A mother in Houston, Texas, who drowned her two children in the bathtub in 2016 has pleaded guilty to their murder and entered into a plea deal that requires her to serve 40 years in prison.
Sheborah Latrice Thomas, 37, had been facing the death penalty for killing her daughter, 5-year-old Kayiana Thomas, and her son, 7-year-old Araylon Thomas, according to a report by Newsfinale.
Prosecutors said Sheborah drowned the two children in the bathtub of the family’s home in southeast Houston on August 12, 2016, before dumping their bodies in trash cans.
She then went to her workplace and tried to pick up her $47 paycheck early and leave town.
Authorities said when she could not leave town, Sheborah tried to dig a hole with just
her hands and a piece of wood,
in her backyard to bury the bodies, but she could not dig a hole large enough.
She finally rolled the bodies under a neighbor’s house and started to pack up her belongings.
Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg said in a statement, " This mother knew what she was doing, she knew it was wrong and we vowed to seek justice for these two children,
"This plea agreement means that family members will not have to testify and this woman cannot appeal her conviction or the sentence," the statement noted.
In the court documents, authorities stated that Thomas fed the kids before drawing them to the bath and drowning them on August 12, 2016.
She called her daughter to get in first after they returned home from daycare.
Once the young girl was in the tub, Thomas grabbed her hair and held her underwater until she stopped moving. She then placed the girl’s limp body on a bed in a nearby room before calling her son in and drowning him.
Police said the boy struggled as his mother held him underwater until he stopped moving. She then placed him next to his sister.
Thomas then wrapped the bodies of the two children in sheets before placing them in trash cans at the back of her house.
With the bodies disposed of, Thomas was seen in security footage walking into The Little Cajun Kitchen restaurant, where she worked.
The Manager Santiago Wesley told the ABC13 outlet at the time, that Thomas was agitated and sweaty before arguing with the staff.
Wesley said that he hired Thomas two months earlier, but had to let her go following an argument.
Referring to an argument they had two weeks before her children's deaths, Wesley said,
"She started complaining about working too much. She was complaining about not spending enough time with her kids and I’m like, “I understand that. If you need time off, whatever, talk to me,” but she just kind of blew up that day,"
Wesley said that Thomas returned to the workplace on August 12 to collect her final paycheck, but he refused to hand it over because it was two days before payday.
He added: ‘She spent two or three hours here, screaming and hollering, trying to get her last check. Just sweating.’
Thomas eventually met a male friend while she was dumping trash in a field, and asked for his help to move out fast.
Noticing that something was wrong the man asked about her children and she calmly replied that she had killed them.
Police spokesman Kese Smith told CBS News: " She was so matter-of-fact about it, he didn’t think she was serious. He thought she was joking, " He continued to help her pack."
However, at some point, the friend became suspicious and again asked Thomas about her children, to which she repeated that she had killed them and showed him where the bodies could be found.
The man then drove her to a nearby police precinct and flagged down an officer.
Later that day she was charged with capital murder and was detained without bond.
Neighbors said they were shocked at the incident, adding that Thomas was always friendly and seemed happy.
" I never would have thought she would do that. She didn’t seem like the type. She was always with a smile and friendly. You bring life into the world, it’s not up to you to take it out. I can’t get over this, " a
neighbor Dee Davis told the Houston Chronicle.
Thomas has a minor criminal history, including three misdemeanor charges of theft, She had also spent three days in jail for failing to identify herself to a peace officer.
According to the Houston Chronicle, her lawyer later disclosed that his client had been diagnosed with schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and severe depression.
Earlier, Thomas lost custody of the children for neglecting them.
And shortly before their deaths, the Houston police had been called to their house five times.
According to the Chronicle, in 2010, Sheborah and her then-husband Danny Ray Thomas were accused of illegal drug use and putting their children, as well as Sheborah’s son from a previous relationship, at risk.
The Child Protective Services at the time investigated them for neglectful supervision and exposing the children to drug use which"‘created an unprotected environment that may compromise their safety."
But Sheborah was later allowed to keep the children after she passed a drug test.
Two years later, a passerby alerted police when he saw two-year-old Keiyana wandering the streets, sitting on top of an intoxicated homeless man, and shaking him. Police said the girl was cold, and her mother was nowhere to be found.
The girl was rushed to Texas Children’s Hospital by Emergency responders and the man to Ben Taub Hospital for psychiatric treatment.
After examination, the hospital confirmed that Keiyana was healthy, and discharged her. She was later brought to a Child Protective Services office and finally, when Thomas could not be located, an emergency temporary conservatorship was granted to the grandmother for both Keiyana and Araylon.
Investigators eventually located
Thomas admitted that she had used marijuana and other hard drugs, and had left her daughter at a bus stop with the homeless man after catching a ride with someone else.
Keiyana’s father could not be found at the time and the following year, the two children were returned to Thomas’s care.
Crime. Relationships.