The child’s former teacher delivered powerful testimony about a boy who would have been starting fifth grade this year.
SPRING, Texas — Nearly three years to the day after 7-year-old Troy Koehler was found dead inside a washing machine at his family’s Spring home, his adoptive father, Jermaine Thomas, learned his punishment.
On Wednesday morning, Thomas was sentenced to 50 years in prison for the murder.
Troy was discovered dead on July 28, 2022, at his family’s home on Rosegate Drive in the Birnam Wood subdivision in Spring. The case began when Thomas reported the boy missing after claiming he returned home just before midnight and found his front door unlocked. Precinct 4 deputies later found Troy’s fully clothed but lifeless body inside the washing machine.
According to Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez, an autopsy showed that Troy had suffered both new and old injuries before his death, which was ruled a homicide by the Harris County Institute of Forensic Sciences. The Texas Department of Family and Protective Services confirmed that CPS had previous history with the family.
Jermaine Thomas’ wife, Tiffany Thomas, was charged with injury to a child by omission. She is trying to be placed on community supervision.
The young boy would have been entering fifth grade this year.
“Now, we will never know what he could have become,” Troy’s former first grade teacher, Sheryl Reed, said in court. “His future, his dreams, his life–were stolen by someone who was supposed to love, protect, and nurture him.”
Reed painted a picture of Troy as an enthusiastic student who loved reading and helping others. She described how he would rush to the class library whenever he finished his work early and then share those stories with his classmates.
“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,” Reed told the court.
“He was the son I never had. I loved that boy and wanted to see him succeed,” Reed said.
Reed described Troy as a lively, joyful child who loved to read and had a soft spot for Sonic the Hedgehog.
“A big ball of energy,” she said. “Loved to read, loved to play, and help others.”
Reed’s victim impact statement was described as one that “will forever stay with those who heard it” in court.
During her statement, Reed said she made eye contact with Thomas.
“He didn’t have tears,” she said. “He did give me some eye contact.”
“He knows what he did. He didn’t get away with it.”
When asked why she chose to speak, Reed said she wanted people to know Troy’s life mattered.
“He wasn’t just a 7-year-old boy found in a washing machine,” she said. “I wanted to speak for Troy and advocate for him.”
With Thomas now behind bars, Reed said she hopes he thinks about Troy every day.
“I told him that,” she said. “And I hope he thinks about it.”
She also hopes to start a foundation in Troy’s name to advocate for children facing abuse and neglect.