TX - Troy Khoeler, 7, found dead inside washing machine, Spring, July 2022 *arrests*

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mickey2942 said:
Interesting. Why would someone schedule to start a wash when they are not home? My assumption, is put clothes in washer and start it.

Huh. Too many smart things in the house.

Speaking of which, I wonder if any neighbors have "Ring" cameras...might be some interesting information
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Offhand, my power company charges different rates at different times of the day, so someone might want to start it remotely when the rates were lowest. However, it should be designed to lock when the clothes are put in; if it’s opened again, the remote start should be deactivated.
 
You know, I know this probably won't happen, but I feel like it'd be helpful if it was reported what kind of washing machine it was, and if it was a smart washer. I assume that if it was a smart washer it should have some record of time of use. Of course, we also don't know if it was full when Troy was found.
 
Springrain said:
You know, I know this probably won't happen, but I feel like it'd be helpful if it was reported what kind of washing machine it was, and if it was a smart washer. I assume that if it was a smart washer it should have some record of time of use. Of course, we also don't know if it was full when Troy was found.
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Or even the power company to see if there was a surge around or after the time Troy went missing.
 
mickey2942 said:
Interesting. Why would someone schedule to start a wash when they are not home? My assumption, is put clothes in washer and start it.

Huh. Too many smart things in the house.

Speaking of which, I wonder if any neighbors have "Ring" cameras...might be some interesting information
Click to expand...
I think one of the common use cases is that you didn't have time to wash clothes the night before but you don't want your clothes to sit damp in the washer all day if you start it before leaving for work, so you can schedule it to start, say, a couple of hours before you leave work and then it's ready when you get home to move over to the dryer.
 
If I'm really theorizing here - and I am NOT saying this is the truth, just a fleeting thought - I wonder if it is possible that somebody forced Troy in the washing machine, placed a heavy object (such as a full laundry basket) on top of the washing machine's lid, so that he could not lift it up and get out, but so that there wouldn't be any visible signs of trauma at an autopsy that would immediately point to a homicide. Just another thought bouncing around in my head. I hope we get autopsy results soon so poor little Troy can rest peacefully.
 
I personally am holding out hope that this was a tragic accident. I agree the timeline, as we know it to be, is confusing <modsnip> . I don't understand why some people don't believe that the washing machine could *not have had an agitator and it still be an accident. If the little boy were to fall forward head first into the open w/m the agitator could have been the reason why he couldn't get himself free. I've seen one other person mention positional asphyxia. I wasn't happy per se to see the suggestion, but it was good to see someone else thinking along the same line.
*ETA missed the word not so I added it in to be clear
 
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mickey2942 said:
Interesting. Why would someone schedule to start a wash when they are not home? My assumption, is put clothes in washer and start it.

Huh. Too many smart things in the house.

Speaking of which, I wonder if any neighbors have "Ring" cameras...might be some interesting information
Click to expand...
I used to do this all the time so that the clothes would start washing a couple of hours before I woke in the morning, or toward the end of my work shift, so they'd be ready for me to put in the dryer when I woke up or when I got home from work so they wouldn't sit and mildew. But after this whole thing I'm feeling less comfortable with the idea of using that feature until every human in my home is too large to fit inside the washer...
 
So thinking more on the timeline and the information that mom was working at a hospital, I think the most generous hypothesis I can offer is this (entirely only my own contemplation without any concrete facts to support it, just trying my very best to accept that there is a scenario in which this was a devastating accident):

Dad is working a late shift. Mom gets called in to work right toward the end of Dad's shift - Troy is already asleep given how late it was, so Mom maybe texts Dad to let him know she has to leave and that Troy is in bed. She rushes out the house door to the garage and forgets to lock it because whatever it is she does at the hospital requires her to be on-call and therefore may be urgent. Troy wakes up when he hears the car start / garage door close. He wanders out to the garage to find the car gone. Now awake, Troy is maybe afraid of being alone in the house - he decides to "hide" in case someone breaks in. He gets inside the washing machine but does not realize that the lid seals really well (to keep water inside) - but there is still "air" inside so he doesn't realize that he's quickly being deprived of oxygen and falls "asleep" shortly thereafter, so he doesn't ever even attempt to get out. Dad comes home and correctly concludes that the door is unlocked because Mom was in a hurry, but doesn't think to go check on Troy because Troy doesn't have a history of waking up at night, so Dad goes to bed. Mom gets home a few hours later and checks on Troy, but he's not in his room - she wakes Dad and they both search everywhere they can think to and can't find him, so they call police.

There are many more nefarious things that could have happened here, but I think that there is still a "reasonable doubt" available wherein these parents just made a poor judgement call that had irreversible catastrophic consequences.
 
“It’s just that, I came home, I was fixin’ to walk in the door like right now, I don’t have my keys, but I put my key in the door and then the door opened,” Mr Thomas told KHOU 11. “Anything else after that, I don't know.”

Asked if the door was unlocked already when he found it, Mr Thomas added: “Yeah. But, I dunno.”

Troy’s foster mother declined to speak to reporters.
[snip]
“We don’t know what happened, but we intend to find out,” Lt Robert Minchew said. “Whether he was killed by the washing machine or killed and placed in it, we’re just so far from that. I can’t comment.”
Adoptive father of boy found dead in washing machine says door to home was unlocked

The Harris County Sheriff's Office said, at this time, neither is charged with a crime.
Parents of 7-year-old Spring boy found dead in washing machine released after questioning

My question is what don't you know sir? The door was not locked when you arrived home at quarter of midnight. And then . . . what happened next? how do you "not know"?

Not much more I can say until there is more from LE or MSM. I am watching this case.
 
tlcya said:
“It’s just that, I came home, I was fixin’ to walk in the door like right now, I don’t have my keys, but I put my key in the door and then the door opened,” Mr Thomas told KHOU 11. “Anything else after that, I don't know.”

Asked if the door was unlocked already when he found it, Mr Thomas added: “Yeah. But, I dunno.”

Troy’s foster mother declined to speak to reporters.
[snip]
“We don’t know what happened, but we intend to find out,” Lt Robert Minchew said. “Whether he was killed by the washing machine or killed and placed in it, we’re just so far from that. I can’t comment.”
Adoptive father of boy found dead in washing machine says door to home was unlocked

The Harris County Sheriff's Office said, at this time, neither is charged with a crime.
Parents of 7-year-old Spring boy found dead in washing machine released after questioning

My question is what don't you know sir? The door was not locked when you arrived home at quarter of midnight. And then . . . what happened next? how do you "not know"?

Not much more I can say until there is more from LE or MSM. I am watching this case.
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Hmm re-reading this and rewatching the video, I think Dad may not actually be saying that he noticed the door unlocked, he may be saying that all he knows is he put his key in the door (because that's what he always does) and turned it and it opened and he didn't think anymore about it so it could have been unlocked or not (but maybe he's saying he realizes now that it must have been since Troy was in the garage and probably didn't relock the door behind himself, if it's the kind of door that cannot be opened if the knob is locked). So if he didn't actually notice the door unlocked when he got home and he had already been under the assumption that Troy was in bed, then he may have had even less reason to think there was anything amiss and just went to sleep (hence not knowing anything that might have happened after that - maybe he's saying he doesn't know if Troy was in bed when he got home, doesn't know whether Troy went out to the garage before or after he got home, etc). He seems really out of it in the video - but that doesn't necessarily mean he's trying to hide anything criminal, he could have just be running on less than five hours of sleep and the shock of Troy's death so he's having trouble responding in a way that makes sense. Again, MOO and hypothesizing victim-friendly explanations, not saying that's definitely what had to have happened.
 
Allabouttrial said:
Pictures of washing machine being loaded into the police truck.


View attachment 357132

View attachment 357131
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Yeah, this looks like my LG impellor washer, which has no agitator arm and is large enough that I could probably fit inside it if I tried. Mine does have a delayed start setting but not a remote start - basically you put your clothes and detergent in, close the lid, and set a timer for how many hours until you want it to start (so for example if I am working an 8hr shift and want my clothes to be ready to go into the dryer when I get home from work, I might set it to start 6-7hrs from when I loaded it), and it doesn't "lock" until the water actually starts up, so someone could climb inside it during that timer and then be stuck when the water turns on. I don't believe there is any "in case of emergency" open option from the inside, the only way to unlock is to pause the washer using a button from the outside. The lock is really strong, too. But imo it would be a really weird coincidence if he really did drown in there due to a time delayed cycle.. I suspect suffocation would be more likely if it were an accident. My washer can be thrown off and error out over being unbalanced and not even finish filling if I put in too many bulky items - I imagine a 7yr old child would have quickly resulted in the washer terminating the cycle.
 
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I'm hoping there is an innocent explanation because I'm so very tired of seeing little kids killed.

Could this be similar to a hot car death? Looks like the high in Houston that day was upper 90's. When I lived in NC and GA, we had laundry rooms in the attached garage that were enclosed and not heated or cooled and it was miserable for just the 10 minutes it took to start the clothes. Even if the garage, a possible laundry room and the actual washing machine were not airtight, those factors could cause it to become extremely hot pretty quickly and lead to hyperthermia. I wonder if Troy crawled in and maybe wasn't able to lift the lid (injured arm? too heavy? confused?) or fell asleep as the temp rose and he never woke up?

The timeline and lack of clarity on who was with Troy before the father got home at midnight is what keeps me from really thinking this could be accidental. Forget the door not being locked. If you're stupid enough to leave a 7 year old home alone at night, wouldn't you at least check on them when you got home? My kids would be up watching cartoons and eating candy all night if I didn't make them go to bed. Then add in the unlocked door and it's impossible for me to excuse Dad not checking on Troy. Did Troy leave and not lock the door? Did someone come in through the unlocked door? Was there someone currently in the house? <--- all things I'd wonder if my door was unlocked when I got home. And dad got home at midnight (why so late?), was up at 4 to notice Troy was missing (why was he up 4 hours later? Did he ever even go to sleep?), and called 911 at 5:20? It wouldn't take an hour and 20 minutes to fully check the home, so why so long?

Ugh, hinky, hinky, hinky!!
 
I keep thinking about this in the back of my head. Trying to reframe it to be more empathetic to the family. They adopted him 3 years ago. Maybe a lot has changed in 3 years. Maybe the family is under incredibly tough times that they weren't 3 years ago and doesn't have a safety net or childcare lined up for whatever window of time is between job shifts. Texas doesn't have a minimum age to leave a child at home and maybe they recognize that it's not a great choice but if they're barely making ends meet, maybe there is no other option--it's leave kid home or lose job.

Maybe the dad was just dead tired after coming home from second shift, appreciative of the fact that it's night time, that there is some sort of solace in knowing "Troy's asleep in his room" and that he can just crash, no need to open the door and look in and potentially wake the kid up.

Or maybe this wasn't normal circumstances. Maybe dad had to work a double shift (so even more tired than normal) and just wasn't as mentally alert as he might normally be.

It's a tough time to be a parent, or just a human in general.

ETA: I want this to all be true but also acknowledging that the police have said in numerous places that they are treating it as a potential criminal investigation which, ugh.
 
aimeea said:
I keep thinking about this in the back of my head. Trying to reframe it to be more empathetic to the family. They adopted him 3 years ago. Maybe a lot has changed in 3 years. Maybe the family is under incredibly tough times that they weren't 3 years ago and doesn't have a safety net or childcare lined up for whatever window of time is between job shifts. Texas doesn't have a minimum age to leave a child at home and maybe they recognize that it's not a great choice but if they're barely making ends meet, maybe there is no other option--it's leave kid home or lose job.

Maybe the dad was just dead tired after coming home from second shift, appreciative of the fact that it's night time, that there is some sort of solace in knowing "Troy's asleep in his room" and that he can just crash, no need to open the door and look in and potentially wake the kid up.

Or maybe this wasn't normal circumstances. Maybe dad had to work a double shift (so even more tired than normal) and just wasn't as mentally alert as he might normally be.

It's a tough time to be a parent, or just a human in general.

ETA: I want this to all be true but also acknowledging that the police have said in numerous places that they are treating it as a potential criminal investigation which, ugh.
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7 year olds know how to use a cell phone. So if they were desperate to keep a job leave him with a cell phone. A horrible choice for a parent of course. But if you need to keep the rent paid...
 
tlcya said:
“It’s just that, I came home, I was fixin’ to walk in the door like right now, I don’t have my keys, but I put my key in the door and then the door opened,” Mr Thomas told KHOU 11. “Anything else after that, I don't know.”

Asked if the door was unlocked already when he found it, Mr Thomas added: “Yeah. But, I dunno.”

Troy’s foster mother declined to speak to reporters.
sbmff
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Troy’s foster mother declined to speak to reporters. Ok, but once the foster child has been, adopted, isn't she a mother? She's not a foster parent any longer. So, it should read "Troy's mother declined to speak to reporters"?

I wonder if she is cooperating with investigators.

In the video on the news page linked in your post, a next-door neighbor is interviewed who says the Khoeler family had moved into the neighborhood about 3 weeks earlier. They are renting the home. Also, the reporter states that CPS has history with this family but would not elaborate, at this time."

Parents of 7-year-old Spring boy found dead in washing machine released after questioning
 
DeDee said:
Troy’s foster mother declined to speak to reporters. Ok, but once the foster child has been, adopted, isn't she a mother? She's not a foster parent any longer. So, it should read "Troy's mother declined to speak to reporters"?

I wonder if she is cooperating with investigators.

In the video on the news page linked in your post, a next-door neighbor is interviewed who says the Khoeler family had moved into the neighborhood about 3 weeks earlier. They are renting the home. Also, the reporter states that CPS has history with this family but would not elaborate, at this time."

Parents of 7-year-old Spring boy found dead in washing machine released after questioning
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agree, once adoption was finalized, she was no longer his foster mother. Poor reporting. words matter. at least to me. This snip below doesn't make much sense in light of the report they've only lived there less than a month? While the neighbor who said they just moved in three weeks ago has never seen Troy?

A neighbor, who's lived on the street for more than 40 years, said he'd often seen Troy playing in the neighborhood.
Parents of 7-year-old Spring boy found dead in washing machine released after questioning
 
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