A Texas couple have been arrested and charged four months after their 7-year-old foster son was found dead in a washing machine, the Harris County sheriff said Tuesday.
Authorities charged Jemaine Thomas, 42, with capital murder and Tiffany Thomas, 35, with injury to a child by omission after police found their 7-year-old son, Troy Koehler, dead in a washing machine at the family's home in Spring, a census-designated place about 24 miles north of Houston, on July 28 after he had been reported missing, Sheriff Ed Gonzalez said.
An autopsy by the Harris County Institute of Forensic Science ruled Troy's death a homicide and said he "suffered new and previous injuries," Gonzalez tweeted.
NBC affiliate KPRC of Houston reported that court documents state Troy experienced asphyxiation, blunt-force trauma and possible drowning and that authorities said he had face injuries and multiple bruises.
Authorities also found blood on the washing machine and elsewhere in the home, KPRC reported.
Court documents say that deputies arrived at the scene around 5:20 a.m. and that the parents told them their son had been missing since 4 a.m., KPRC reported.
Authorities found him inside a top-load washing machine in the garage, KPRC reported.
Documents say the parents were upset that Troy ate some of Tiffany Thomas' oatmeal cream — and threatened to put the boy in an oven until he confessed — and that he ate Jemaine Thomas’ doughnut sticks, KPRC reported.
Text messages included in court documents obtained by KPRC say that, after having found out the boy ate the doughnuts, Jemaine Thomas wrote: “I need to get the [locks]. I’m going to end up kill[ing] him.”
KPRC reported that Troy, a foster child, was adopted in 2019.
Online jail records show that Tiffany Thomas is being held on $150,000 bond and has a court date set for Thursday. Authorities said she did not appear in court upon her arrest "for mental health reasons," KPRC reported.
Jemaine Thomas is listed as an inmate in Harris County Jail records, which list no charges. KPRC reported that authorities said his bond has been set at $2 million.
The sheriff's office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
