The skeletal remains of a child were found inside an apartment in the Houston area along with three surviving siblings who appear to have been abandoned, a sheriff said.

One of the children, a 15-year-old, called the Harris County Sheriff’s Office on Sunday afternoon and told authorities that his 9-year-old brother had been dead for a year and the body was inside the apartment, the office said in a statement.

Deputies responded and found the teen, and two other siblings ages 10 and seven, living alone in the apartment, Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez told reporters. The skeletal remains were also