Parents charged after 7-year-old Harris Co. boy who was reported missing, later found dead in washing machine

HARRIS COUNTY, Texas - The parents of a Harris County boy are now facing charges in connection to the death of 7-year-old Troy Koehler who was found dead in a washing machine after being reported missing.

Jemaine Thomas, 42, and Tiffany Thomas, 35, have been charged. Jemaine is charged with capital murder while Tiffany is charged with injury to a child by omission. 

Court records show Jemaine's bond was set at $2 million, and Tiffany's bond was set at $150,000.

Back on July 28, deputies with the Harris County Sheriff's Office were called out to the 4400 block of Rosegate Drive in reference to Troy being missing.

According to court documents, deputies spoke with Jemaine and Tiffany who said they hadn't seen Troy since the night before they contacted authorities. 

The deputies searched the home and neighborhood for Troy for over an hour, including the use of drone aircraft and canine assets. 

Around 7:10 a.m., the deputies returned inside the home and conducted another search. 

SUGGESTED: Former Exxon Mobil employee charged with taking invasive 'upskirt' photographs of his female employees

That's when, according to the documents, a deputy who was searching the area of the garage and utility room, stated he looked through the lid of the top-loading washing machine and saw Troy's body in the bottom of the wash tub. 

The deputy stated that he yelled out to other deputies and tried to see if little Troy was still breathing. 

While doing so, according to court documents, the deputy was pushed out of the way by Jemaine, who then reached into the washing machine and pulled the child out of the washer. 

Deputies told Jemaine to place Troy on the floor and CPR was immediately began by other deputies while Jemaine and Tiffany were removed and detained. 

While at the scene, one deputy who went into the home to help Troy, stated he observed Troy's clothing to be damp, and he noted the odor of urine coming from the body. Troy's pants were also found to be pulled down to his knees, exposing his underwear and the presence of bruises to his upper legs. 

While processing the scene, authorities determined that the washing machine had likely not ran through a wash cycle with Troy inside. 

Troy's body was taken to the Harris County Institute of Forensic Sciences where it was determined that Troy suffered new and previous injuries. His death was ruled a homicide. 

SUGGESTED: Bus carrying migrants from Texas will arrive in Philadelphia Wednesday morning, Gov. Abbott says

Court documents stated that during the investigation it was learned that two prior CPS investigations were initiated by school personnel, alerting authorities to suspicious injuries on Troy. The investigations, which both occurred in 2022, were related to physical abuse, which included blackened eyes and facial bruising. 

Upon review of cellular information, court documents revealed investigators found a chat thread between the parents' cellular telephones in which both parents expressed deep contempt for Troy. Within the messages, a text message was observed by Tiffany who told Jemaine that Troy told her the truth about eating her oatmeal creme pies because she "threatened to put him in the stove and turn it on." 

Also, Jemaine told Tiffany, when he learned Troy had eaten his donut ticket, that "I need to get the (locks). I'm going to end up kill him. You going to come home and he going to be hang from the f*** tree outside."

Tiffany also stated on July 7, "F*** that I'm for not doing s*** for his birthday. I'm so sick of this boy. Like I'm really tired of him and don't want him in this house no more."

Then on July 25, Tiffany stated, "This boy got life f***** up. Why I come out the restroom from taking my shower and his funky a** is in the living room watching TV." 

Based on the information revealed, Jemaine and Tiffany Thomas have been charged.