After an extensive investigation, on November 15, 2022, a couple in Texas was arrested and charged with the murder of their seven-year-old son in July of this year.
Troy Koehler was found by police in a washing machine in the home’s garage.
The parents, Jermaine Thomas, 42, and Tiffany Thomas, 35, are being held at Harris County jail according to Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez.
The father is charged with capital murder and the mother is charged with injury to a child by omission.
The couple took the boy in as a foster child and adopted him in 2019.
According to Lt. Robert Minchew of the Harris County Sheriff’s Office Homicide Unit, the couple reported the child missing, but when police arrived at the home, they interviewed the parents and decided to search the home and found the deceased boy.
The press asked Lt. Minchew why the police felt they should search the home. He said it was “standard police procedure,” but added that there was no indication of forced entry and the neighborhood had been searched, so, “the next logical step, I believe, is to search the house.”
He said the boy was found in a top-loading washing machine, fully clothed.
At the time of his disappearance, Troy’s father was in the home, while his mother was at work at a nearby hospital.
Court documents reveal that, according to text messages, the father had gotten upset because the boy had eaten his doughnut sticks. He wrote, “I need to get the (locks). I’m going to end up kill(ing) him.”
The documents also say that the young boy had died from asphyxiation, blunt-force trauma, and possible drowning. Police said he had multiple bruises on his body and injuries to his face. Blood was found on the washing machine and in other areas.
The father is held on a $2 million bond, and the mother is held on a $150,000 bond.
