressure to [Olson’s] throat and by applying pressure to [Olson’s] neck,” according to the charging document, dated Nov. 29, 2020. A judge issued Olson an emergency protective order against Balboa for the alleged incident. According to the order, Balboa was forbidden from “communicating directly with a member of the family or household or with the protected individual.”

When asked about the protective order, Olson and Balboa said they’ve overcome their problems, which had nothing to do with Samuel.

“This is about Sam,” Olson said, adding, Sam wasn’t around at the time of the alleged incident.

Still, the existence of the protective order raises questions about why the boy was with Balboa.

Olson insisted the Balboa wasn’t at fault.

“I feel like I’m having a bad dream that I can’t wake up from,” he said.

Samuel was wearing a gray t-shirt with the Kool-Aid man on it, jean shorts, and white “Buzz Lightyear” tennis shoes. Samuel was also wearing two mismatched superhero socks.

Olson is 3′9′' and weighs 50 lbs. He has blue eyes.

“Samuel has golden-brown hair, but he also has a patch of white hair on the back/right of his head. He is missing two of his bottom teach, and he has a crease (or pointed area) on the top of his left ear,” according to Texas EquuSearch.

Anyone with information concerning the whereabouts of Samuel Olson is urged to contact the Houston Police Missing Persons Division at (832) 394-1840 or Texas EquuSearch at (281) 309-9500.”