On July 28, 2022, little Troy Koehler, seven years old, was reported missing. 

According to Lt. Robert Minchew of the Harris County Sheriff’s Office Homicide Unit, his adoptive parents, Jermaine Thomas, 42, and Tiffany Thomas, 35, reported the boy missing. When police arrived at the Harris County, Texas home, they questioned the parents and decided to search the house.

Troy Koehler was subsequently found by police in a washing machine in the home’s garage.

The press asked Lt. Minchew why the police felt they should search the home. He said it was “standard police procedure,” and 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 the top-loading washing machine, fully clothed.

At the time of his “disappearance,” Troy’s father was at home, and his mother was at work at a nearby hospital.

The couple had taken the boy in as a foster child and adopted him in 2019.

After an extensive police investigation, on November 15, 2022, almost four months later, the parents were arrested and charged with Troy’s murder. They 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.

Court documents state that, according to text messages, the father had gotten enraged 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 reveal information from the coroner’s report. They say that Troy 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 being held on a $2 million bond, and the mother is being held on a $150,000 bond.