Authorities said in a statement that the adopted father of a young child in Texas had learned what would happen to him for killing the 7-year-old boy. The sentence had been “justice served.”
The Harris County District Attorney’s Office said that 45-year-old Jemaine Thomas was given a 50-year prison term on Wednesday for killing young Troy Koehler in the summer of 2022. Thomas pleaded guilty to murder before taking the sentence, according to court records.
It wasn’t until the morning of July 28, 2022, that Harris County Sheriff’s Office officers went to a home on the 4400 block of Rosegate Drive because a child was missing. That’s when the police started their investigation. After some time, police found Koehler in a washing machine. He was declared dead, according to Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez at the time.
More information about how the police got to the house showed that the disturbing body was found there.
A probable cause affidavit for Thomas’ arrest said that the search, which used dogs and drones, stopped when a deputy found Koehler’s body at the bottom of a tub inside a top-loading washing machine in the garage and utility room of the house.
The first time Thomas told police that his son was missing was when he woke up at 4 a.m. to get ready for work, according to the statement. Thomas said that he last saw his son between 7:30 and 8:30 p.m. the night before. Koehler’s mother, Tiffany Thomas, 38, is said to have said that she hadn’t seen her son since he went to bed before 9 p.m. the night before.
Tiffany Thomas was also charged with killing her son. The charge against her was child abuse, and she pleaded guilty in February. She is being held on $100,000 bond. The judge will likely decide her fate on September 10.
That summer morning is also linked to her arrest. It is said that when the investigator found the child’s body, he or she “yelled out to other deputies and tried to assess if [the child] was breathing.”
“While doing so, [the deputy] stated he was pushed out of the way by the Jemaine Thomas, who reached into the washing machine and pulled the child out of the washer,” the document said. The officer said that Jemaine Thomas was told to put the boy on the ground, and other deputies started CPR right away.
He said that the child’s arms and legs were “warm to the touch” but that his body was “cold.” The police officer also saw blood around the child’s nose and a big bump on his forehead over his right eye. As the statement said, the smell of urine was “emanating from the body,” and the boy’s clothes were wet.
His “pants were pulled down to his knees, exposing his underwear and the presence of bruises on his upper legs,” the document said. The police also thought the washing machine wasn’t on while the boy was inside because there was blood and urine at the base of the tub.
A forensic examiner looked at Koehler’s body after he was declared dead. The boy had “asphyxiation” and may have drowned, as well as “both remote and new blunt force trauma that was indicative of inflicted trauma.” The autopsy and the original investigation by the sheriff’s office both showed that the death was caused by murder.
Tiffany Thomas is said to have told police that around 1 a.m. that morning, Jemaine Thomas texted her that Koehler was gone and the front door to the house was open. She did say, though, that she remembers locking the doors before going to work the night before, around 6:30 p.m. In the statement, she also said that she tried to call Jemaine Thomas but that he did not answer.
Then Jemaine Thomas told what had happened. He was said to have said that he got home from work around 11 p.m. and yelled for his son but didn’t hear him. His story goes that he then texted his wife to see if she knew where Koehler was. He went to sleep until 4 a.m., when he woke up to find that he’d missed several calls from his wife.
Later, he reportedly admitted hitting the child on the buttocks with an open hand as a punishment on July 24, 2022. He said that at one point he “missed” and hit the child in the back.
It is said that looking at the parents’ cellphone information showed proof of motive. The parents “expressed deep contempt” for the victim in a text message thread between the two, the statement said.
Tiffany Thomas is said to have told Jemaine Thomas that Koehler “told her the truth about eating her oatmeal cream pies only because she ‘threatened to put him in the stove and turn it on.'” Tiffany Thomas says that Jemaine Thomas told her, “I need to get the locks” when he found out that Koehler had eaten his donut sticks. I’m going to kill him in the end. “When you get home, he’ll be hanging from the f– tree outside,” the statement says.
It is said that Tiffany Thomas said, “F– that” on July 7, 2022. I think his birthday shouldn’t be a big deal. I’m fed up with this boy. I’m sick of him and don’t want him in the house anymore. She wrote, “This boy got life f–ed up,” on July 25, 2022, three days before Koehler’s body was found. “Why do I come out of the bathroom after taking a shower and find his s**t in the living room watching TV?”
Koehler was adopted in 2019 from a foster family, according to KPRC, an NBC station in Houston. Child Protective Services in Texas had a history with the family.
In a statement about Jemaine Thomas’s sentence, the Harris County District Attorney’s Office said that Koehler would have been in the fifth grade this year.
Sharon Reed, Troy’s popular first-grade teacher, said in court this morning, “Now, we will never know what he could have become.” The district attorney’s office said, “His future, his dreams, and his life were taken by someone who was supposed to love, protect, and care for him.” “Ms. Reed’s victim impact statement will forever stay with those who heard it in the 184th district court this morning.”
People remembered the child as a huge reader who was always happy and loved telling stories to his or her friends. “He also led me. Reed is said to have said, “He made me a better teacher, a better mentor, and a better person.” “His energy, his smile, and his love for learning reminded me daily why I chose this path.”
The DA’s office wrote, “Troy, you changed so many lives in your short time here.” “May the people who love you be at peace.” “Justice was done.”
