SAN ANTONIO, Texas – An investigation regarding child abuse that began months ago has led to the arrests this week of a local couple.
Lisa Olivo, 26, and her 41-year-old husband, Luis Ubaldo Olivo, were taken into custody Monday on charges of endangering a child.
According to court documents related to the charges, the allegations mainly have to do with two children, one of whom died in March 2023.
The arrest affidavits state that a San Antonio arson investigator uncovered the information while following up on a series of fires that happened inside the couple’s home.
The documents said there were two fires within two days this past February inside their apartment near Loop 1604 and Huebner Road.
At least one of the fires started in a closet that had been converted into a bedroom for the couple’s 5-year-old son.
The affidavit said Lisa Olivo admitted that she started the fires intentionally.
“I remember hearing all the fire alarms go off,” said one neighbor, who wanted to hide her identity. “I figured the first time, you know, mistakes happen, maybe something went off, something on the stove. But then all of a sudden two days later, or a day later, the same thing.”
The neighbor recalled that day when everyone in the building had to leave their homes.
She also remembers noticing some unusual behavior exhibited by Lisa Olivo.
“I did notice there was a lot of aggression with her and the (5-year-old). She would scream at him, talk to him very ugly.”
The affidavit shows investigators found evidence on Lisa Olivo’s cellphone, showing she did a Google search inquiring whether “suffocating a five-year-old” would show up in an autopsy.
It also says Luis Olivo, at one point, held the boy’s head underwater until he couldn’t breathe.
A spokeswoman for the Department of Family and Protective Services confirmed Tuesday that the boy was placed into foster care after the fires.
However, she said she is prevented by law from commenting on the family’s situation beyond that.
Another child, the couple’s 20-month-old daughter, died in March 2023 after suffering a seizure, the affidavit said.
Lisa Olivo is accused of failing to give her the medication she needed to control the seizures, then lying about it to investigators.
Two other children are mentioned in the affidavits, as well.
The reports said the couple has a younger baby who showed signs of abuse, and that another young child died in 2022 while in Lisa Olivo’s care.
The affidavit noted that the cause of that child’s death was unknown and that there was no autopsy done at that time.
There also is no indication of any charges related to the 2022 death.