Father Gets 800 Years For Sexual Abuse Of Daughters

NEW BOSTON, Texas–A man accused of sexually abusing multiple girls, including his own daughters, going back more than two decades was sentenced to 800 years in prison Friday after being found guilty by a Bowie County jury of 40 counts of sexual assault of a child.

Horace Tyrone Colbert, 56, was sentenced to maximum 20-year terms on each of the 40 counts. The terms will run consecutively for a total sentence of 800 years, 202nd District Judge John Tidwell ordered.

Bowie County District Attorney-elect Kelley Crisp said Monday in an email to TXK Today, “The Bowie County District Attorney’s Office appreciates this jury, and their attention to the disturbing evidence and testimony presented in this case.”  

“Horace Colbert repeatedly and continuously sexually abused multiple family members over the course of several decades,” Crisp said. “These victims testified to 12 strangers about the trauma caused by this defendant’s criminal actions and the extraordinary efforts they have undertaken to recover from the profound psychological consequences of the horrific sexual abuse. Their bravery cannot be overstated.”

Crisp said the jury “rightly” gave Colbert the maximum on each count “for his disgusting and deviant behavior.”

“Because of Judge Tidwell’s decision to run the sentences on each count consecutively, Colbert will never again see another free day,” Crisp said. “I would like to commend the work of Investigator Cliff Harris for his sustained commitment and unwavering dedication to the successful outcome of this case. With Horace Colbert no longer in our community, Bowie County is a safer place.”

A video that one of the alleged victims managed to record on a cell phone in 2017 of Colbert sexually assaulting her at his home was played for the jury at trial.

The case first came to the attention of law enforcement in 2017 but family members acting on Colbert’s behalf removed the girls from the jurisdiction shortly after they made a report to Texarkana Texas Police Department officers, according to the Bowie County District Attorney’s Office. 

After Colbert heard from other family members about the recording, he reportedly became enraged and beat one of the girls, court records show. The girls then ran from Colbert’s home to the Texarkana Texas Police Department’s Special Operations and Training Center and made the initial report.

After the girls made the report to police, they were released to their aunt, Colbert’s brother. The aunt reported that the girls had run away from her home in Kilgore, Texas, when they had not. Kilgore police reportedly located the girls at their aunt’s house in Kilgore in June 2017 and the aunt allegedly refused to answer questions when asked why she made a false report and why they had not been taken to scheduled appointments with a forensic interviewer in Texarkana.

Shortly after that, the aunt allegedly accepted cash from Colbert at a gas station and put each girl on a plane home; one to Indianapolis and the other to the U.S. Virgin Islands. Seven years later, in 2024, a detective was able to locate both girls, now adults, and the case against Colbert began to move forward.

Colbert was initially indicted on two counts of sexual assault of a child. The charge is punishable by two to twenty years in prison. The state attempted to negotiate a plea with Colbert in hopes of sparing the victims the trauma of testifying at trial, but Colbert refused the plea offer, the DA’s office said.

Because of the sheer number of incidences of alleged assault, the District Attorney’s office took the case back to the grand jury and Colbert was indicted for dozens more counts of sexual assault.

One of the then-teen daughters of Colbert began living with him in 2015 and the second sister came to Colbert’s residence in 2017. Colbert, who had been routinely assaulting the first sister, almost immediately began sexually assaulting the second sister as well.

The two girls contacted a third sister who told them they should record Colbert. She said they needed the video proof because when it had happened to her, nobody would believe her, according to court records.

Seven years after it was recorded, the video of Colbert sexually assaulting one of his daughters was turned over to police in Texarkana. On the video, Colbert could be heard and seen opening a bottle of lubricant before he begins raping his daughter in front of an infant who was in the room. At the end of the video, the daughter who had just been sexually abused could be seen crying and picking up the phone from where it had been set up to record behind a shoe box.

Colbert allegedly sent one daughter sexually explicit text messages when she was in ninth grade and had followed her into a bathroom, asking for sexual contact, according to court records.

A notice filed by the state alleges Colbert was sexually inappropriate with additional alleged victims as well, including one who reported that she was sexually abused at the age of 5 by Colbert when he was a 13-year-old.

Crisp and Assistant District Attorney Bradley Akins represented the state. Colbert was represented by the Bowie County Public Defender’s Office.