When Texas police were called to the home of Jemaine and Tiffany Thomas after they reported a missing child, no one could’ve predicted what they found. Stuffed inside a top-load washing machine was a 7-year-old boy, the Thomas family’s own son.
Suggested Reading
Days after the 2022 incident, Police were unsure if Troy Koehler had fallen into the washing appliance by accident or was placed there by someone else, according to press conference. But following an autopsy report indicating signs of abuse, Thomas and his wife quickly became the subjects of the investigation.
Court documents obtained by KPRC show Koehler suffered from asphyxiation, blunt-force trauma and possible drowning. He had bruises on his body and face, authorities, and investigators found blood on the washing machine and throughout the home.
The couple was arrested in Nov. 2022, according to the Harris County Sheriff. Thomas was charged with capital murder, with a bond set at $2 million. Tiffany’s bond was set at $150,000 on an injury to a child by omission charge. They fostered Koehler and then adopted him in 2019, PEOPLE reported.
Prosecutors said the child was killed after the father caught him eating his and his wife’s snacks. After eating Tiffany’s oatmeal cream pies, Koehler was threatened to be put inside of an oven until he confessed, KPRC reported. Text messages submitted by the prosecution in court also showed Thomas threatening to “get the [locks],” adding “I’m going to end up kill[ing] him” when the child ate his doughnut sticks.
Thomas and Tiffany both pleaded guilty to their crimes. Thomas has just been sentenced to 50 years in prison. His wife’s sentencing hearing is scheduled for Sept. 10. according to the Harris County District Attorney’s Office. In court, the seven-year-old’s first grader teacher said, “Today a reader, tomorrow a leader. That was always Troy. He loved reading. If he finished early, he’d head straight to our class library. Then he’d go right back to share those stories with classmates… always lifting others up with the joy he carried.”
She continued, “Now, we will never know what [Koehler] could have become. His future, his dreams, his life—were stolen by someone who was supposed to love, protect, and nurture him,” according to the Harris County District Attorney’s Office.
Koehler would’ve been headed to the fifth grader this upcoming school year.
Straight From 
Sign up for our free daily newsletter.