'He mattered to me': Teacher speaks out after adoptive father sentenced in 7-year-old's murder

SPRING, Texas (KTRK) -- A teacher who once tried to raise the alarm about the well-being of her student spoke in court Wednesday, years after the child was found dead in a washing machine at his Spring home.

Troy Khoeler's adoptive father, Jemaine Thomas, 45, was sentenced to 50 years in prison after pleading guilty to murder. His wife, Tiffany Thomas, 38, who also faced charges, pleaded guilty to injury to a child and is awaiting sentencing.

Sheryl Reed, Troy's first-grade teacher, was in the courtroom and delivered an emotional victim impact statement on behalf of the boy she once taught and loved.

"It was my privilege to have him in my class," Reed told ABC13 Wednesday afternoon. "He was special to me, and he mattered to me."

Reed said goodbye to Troy in May 2022 for what was supposed to be a three-month summer break. But just weeks after his 7th birthday that July, Troy was found dead inside a washing machine at his family's home on Rosegate Drive. His parents had reported him missing.

According to the medical examiner, Troy had been beaten, suffocated, and possibly drowned.

During the investigation, detectives recovered disturbing text messages from the parents' phones. In one message, court records state that Tiffany threatened to put Troy "in the oven and turn it on" if he didn't confess to eating her oatmeal cream pies. In another, Jemaine wrote, "I am going to end up killing him. You are going to come home, and he's going to hang from the tree outside."

Reed had long feared something was wrong and reported bruising on his face.

"I am the teacher who called CPS twice," Reed said.

Child Protective Services has never commented on the case or explained why he remained in the home.

More than three years later, Reed stood in court Wednesday morning wearing a shirt featuring Sonic the Hedgehog, Troy's favorite character, and with every movement of her right wrist, displaying a tattoo of the character.

"It says in memory of Troy," her statement began. "Troy may not have been every teacher's dream student, but he was one I was glad to have in my classroom," she said. "He led our class with curiosity, joy, and a fierce love of learning."

It was a small tribute to a boy she remembers not for how he died, but for how he lived.

"He wasn't just the kid found in the washing machine. He had life. He had purpose. He had friends. He was good in school, and he was a good leader," she said.

Reed hopes to start a foundation in Troy's name with a mission centered around child abuse prevention.

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