– A Texas woman was sentenced to 40 years in prison this week in exchange for pleading guilty to killing her two children in 2018 and burying them under her neighbor’s house.
In a statement, the Harris County District Attorney’s Office announced Sheborah Latrice Thomas pleaded guilty to two counts of murder Tuesday, Feb. 28, for the deaths of 5-year-old Kayiana Thomas and 7-year-old Araylon “Ray Ray” Thomas.
According to the statement, on Aug. 12, 2016, Thomas drowned Kayiana in the bathtub at their home on the 3000 block of Tierwester. After killing Kayiana, Thomas made Ray Ray come to the bathroom, where she also drowned him.
After their deaths, Thomas reportedly left their bodies in a trash can behind their house, then left for work and attempted to pick up her paycheck early. Thomas reportedly could not leave Houston, so she started digging a hole in her backyard to bury Ray Ray and Kayiana, but she “couldn’t dig a hole large enough.” Instead, Thomas “rolled the bodies under a neighbor’s house.”
The District Attorney’s Office said Thomas admitted to a friend that she drowned her son and daughter and left their bodies under her neighbor’s house, but the friend “thought it was a joke.”
The friend “asked more questions and she apparently showed him where the bodies could be found.”
He then called Houston Police, and Thomas was arrested.
According to KHOU-TV, Thomas’ husband and Kayiana and Ray Ray’s father was shot and killed by Harris County deputies in March 2018.
District Attorney Kim Ogg said in the statement Thomas cannot appeal her conviction or sentence due to her plea.
Ogg wrote, “This mother knew what she was doing, she knew it was wrong, and we vowed to seek justice for these two children.”
