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

imstilla.grandma

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SPRING, Texas – A 7-year-old boy who was reported missing for several hours Thursday was found dead inside of a washing machine at home in Spring, Harris County Precinct 4 Constable Mark Herman says.

Precinct 4 constable deputies responded to a missing persons call in the 4400 block of Rosegate Drive in the Birnamwood subdivision around 5:20 a.m.

When constable deputies arrived at the scene, the parents of Troy Khoeler reportedly told them the 7-year-old had been missing since 4 a.m.

When authorities conducted a search, they found the boy inside of a top-load washing machine located inside the garage around 7:20 a.m., Precinct 4 said.

After the boy’s body was discovered, Precinct 4 said they called deputies with the Harris County Sheriff’s Office to conduct an investigation.

Authorities searched the home and about two hours later discovered the child's body inside a top-loader washer in the garage.

According to KPRC, officials did not reveal any details about how the child may have ended up in the washer, if the lid was closed or if there was water in the drum.

The Harris County Sheriff's Office told KPRC that the boy's parents were detained and are being questioned.

A criminal investigation into the boy's death is ongoing, according to Harris County Constable Mark Herman.


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The Harris County Constable announced that 7-year-old Troy Khoeler was missing in a social media post Thursday morning. The Twitter post, which has a timestamp of 7:27 a.m., said Khoeler had been missing for approximately 2-3 hours.
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“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,” Lt. Robert Minchew, with the Harris County Sheriff’s office homicide unit, told KHOU.

Minchew told KPRC that the boy’s parents were questioned, which is standard procedure. Minchew told the station that Troy was a foster child in the home previously and was adopted in 2019. No other children live in the home.

*No words…yet!
 
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OMG. @imstilla.grandma , the link titled SAD UPDATE states Troy was a former foster child who was adopted in 2019. This breaks my heart.
Waiting for more info.
Look how tall he appears. How could he fit himself into a top loader? Was he put in there? Was the washer then going to be hauled away? So many questions. I hope I’m jumping the gun here. Could he really have crawled in there himself and the parents didn’t know until he was found?

The boy, Troy Khoeler, was first reported missing at roughly 6:30 a.m. local time, at which time he had been missing for 2-3 hours. The boy's father was at home during the time window, while his mother is believed to have been working a shift at a nearby hospital, according to the Harris County Sheriff's Office.
 
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I'm assuming that by mentioning he had been a foster child who was adopted the implication is that his adoptive parents were also his foster parents which leads me to speculate that there are possibly other foster children in the home...
 
I'm assuming that by mentioning he had been a foster child who was adopted the implication is that his adoptive parents were also his foster parents which leads me to speculate that there are possibly other foster children in the home...
@evilwise , I just checked the link in @imstilla.grandma 's first post and sure enough it seems he was a foster child in this home before being adopted, but there are no other children in the home. JMO MOO
 
This had to be one of those washers without the agitator in the middle, right? Because otherwise I cannot imagine a 7 year old being able to fit around one.
They make those? I gotta get out more, but yeah it seems improbable for sure unless they pulled the agitator out. Mine ones out. But why the washer? Dryer would seem easier. Was he trying to hide? Could he have crushed himself like little Harley Dilly? Was he placed in their as punishment? Was he found dirty? I know, these are crazy thoughts… hoping for quick answers.
 
questions I will need to see answered before speculating:

Parents called LE around 5:20am. Parents stated Troy had been missing since 4am. What prompted them to notice he was missing at such a time?

How tall was Troy and how much did he weigh?

What is the make model and year of the washing machine?

you know what, I have read enough, just watched the LEO give a statement on the video at the sad update linked article.

Lt. Robert Minchew with the HCSO Homicide Unit said the parents of the 7-year-old were detained and taken into custody for questioning. Constable deputies said there were “possible signs” that led them to search the home.
SAD UPDATE: 7-year-old boy reported missing for hours found dead inside washing machine at home in Spring, Constable Mark Herman says
 
“We don’t know what happened but we intend to find out,” Herman said during a press conference.

It’s unknown if the child got into the washing machine by himself, whether there was water inside or if the lid was closed, KPRC reports. Investigators also haven’t revealed if there were signs of foul play.

Deputies said Troy’s family does have a history with Child Protective Services, though further details are limited.

His father was home at the time, and his mother had just returned home from working a late-night shift at the hospital when he was reported missing.

Around 7:20 a.m., officials found the boy fully clothed in the top-load washing machine, located in the garage.

No arrests have been made, but at this point, authorities said it was unclear if this was a tragic accident or if something may have happened to the child and he was then placed in the machine.
 
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They make those? I gotta get out more, but yeah it seems improbable for sure unless they pulled the agitator out. Mine ones out. But why the washer? Dryer would seem easier. Was he trying to hide? Could he have crushed himself like little Harley Dilly? Was he placed in their as punishment? Was he found dirty? I know, these are crazy thoughts… hoping for quick answers.
Yes. I just got home from work at a place that has that kind. I don't like them, but they are bigger. I can fit a full queen size sheet set, and 4 big bath/beach towels in there. To reach the bottom, I have to push off from the floor and kind of hang down into the barrel.
 
How horrible! :( I have one of those types of washing machines (LG Direct Drive, top loader, with no agitator), and it's VERY large inside. A child could easily fit in there. Maybe even a very small adult. I'm 5'-6", and have trouble reaching the bottom to get small items, like socks, out. I can imagine a situation where a child climbed into it and covered himself with clothes, thinking it would be fun to "go for a ride". (When I was a kid, I thought it would be fun to "go for a ride" in the dryer, but fortunately I never tried it.)

On my washer, the lid locks immediately after starting it, and it starts making all kinds of noise and begins turning during "sensing" process. It turns rapidly both left and right, suddenly changing directions, as if it's shifting and balancing out the dry clothes. It's quite loud, and surprisingly powerful. Scary-powerful, really. :oops: Once it's finished "sensing", it starts filling with water. The bottom turns independently of the drum, which is what agitates the clothes. Afterwards, the spin cycle is equally scary.

It's not impossible for me to imagine a busy adult not noticing a child in the washer, perhaps hiding under the clothes, starting the washer, and walking away, not realizing anything was wrong, and not hearing the child over the sounds of the washer.

Maybe this is just a tragic accident. I'd hate to think someone harmed him purposely. :(
 
How horrible! :( I have one of those types of washing machines (LG Direct Drive, top loader, with no agitator), and it's VERY large inside. A child could easily fit in there. Maybe even a very small adult. I'm 5'-6", and have trouble reaching the bottom to get small items, like socks, out. I can imagine a situation where a child climbed into it and covered himself with clothes, thinking it would be fun to "go for a ride". (When I was a kid, I thought it would be fun to "go for a ride" in the dryer, but fortunately I never tried it.)

On my washer, the lid locks immediately after starting it, and it starts making all kinds of noise and begins turning during "sensing" process. It turns rapidly both left and right, suddenly changing directions, as if it's shifting and balancing out the dry clothes. It's quite loud, and surprisingly powerful. Scary-powerful, really. :oops: Once it's finished "sensing", it starts filling with water. The bottom turns independently of the drum, which is what agitates the clothes. Afterwards, the spin cycle is equally scary.

It's not impossible for me to imagine a busy adult not noticing a child in the washer, perhaps hiding under the clothes, starting the washer, and walking away, not realizing anything was wrong, and not hearing the child over the sounds of the washer.

Maybe this is just a tragic accident. I'd hate to think someone harmed him purposely. :(
I haven’t researched these yet to see if foul play was concluded in any of these but this type of tragedy has happened before:

A child has died after being found inside a washing machine in a New Zealand city, it has been reported.

The young child was unresponsive when they were found inside the front-loading machine in Christchurch, on South Island, Stuff.co.nzreported.

Such deaths are rare but not unknown.
In 2016 a three-year-old girl in Arksansas, in the US, died after climbing into a washing machine while her mother slept. The appliance started up automatically once the lid closed. The girl’s siblings said they were used to helping with laundry.

And in Delhi, India, in 2017 two twins drowned after climbing into an open machine in the “six minutes” their mother was outside buying detergent. It was thought the boys had climbed onto a pile of clothes to look inside, and then fallen into the water that was already in the device.
 
How horrible! :( I have one of those types of washing machines (LG Direct Drive, top loader, with no agitator), and it's VERY large inside. A child could easily fit in there. Maybe even a very small adult. I'm 5'-6", and have trouble reaching the bottom to get small items, like socks, out. I can imagine a situation where a child climbed into it and covered himself with clothes, thinking it would be fun to "go for a ride". (When I was a kid, I thought it would be fun to "go for a ride" in the dryer, but fortunately I never tried it.)

On my washer, the lid locks immediately after starting it, and it starts making all kinds of noise and begins turning during "sensing" process. It turns rapidly both left and right, suddenly changing directions, as if it's shifting and balancing out the dry clothes. It's quite loud, and surprisingly powerful. Scary-powerful, really. :oops: Once it's finished "sensing", it starts filling with water. The bottom turns independently of the drum, which is what agitates the clothes. Afterwards, the spin cycle is equally scary.

It's not impossible for me to imagine a busy adult not noticing a child in the washer, perhaps hiding under the clothes, starting the washer, and walking away, not realizing anything was wrong, and not hearing the child over the sounds of the washer.

Maybe this is just a tragic accident. I'd hate to think someone harmed him purposely. :(
We have the same one and I've managed to fit myself in it before while playing hide and seek with my son (which now reading this story I realize was probably a horrible idea to put in his head) -- I'm 5'3".
 
Police received a call that he was missing at 5:20 a.m. but Troy could have been missing as early as 4 a.m.

Cops were interviewing the parents for a missing persons’ report and decided to search the house after realizing there were no signs of a door or window being left open.

Troy lived alone in the house with his parents, who adopted him in 2019. He had previously lived in the home as a foster child.

Minchew said there is “not a lot of history” of calls from the house that cops investigators could find.

According to HCSO, the father was at home, and the mom is believed to be a local hospital worker who just got off her shift when he was reported missing. . "I don’t even know what to say. It hurt me to my soul that a child, a 7 year old child would be hurt that way," says neighbor Sheri Barnes.

Troy and Kenyetta Hewett’s son Marvin were schoolmates. "He (Marvin) was heartbroken when we saw it on the news so he actually got one of his toys and he wanted to come and lay it here in remembrance," Hewett says.

An investigation continues as authorities try to find out how this little boy who lived a tough life in foster care has now met such a tragic end, dead at only 7 years old inside the family washing machine.

Spring ISD says little Troy's death is a great loss to the district and counselors are being provided to students and staff impacted by the tragedy.
 
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Jermaine Thomas, the adoptive father of Troy, said he could not find the 7-year-old after returning home just before midnight Wednesday. That’s when he said he noticed his front door was unlocked.

"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 keys to the door handle and then it just open,” he said. “Anything else after that, I don't know."

Meanwhile, Troy's mother, who was also questioned all day Thursday, didn't want to talk when she returned home.

The Harris County Sheriff's Office said at this time neither of them is charged with a crime.

 
....so was mom not working at a nearby hospital then? Or was she and the child was left alone until dad returned at midnight? Did the timeline change from 4am to midnight or was something misreported? Trying hard to give the benefit of the doubt that this was a tragic accident but it's becoming difficult to hold out that hope.
 
A relative of Koehler's father told KRTK that they found out what happened to the 7-year-old boy through the news and were "blindsided" and "heartbroken" by what happened. Spring ISD confirmed that Koehler was a student in the district. One of his former teachers told KRTK that he was a "bright kid who was full of energy."
 

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