[Agapeti]

http://abc13.com/news/hpd-mother-dro...3/#videoplayer

HOUSTON (KTRK) --
A mother confessed to drowning her own children in a bathtub in their central Houston home, police say.

According to HPD spokesperson Kese Smith, one of the woman's friends spotted her throwing things out of her house into an adjacent field on Sunday morning.

Authorities say she told the man she had to move today and asked him to help her move. As they packed her belongings, he asked about her children, wanting to know where they were. She reportedly told him she had killed them.

The man didn't take her comments seriously at first. After he was done helping her, he asked again about her children. He says she then repeated that she had killed them.

The man then drove with the mother and parked about a block away from an HPD station, police say.

He told the woman he had to do something and left the vehicle. He then ran to the police station and reported the woman's comments to authorities.

The mother, whose identity has not yet been released, was taken into custody, but has not yet been charged. She was not at the scene, but was able to tell officers were the children were.

Investigators then located the bodies of the two children, a 7-year-old boy and a 5-year-old girl, underneath the house next door. She allegedly drowned them in the bathtub on Friday.
She also has a 12-year-old son, but he was not home at the home and safe with his father.

Authorities have confirmed to Eyewitness News that Child Protective Services had visited the home in the past, although they could not elaborate on the nature or date of the visit.

Police say she has a minor criminal record, but couldn't go into detail, citing privacy laws.

The mother is 30 years old with no history of mental illness.

[BostonPancake]

shit man, first Andrea Yates, now this? I grew up near Houston

[CrunchyCripple]

"No history of mental illness"

Well, there goes that streak.
Perhaps they mean that she's never been officially diagnosed by a professional....

[1594]

Fuck's sake. Poor babies.

[AceGoober]

A mother drowns her own offspring. Her own flesh and blood derived from her womb. No words can describe how I feel reading about this or any of the other instances I've read of a mother killing her flesh and blood. Must have been extenuating circumstances for her to do this heinous act.

[candymosh]

http://www.12news.com/news/court-hea...rder/299538719

Grace White, KHOU 8:28 AM. MST August 16, 2016

A community is crying out for answers after a mother is charged with drowning her two kids in a bathtub. KHOU talked to several people who said there were warning signs.

"That's not the I woman knew," said Santiago Wesley, owner of Little Cajun Kitchen.

A desperate mom looking for cash—that's how Sheborah Thomas' former employer describes her visit back to his restaurant Saturday. That was after investigators say she had done the unthinkable: drowning her son Oralynn, 7, and daughter Kayana, 5, in a bathtub.

"She was sweating, she was kind of angry that she didn't have any money," said Wesley.

The paycheck she was trying to pick up was just $47 dollars. Management says Thomas, 30, walked away from the job a few weeks ago, after they confronted her about her behavior.

"She was just having some issues, whatever her issues were, I knew speaking to my wife she said something about her kids and her kids father," said Wesley.

"She said that she was tired, that she was going under stress, getting into it, like the kids were really getting on her nerves," said Akinthia Ivey, a friend.

Ivey is a mom of four who says Thomas would often talk to her about the pressures of taking care of her kids.

"I saw her Thursday night and Friday morning," said Ivey.

Friday morning is when police believe it happened, but Ivey says something else may have been a factor.

"Formaldehyde—you know, smoke it. I know that's what she do and I guess she tripped out in her mind," said Ivey.

Prosecutors say at first she wrapped their bodies in bed sheets and put them in a trash can. Later, they say she rolled them underneath her next door neighbor's house in the Third Ward.

"One time I told her I was going to call the cops because I thought she might be hurting the kids, but she never calmed down and I never heard anymore noise," said Julio Medina, who lives in the neighboring house.

Meantime, back at her old restaurant there was a generous owner trying to reach out and help a mom he had no idea was in this much trouble.

"We took her shopping once and we were going to buy her a car so she could have transportation to go back and forth," said Wesley.

Thomas is in the Harris County Jail facing two capital murder charges. She’s being held without bond.

[Agapeti]

Untreated post postpartum depression, untreated, could spiral into a psychosis. She'd been keeping up the facade a while. Never letting anyone know how she was feeling or what her thoughts were and she finally snapped. What excuse in a situation like this could keep people are her, friends and family, not to know the signs and most importantly seek therapy for her and keep her away from the kids until she was treated, Shame those children had to die because of lack of action on the part of her physicians, family, and friends.

[candymosh]

Originally Posted by Agapeti ↗

What excuse in a situation like this could keep people are her, friends and family, not to know the signs and most importantly seek therapy for her and keep her away from the kids until she was treated, Shame those children had to die because of lack of action on the part of her physicians, family, and friends.

That area isn't known for it's outstanding social services. I doubt her family and friends would have known the difference between mental issues and substance abuse issues. Houston's 3rd ward is known for two things.....violent crime and drugs. Even her neighbor said that she seemed fine but she liked to smoke wet.

I'd wager she had no insurance so really she had no options for health care even if she did feel like she was becoming unhinged.

Sad.

[candymosh]

HOUSTON - In the heart of Third Ward sits Christian Hope Baptist Church, a place accused killer Sheborah Thomas turned to often for help.

"We knew she needed the food," said Pastor Kenneth Stroman.

Stroman says he saw Thomas and her children just last week.

"Happy kids were coming in walking with her," said Stroman. "The kids sat down and talked with my children while she did her groceries. She left happy, and the kids left happy."

But a few days later everything changed.

"It hurts, it really hurts," said Stroman.

The pastor learned of the sick crime on Tierwester, just blocks from his church, details of how Thomas allegedly drowned Kayiana first and then Araylon.

"I was definitely surprised," said Stroman. "I was more stunned than anything because she didn't look like a person who could bring harm to anybody, just a happy go lucky mother."

A group of pastors who came by the home to pray Tuesday afternoon say Thomas somehow slipped through the cracks. CPS court records paint a picture of a woman who struggled with drugs. Thomas lost custody of her two children in December 2012, when a then 2-year-old Kayiana was found wandering the streets alone with a drunk man. Thomas was ordered to go to drug rehab.

Two months later, the court deemed it was safe enough for her to get her kids back.

Now four years later, those children are dead and this grief stricken community wonders if they could have done anything to prevent it.

"What could have deterred it, or what caused the problem, we just don't know," said Stroman.

Court filings from July 2016 also suggest Jermaine Anderson, the father of Thomas' 12-year-old child, began to express concerns she had started using drugs again. He worried about his son's safety when spending time with his mother.

We uncovered that Houston Police had been to the Tierwester Street home seven times since April for a variety of things including family disturbances and child custody issues.

Most recently, HPD was there Thursday when Thomas filed a police report because someone had threatened her on social media.

Dozens of people gathered for a candlelight vigil Tuesday night in the Third Ward as everyone here tries to make sense of a horrific crime.

"Oh, God, I just pray for the community right now, God, that you will put love back in the community," said Rev. Andrew Wimbush who led the vigil.

The aunt of 7-year-old Araylon and 5-year-old Kayiana also attended.

"I remember them as kids," said Kita Thomas-Smith. "That's the only way I can describe my niece and nephew as being kids, loving, active, sometimes in trouble kids."

Regina Halley, also in attendance Tuesday, says she and Thomas were supposed to go for drinks as well as shopping for the kids' birthdays Monday.
"It just bothers me because I don't know what made her snap or whatever," Halley said. "I'm not going to bash her because that's my friend."

CPS couldn't say whether they were at the home Thursday in addition to police but CPS said it has had past issues with Thomas.

"All of this is out of her character," said former neighbor Emily Payton, who also attended the vigil. "She loved her kids and she did whatever she had to do to take care of her children."

http://www.khou.com/news/crime/vigil...ther/299883940

[vagabond]

Sad situation. Houston is my hometown.