Parents Drown Adopted Son Over Oatmeal Pies
Parents Drown Adopted Son Over Oatmeal Pies
Seven-year-old Troy Kohler was described as an outgoing boy with a big smile that loved cartoons. However, Troy had a pretty rough start to life. In 2015, as a newborn, he showed symptoms of drug withdrawal after his biological mother admitted to abusing hydrocodone and Xanax without a prescription during her pregnancy. He was also hospitalized and there were concerns that his mother did not understand his feeding schedule. Both mother and child tested positive for the aforementioned drugs and Troy was eventually removed from his mother’s care. While in foster care, Troy suffered mistreatment at the hands of his foster parents. However, Troy was eventually adopted by Tiffany and Jermaine Thomas in 2019.
But Troy’s rough start at life didn’t end with what was supposed to be a fairy tale adoption. In January of 2022, CPS received a report that bruises were noticed around the little boy’s eyes. He claimed he was hit by a toy while playing with his cousin, but his story did not seem consistent with his wounds, nor could he give details about his cousin or what they were doing. Jermaine backed up his son’s claim, stating that he was injured while playing football. CPS investigators were also told that Troy had gotten a black eye when he fell off his bed and hit his face on a nightstand two months before that. The family explained away a burn mark found on Troy’s back, saying it happened during a family gathering in 2020.
It was also noted that Troy was flinching during his interactions with investigators. CPS investigated again on March 31st of the same year after the staff at Troy’s school reported bruises on his face. Investigators found a red mark covering half his eyelid along with a fingernail imprint on his neck. Troy gave investigators different explanations, saying he’d fallen on concrete after his cousin had pushed him, while his parents claimed the facial marks came from playing football and wrestling with his cousins. Troy mentioned that his adoptive father had tried to break his laptop and asked that he not bring it home. Again, the boy was described as antsy and skittish during that interview. The safety assessment from the January investigation was determined as low risk. The second investigation, which was closed in May, bumped the risk assessment up to moderate.
At around 5:19 a.m., Deputies Bowder and Chavez with the Harris County Sheriff’s Office were dispatched to the home located at 4411 Rosegate Drive in Spring, Texas, concerning a possible missing 7-year-old boy. The boy in question, Troy Kohler. Upon arriving at the scene, Jermaine told investigators that he discovered his son was missing at approximately 4:00 a.m. while he was getting ready for work. Jermaine worked at Memorial Hermann Health System, where he was employed as a chef. He claimed the last time he was with Troy was between 7:30 and 8:30 the night prior while watching TV.
According to Tiffany, she’d last seen Troy when she put him to bed sometime before 9:00 p.m., right before she left for work. He was last seen wearing a pair of blue pants and a blue shirt, not pajamas or any sort of sleepwear. The deputies launched a search of the home using dogs and drones. However, the search was called off after Deputy Chavez found Troy in one of the most unlikely of places: inside of the LG top-loading washing machine located in the family’s garage. Deputy Chavez yelled out to other officers and tried to figure out if Troy was still breathing. While doing so, Jermaine pushed him out of the way, reached into the washing machine, and pulled his son out. Deputy Chavez stated that Jermaine was instructed to put the boy on the floor and CPR was immediately administered by the other deputies trying to save Troy’s life.
Troy’s arms and legs were warm, but his torso was cold to the touch. Paramedics arrived shortly after, but unfortunately, there was nothing they could do. At approximately 7:22 a.m., 7-year-old Troy Kohler was pronounced dead. Corporal Gonzalez, who had just arrived on the scene, stated that he observed blood around Troy’s nose and a large bump on his forehead just over the right eye. His clothing was damp, and he noted the odor of urine emanating from his body. Corporal Gonzalez stated that Troy’s pants were pulled down to his knees, exposing his underwear and the presence of bruises on his upper legs. Blood was visible at the base of the wash tub, which according to deputies indicated that the machine had not been turned on while the boy was inside. Their notion was reinforced by the smell of urine that emanated from Troy’s body. Blood spatter was also found on a door frame and a cardboard box lid, both of which were in the kitchen. DNA analysis for the blood samples taken from the home are still pending as of the date of this recording.
Troy’s body was examined at the scene by forensic investigators Bertholo and Deer of the HCIFS medical examiner’s office. The examination of Troy revealed multiple bruises and patterned scars all over his body along with facial injuries. Blood was visible around his mouth and his nostrils. Troy was transported to the HCIFS facility and an autopsy was performed on July 29th, 2022 by Dr. Daron Fatak. He found that Troy suffered from asphyxiation and possible drowning as evidenced by the sphenoid sinus containing watery fluid and mucosal petechiae. Additionally, Dr. Fatak indicated that Troy suffered both remote and new blunt force trauma. He stated that these findings in correlation with the findings of the police investigation indicate that the best manner of classification for Troy’s death was homicide.
Both parents were transported to the homicide unit office where they provided voluntary non-custodial video-recorded statements. At this juncture, their timeline of events began to differ from what they initially told the deputies that first responded to their home. Tiffany allegedly said that approximately 1:00 in the morning, Jermaine sent her a text stating that Troy was gone and the front door of the home was open. Tiffany said she remembered locking the doors before leaving for work at approximately 6:30 the prior evening. She claimed that she made sure Troy had dinner and then left for work in a Lyft. Previously, she had mentioned that she had last seen Troy closer to 9:00 p.m. Tiffany attempted to call Jermaine several times, but was unable to get in touch with him until approximately 4:00 a.m. She claimed that she got a ride home from a coworker and immediately called 911.
Jermaine stated that he got home from work at approximately 11:00 the prior evening and found the door unlocked. “I’m… I don’t have my keys, but I put my key in the door and then the door open. But anything else after that, I don’t know.” He claimed to have yelled for Troy, but got no answer. He previously told the deputies that the last time he saw the little boy was between 7:30 and 8:30 the night prior, but clarified that he had a second job at the Hyatt Hotel in the Woodlands. He claimed that he sent his wife a text to see if she knew where their son was. Now, rather than look for Troy or call 911, he stated that he went to sleep until 4:00 the following morning, missing several calls from his wife.
Obviously, there were a lot of discrepancies between the couple’s initial statements to deputies and their statements made at the station. Now, other than the obvious red flags that we’ve already outlined, the two pretty much alluded to the fact that they left Troy unsupervised for a period of time while they were working. In a second interview with investigators, Jermaine alleged that on July 24th, he disciplined Troy by striking him several times on the butt with an open hand. Now, according to Jermaine, one of the strikes missed due to the fact that Troy was jumping around allegedly, which caused him to strike him in the back, after which he claims he immediately stopped the punishment. It is unclear as to why Jermaine volunteered this information. Perhaps it was to create a cover story for what investigators were going to find next. Either way, investigators quickly learned about the prior CPS involvement at the Thomas household and dug deeper.
Even more bizarre, just weeks after Troy’s death, Jermaine and Tiffany moved out of the home that they had just purchased. Senior Deputy David Crane reviewed surveillance footage from neighboring homes, one of which captured the driveway and front yard of 4411 Rosegate Drive. He observed Tiffany leave the home at approximately 6:39 p.m. on the evening of July 27th in a Lyft. Now, between 8:14 and 8:35 that same evening, Troy was seen on video running around outside of the residence. He was alone, and he appeared to be engaged in a hide-and-seek type play with himself, but based on his mannerisms, he did not appear to be in any distress, nor did he seem injured. Next, Jermaine is seen on the video returning home at approximately 12:46 in the early morning hours of July 28th. He was never observed again outside the house. The video surveillance included audio and there was never any sort of audible shout which would have been consistent with someone searching for their missing son. At approximately 5:01 in the morning, Tiffany arrived home. No activity was observed or heard until the arrival of law enforcement at 5:26. No one else approached or departed the home between the hours of 6:00 p.m. on July 27th through 5:02 a.m. on July 28th.
Senior Deputy Crane also contacted LG, the manufacturer of the top-loading washing machine that Troy was discovered inside. He learned that the machine was equipped with a locking lid and would not operate unless the lid was lowered and the start button was pressed. This meant it would have been impossible for Troy to accidentally run himself through a wash cycle unassisted. So, let’s be clear here. We do not believe that Troy was run through this washing machine and killed. Evidence collected by investigators has debunked this theory. Rather, he sustained multiple traumatic injuries and was placed within the washing machine in an attempt to hide his body.
We cover a lot of stories on this channel where the parents do heinous things for a myriad of pointless reasons, but this case takes the cake, quite literally. A review of the parents’ phones showed Tiffany and Jermaine sending multiple texts about harming Troy. Within the messages, Tiffany is observed telling Jermaine that Troy told her the truth about eating her oatmeal cream pies only because she threatened to put him in the stove and turn it on. Yes, you heard this correctly. Tiffany threatened to cook her adopted son over Little Debbie snacks. Tiffany, you live three miles away from a Dollar General. It will be okay. But I continue. Jermaine tells Tiffany that when he learned that Troy had eaten his doughnut sticks that “I need to get the locks. I’m going to end up killing him. You’re going to come home and he’s going to be hanging from the effing tree outside.” On July 7th, Tiffany tells Jermaine, “F that. I’m not doing crap for his birthday. I’m so sick of this boy. Like, I’m really tired of him and I don’t want him in this house no more.” And finally, on July 25th, just 3 days before Troy was found dead in the family’s washing machine, Tiffany tells Jermaine, “This boy got life effed up. Why, I come out of the restroom from taking my shower and his funky ass in the living room watching TV.” Allegedly, Troy also liked to play the couple’s video games, and apparently that was an issue.
Due to all of the damning evidence found both at the scene and on the couple’s cell phones and the surveillance collected from their neighbor, Jermaine Thomas was taken into custody on Tuesday, November 15th, 2022, a full 3 and 1/2 months after Troy’s body was discovered. He was charged with one count of capital homicide. Tiffany Thomas was also arrested and charged with one count of injury to a child by omission. The couple are currently being held at the Harris County Jail. Jermaine Thomas is currently being held on a $2 million bond while Tiffany is being held on $150,000. If Jermaine does manage to post bond, the judge presiding over the case has stated that she will allow him to resume his duties as a chef at Memorial Hermann.
A GoFundMe claiming to benefit Troy’s final expenses was started by a woman named Lata Lofton Adams, who claims to be a relative. The fundraiser describes Troy as full of personality, always smiling, always happy, always full of excitement, ready to go on his next adventure. He loved cheese pizza and cartoons and playing with his toys. The little boy’s burial details are currently unknown, but some speculate that he was laid to rest in a cemetery in nearby Pearland, Texas. As we’re unable to fully vet this fundraiser, we urge you to proceed with caution, especially due to the circumstances surrounding his case.
Troy’s story leaves us with so many unanswered questions, including why Jermaine and Tiffany adopted a little boy that they so clearly resented. Why didn’t they ever change his last name to Thomas? Did Jermaine snap on Troy because he wet his pants? Time and time again, history proves that some people just aren’t meant to be parents. And if having your Little Debbie snacks eaten or your video games played with sends you into a homicidal rage, then maybe being a parent isn’t for you.
