HOUSTON — A Houston mother who drowned her two children, ages 5 and 7, in 2016 pleaded guilty Monday to two counts of murder.
Sheborah Latrice Thomas was sentenced to 40 years in prison, Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg said.
“This mother knew what she was doing, she knew it was wrong, and we vowed to seek justice for these two children,” Ogg said. “This plea agreement means that family members will not have to testify, and this woman cannot appeal her conviction or the sentence.”
Thomas drowned her daughter, Kayiana Thomas, 5, in the bathtub of the family’s home on Tierwester in southeast Houston on Aug. 12, 2016. She put her daughter’s body on a bed, then called her son, Araylon “Ray Ray” Thomas, 7, to the bathroom and drowned him,” the Harris County District Attorney’s office said.
A day later, she put the children’s bodies into a trashcan behind the house and went to her job and tried to get her paycheck early, according to the DA’s office.
When she couldn’t leave town, Thomas tried to dig a hole to bury her children’s bodies, but she couldn’t dig a hole big enough. That’s when she put their bodies under a neighbor’s house.
The DA’s office said Thomas started packing up her house and throwing things away. She also told a friend she had drowned the children and had to leave town, but the friend thought Thomas was joking. He started asking questions when he realized she wasn’t joking and she apparently showed him where the bodies could be found. He called Houston police.
Thomas’ husband, Danny Ray Thomas was shot and killed by police on March 22, 2018, during an episode in Greenspoint that was caught on camera.
Video showed Thomas with his pants pulled down after he hit cars that were passing by with foam coming from his mouth.
HCSO deputy Cameron Brewer shot and killed Danny, who was not armed at the time, after Brewer said he didn’t respond to a Taser. Brewer later said he feared for his life.
The incident was a result of Danny Thomas struggling to cope with the death of his children at the hands of his wife, his family said.
“Justice means that Sheborah Thomas is being held responsible for taking these children’s lives,” O’Donnell said.
Moss agreed: “It gives the family closure, and the children can finally be at rest.”