Offender Record · OFF-2026-040
Robert Colson (photo from the Radford University biography)
Robert Otis Coulson
Also known as Bob
Sex
Male
Race
White
Height
6'0"
Born
1968
Custody
Deceased
States
TX
Custody
Executed June 25, 2002 by lethal injection
This record documents arrests, charges and convictions reported by courts, law enforcement agencies and news organizations. Every statement is tied to a cited source with an archived copy. A charge is an accusation, not proof of guilt; a person charged is presumed innocent unless convicted. Solve the Case does not allege that this person committed any offense beyond what the cited records state, and this record is not a suggestion that the person is connected to any unsolved case. How records are built, corrected and removed.
Summary of the record
Robert Otis Coulson was convicted of capital murder in the November 1992 suffocation deaths of five family members in Houston, Texas. Coulson, age 24 at the time, planned the murders over four months to inherit a $600,000 estate, enlisting an accomplice who provided transportation and an alibi. He was arrested four days after the murders, convicted June 16, 1994, sentenced to death June 22, 1994, and executed by lethal injection on June 25, 2002 at Huntsville, Texas.
Documented Arrests, Charges and Convictions
Dispositions are shown exactly as the cited records report them. Pending charges are updated when a court acts; a record with no remaining conviction or pending charge is removed from the site.
Offense date Nov 13, 1992, Houston, Texas
Capital Murder
Harris County District Court, Houston, Texas · Harris County District Court · Docket unknown · Texas Penal Code §19.03 · Arrested Nov 17, 1992 · Convicted Convicted · Sentence: Death penalty; executed June 25, 2002
Coulson suffocated five family members by placing plastic bags over their heads and binding them with plastic flex cuffs and duct tape. After the victims died, he poured gasoline on their bodies and set the house on fire. The motive was financial: to inherit a $600,000 estate.
SourcesTexas jury convicts in family slaying; Robert Otis Coulson #783; Killer of five family members executed; Radford University serial killer biography: Colson, Robert
Pattern and Background
Victim counts and the pattern of the offenses as stated by courts, agencies and the cited reporting. Suspected counts are what officials have said publicly, not a finding of this site.
5
Victims convicted
0
Victims confessed
0
Victims suspected
Active years
1992–1992
Victim profile
Family members
Stated motive
Financial gain
Range from home
local
Accomplice
Yes
Education
some college
Marital history
Never married
Children
0
Died
2002-06-25 · executed
Places Lived, Worked and Frequented
Each place and date range comes from a cited record. Dates marked approximate are as reported. Know a place that is missing? Use Edit record under the photo; a moderator reviews it before it appears.
TX
Houston, Texas
approx. 1968 – 1992 · Lived with adoptive parents Otis and Mary Coulson; crime occurred at their home in Spring Branch neighborhood, Houston
Houston, Texas
approx. 1992 – 1992 · Employed in sales
Huntsville, Texas
1994 – Jun 25, 2002 · Death row at Livingston Unit (also referenced as Polunsky Unit), Texas Department of Criminal Justice
Timeline
Mar 11, 1968
Robert Otis Coulson born March 11, 1968.
Aug 1992
Coulson began purchasing supplies for the planned murders including duct tape and a stun gun, storing them in a backpack.
Nov 11, 1992
Coulson scoped out a dark drop-off site as part of his murder plan.
Nov 12, 1992
Coulson dropped off backpack and gasoline at his parents' house and checked their wills to determine heirs.
Nov 13, 1992
Coulson killed five family members—his adoptive parents Otis (66) and Mary (54), his adoptive sister Sarah (21), his biological sister Robin (25), and Robin's husband Richard Wentworth (27)—by suffocation in Houston, Texas.
Nov 15, 1992
Coulson called his parents' attorney asking about the size of the inheritance.
Nov 17, 1992
Coulson arrested for the murders of his five family members four days after the killings, following contact with accomplice Jared Althaus at a motel in San Marcos.
Jun 16, 1994
Houston jury convicted Robert Coulson of capital murder in the killings of five family members.
Jun 22, 1994
Coulson sentenced to death for the capital murders.
Oct 1994
Texas Court of Appeals confirmed the verdict and death sentence.
Feb 21, 1997
Coulson found liable for $26.6 million in wrongful death suit filed by family estate and the 4-year-old sole survivor (Sarah's adopted baby).
Jun 1999
Court of Criminal Appeals denied Coulson's last appeal, ending his state appeals.
Mar 18, 2002
Supreme Court denied Coulson's petition for writ of certiorari.
Jun 25, 2002
Robert Otis Coulson executed by lethal injection at Huntsville, Texas at 6:23 p.m., maintaining his innocence.
Sources
Solve the Case is never the original source. Each item below is the public record a statement on this page rests on, with an archived copy where one exists.
Other government record · Clark County Prosecutor (Ohio) ·
Robert Otis Coulson #783“Robert Otis Coulson, 34, was executed by lethal injection on 25 June in Huntsville, Texas for the murder of five family members for money. In a plan to gain an immediate inheritance, Coulson had individually subdued each victim, bound their hands and feet, and secured a plastic bag over their heads.”
Other · Find a Grave ·
Robert Otis Coulson (1968-2002) - Find a Grave Memorial“Coulson plotted over a 4-month period to kill his parents for their estate, and eventually decided to include his two sisters and brother-in-law as victims.”
Other · Radford University Department of Psychology ·
Radford University serial killer biography: Colson, Robert“Robert Otis Coulson, born March 11, 1968, convicted of capital murder June 16, 1994, sentenced to death June 22, 1994, and executed by lethal injection June 25, 2002 in Livingston, Texas”
News report · UPI ·
Killer of five family members executed“Robert Coulson, 34, was pronounced dead at 6:23 p.m. CDT after receiving a lethal injection for suffocating his parents, two sisters, and brother-in-law and then setting their bodies on fire.”
News report · Amnesty International ·
USA (Texas): Further information on Death penalty Robert Otis Coulson“Robert Coulson was executed in Texas on the evening of 25 June 2002 for the murder of his sister and her husband in 1992.”
Other government record · Texas Executions ·
Execution Report: Robert Coulson“Jared Althaus, a friend and accomplice, eventually confessed to police and led police to Coulson. Althaus received a 20-year prison sentence reduced to 10 years for cooperation.”
News report · UPI ·
Texas jury convicts in family slaying“A Houston jury Thursday convicted Robert Coulson of capital murder in the 1992 slayings of five members of his family who were suffocated and their bodies burned in a Spring Branch home.”
Discussion
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