Houston mother pleads guilty to drowning her 2 children in bathtub, sentenced to 40 years in prison

HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- A Houston mother who admitted to drowning her 5- and 7-year-old children in the Third Ward in 2016 was sentenced to 40 years in prison on Monday.

Sheborah Latrice Thomas received the sentence in exchange for a guilty plea for two counts of murder.

"This mother knew what she was doing, she knew it was wrong, and we vowed to seek justice for these two children," Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg said. "This plea agreement means that family members will not have to testify and this woman cannot appeal her conviction or the sentence."

Sheborah drowned her daughter, 5-year-old Kayiana Thomas, in the bathtub at a home in the 3000 block of Tierwester on Aug. 12, 2016, the district attorney's office said.

She put her daughter's body on a bed and called her 7-year-old son, Araylon "Ray Ray" Thomas to the bathroom. She then drowned him, too, according to the DA's office.

REPORT FROM 2016: CPS visited home before kids' tub death

A man close to Sheborah Thomas sheds light on what happened in the day leading up to when she allegedly drowned two of her children in the tub.

A day later, Sheborah reportedly put the children's bodies in a trashcan behind her house and then went to her job to try and get her paycheck early.

Because she was unable to leave town, the DA's office said Sheborah tried to dig a hole for the bodies, but when she couldn't dig a hole large enough, she rolled the bodies under a neighbor's house. Sheborah then started packing up her house and throwing things away.

Sheborah reportedly told a friend what she had done and that she had to leave town, but the friend thought she was joking. When he realized she was being serious, the friend asked more questions, and Sheborah showed him where the bodies could be found, the DA's office said.

The friend then called Houston police.

According to a prior report from ABC13, Thomas also has a 12-year-old son, but he was not home at the time of the drownings.

In 2012, Sheborah temporarily lost custody of the children after one of them was found wandering the streets with an intoxicated homeless man.

The day before Sheborah allegedly killed her children, a family friend said Child Protective Services and Houston police also stopped to pay the family a visit.

ORIGINAL REPORT: HPD: Mother drowned two children in bathtub; due in court

The Houston woman accused of drowning two children was previously arrested for theft and failure to identify to a police officer.