Sheborah Thomas is pictured with her children. Police say she confessed to drowning her 5-year-old and 7-year-old on Friday. She has been charged with capital murder. (Photo: Family photo) 
 
 HOUSTON - HOUSTON - A woman has been charged with capital murder in the deaths of her two young children. 
 
 Police were called out to the scene just before 11 a.m. Sunday in the 3000 block of Tierwester Street. Authorities found a 5-year-old girl and a 7-year-old boy dead underneath a neighbor's home. 
 
 Police say the woman also has a 12-year-old son, but he was not home at the time. 
 
 The woman has been identified as 30-year-old Sheborah Thomas. The two victims have been identified as 7-year-old Oraynn and 5-year-old Kayana. 
 
 Kids, 5 & 7, found dead under neighbor's home. Mom in custody #khou11 pic.twitter.com/zEIFTexqsW — Lauren Talarico (@KHOULauren) August 14, 2016 
 
 Officials say someone who knew Thomas was driving by and saw her throwing trash into a vacant lot across the street. When asked what she was doing, Thomas reportedly said she needed to move immediately. 
 
 That person began helping her pack, and at one point, asked about where her kids were. Thomas then reportedly confessed to killing her children. 
 
 The person then drove to a police station with Thomas and told officials what happened. Police say she confessed to drowning her children in a bathtub on Friday. 
 
 "She was very matter-of-fact in terms of what she stated she had done." said Kesc Smith, a spokesperson for the Houston Police Department. 
 
 Neighbors don't recall ever having a problem with Thomas. 
 
 "She made sure she kept the kids clean," said Shirley Baines. "She takes care of them. She goes to the store...to me she was like, a real nice person. They are good kids. They don't play with nobody. I mean, why would someone do their kids like that? I mean why? They are innocent!" 
 
 These are the two kids that allegedly were drowned in a bathtub by their mother Friday. So sad #khou11 pic.twitter.com/xdGYA5fTNj — Josh Chapin (@JoshChapinKHOU) August 15, 2016 
 
 A woman who says she is the aunt of the young victims spoke with us Sunday evening. She said her brother is the victims' father and is currently in jail. 
 
 "How am I going to tell my brother about his kids?" the woman cried. "While you were there, how did you feel drowning your kids? You felt something, you felt some kind of guilt, something told you this is not right, but you kept doing it?" 
 
 Police say Thomas had just moved into her house in April. They say she has no known history of mental illness. 
 
 "We need to figure out how we're going to lay them to rest, peacefully and not worry about (their mother) because her day is going to come. Sooner or later her day is going to come and I pray to God that she suffers like she did her kids; made her kids suffer, I hope she suffers worse." the woman said. 
 
 Child Protective Services said they are going to be investigating along with HPD and they will also be checking on the 12-year-old boy, the brother of the victims. 

 HPD: Mom faces capital murder charges in children's drowning 
 
 Houston police descended Sunday on a row of modest houses, as neighbors gawked from behind police tape at the small yellow home of a young mother they barely knew. She was a relative newcomer to the Third Ward neighborhood — quiet, but friendly enough during strolls to a nearby park with her children. 
 
 Thirty-year-old Sheborah Thomas, who moved to the 3000 block of Tierwester in April, was charged Sunday night with capital murder in the drowning deaths of her 7-year-old son, Orayln "Ray Ray" Thomas, and 5-year-old daughter, Kahana Thomas. Authorities she matter-of-factly told an acquaintance whom she had enlisted to help her pack her house that she drowned the two children in a bathtub sometime Friday and then hid their bodies under a neighbor's house. 
 
 "This is the type of stuff that you see on TV," said Kita Thomas-Smith, the children's aunt. "To actually feel it yourself is devastating. It's hurtful. It's ridiculous. 
 
 They were just innocent, growing kids." 
 
 The case stirs horrific memories of another Houston mother, Andrea Yates, who confessed to drowning her five children in a bathtub more than 15 years ago. The killings sparked national discussion about postpartum depression and psychosis, and Yates' 2002 conviction for the murders was overturned. Following a retrial she was found not guilty by reason of insanity, and is being treated at a state mental hospital in Kerrville. 
 
 Kita Thomas-Smith, whose brother married Sheborah shortly before the birth of the 7-year-old, said she had never seen the children's mother exhibited signs of mental illness. 
 
 "There's no reason you'd do this to your kids," she said, adding Thomas could have taken them to a police station or to Child Protective Services if she didn't want them. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Photo: Jon Shapley, Houston Chronicle Image 1 of / 21 Caption Close Image 1 of 21 Marketta Smith, center, the aunt of two children who were found dead at a home in the 3000 block of Tierwester, is comforted by a woman as she cries, after trying to approach the house, Sunday, Aug. 14, 2016, in Houston. "How am I going to tell my brother about this? Why would you do this to them?" Smith said. less Marketta Smith, center, the aunt of two children who were found dead at a home in the 3000 block of Tierwester, is comforted by a woman as she cries, after trying to approach the house, Sunday, Aug. 14, 2016, ... more Photo: Jon Shapley, Houston Chronicle Image 2 of 21 Orayln Thomas (right), 7, and his sister Kahana Thomas (left), 5, Photo courtesy Marketta Smith Orayln Thomas (right), 7, and his sister Kahana Thomas (left), 5, Photo courtesy Marketta Smith Photo: Courtesy Photo Image 3 of 21 Houston Police officers speak with friends and relatives, after a woman allegedly drowned her 7-year-old son and 5-year-old daughter in the 3100 block of Tierwester Aug. 14, 2016, in Houston. Houston Police officers speak with friends and relatives, after a woman allegedly drowned her 7-year-old son and 5-year-old daughter in the 3100 block of Tierwester Aug. 14, 2016, in Houston. Photo: James Nielsen, Houston Chronicle Image 4 of 21 Houston Police officers work at the scene collecting evidence from a trash pile in a ditch after a woman allegedly drowned her 7-year-old son and 5-year-old daughter in the 3100 block of Tierwester Aug. 14, 2016, in Houston. less Houston Police officers work at the scene collecting evidence from a trash pile in a ditch after a woman allegedly drowned her 7-year-old son and 5-year-old daughter in the 3100 block of Tierwester Aug. 14, ... more Photo: James Nielsen, Houston Chronicle Image 5 of 21 Marketta Smith, right, the aunt of two children who were found dead at a home in the 3000 block of Tierwester, cries as she approaches the house, Sunday, Aug. 14, 2016, in Houston. "How am I going to tell my brother about this? Why would you do this to them?" Smith said. less Marketta Smith, right, the aunt of two children who were found dead at a home in the 3000 block of Tierwester, cries as she approaches the house, Sunday, Aug. 14, 2016, in Houston. "How am I going to tell my ... more Photo: Jon Shapley, Houston Chronicle Image 6 of 21 Marketta Smith, the aunt of two children who were found dead at a home in the 3000 block of Tierwester, cries after she tried to approach the house, Sunday, Aug. 14, 2016, in Houston. "How am I going to tell my brother about this? Why would you do this to them?" Smith said. less Marketta Smith, the aunt of two children who were found dead at a home in the 3000 block of Tierwester, cries after she tried to approach the house, Sunday, Aug. 14, 2016, in Houston. "How am I going to tell my ... more Photo: Jon Shapley, Houston Chronicle Image 7 of 21 Houston Police officers speak with a relative center left, after a woman allegedly drowned her 7-year-old son and 5-year-old daughter in the 3100 block of Tierwester Aug. 14, 2016, in Houston. Houston Police officers speak with a relative center left, after a woman allegedly drowned her 7-year-old son and 5-year-old daughter in the 3100 block of Tierwester Aug. 14, 2016, in Houston. Photo: James Nielsen, Houston Chronicle Image 8 of 21 Houston Police officers work at the scene recovering evidence after a woman allegedly drowned her 7-year-old son and 5-year-old daughter in the 3100 block of Tierwester Aug. 14, 2016, in Houston. Houston Police officers work at the scene recovering evidence after a woman allegedly drowned her 7-year-old son and 5-year-old daughter in the 3100 block of Tierwester Aug. 14, 2016, in Houston. Photo: James Nielsen, Houston Chronicle Image 9 of 21 A Houston Police officer caries bags of evidence after a woman allegedly drowned her 7-year-old son and 5-year-old daughter in the 3100 block of Tierwester Aug. 14, 2016, in Houston. A Houston Police officer caries bags of evidence after a woman allegedly drowned her 7-year-old son and 5-year-old daughter in the 3100 block of Tierwester Aug. 14, 2016, in Houston. Photo: James Nielsen, Houston Chronicle Image 10 of 21 Houston Police officer works at the scene recovering evidence after a woman allegedly drowned her 7-year-old son and 5-year-old daughter in the 3100 block of Tierwester Aug. 14, 2016, in Houston. Houston Police officer works at the scene recovering evidence after a woman allegedly drowned her 7-year-old son and 5-year-old daughter in the 3100 block of Tierwester Aug. 14, 2016, in Houston. Photo: James Nielsen, Houston Chronicle Image 11 of 21 Marketta Smith, the aunt of two children who were found dead at a home in the 3000 block of Tierwester, cries after she tried to approach the house, Sunday, Aug. 14, 2016, in Houston. "How am I going to tell my brother about this? Why would you do this to them?" Smith said. less Marketta Smith, the aunt of two children who were found dead at a home in the 3000 block of Tierwester, cries after she tried to approach the house, Sunday, Aug. 14, 2016, in Houston. "How am I going to tell my ... more Photo: Jon Shapley, Houston Chronicle Image 12 of 21 Marketta Smith, the aunt of two children who were found dead at a home in the 3000 block of Tierwester, cries after she tried to approach the house, Sunday, Aug. 14, 2016, in Houston. "How am I going to tell my brother about this? Why would you do this to them?" Smith said. less Marketta Smith, the aunt of two children who were found dead at a home in the 3000 block of Tierwester, cries after she tried to approach the house, Sunday, Aug. 14, 2016, in Houston. "How am I going to tell my ... more Photo: Jon Shapley, Houston Chronicle Image 13 of 21 Marketta Smith, the aunt of two children who were found dead at a home in the 3000 block of Tierwester, cries after she tried to approach the house, Sunday, Aug. 14, 2016, in Houston. "How am I going to tell my brother about this? Why would you do this to them?" Smith said. less Marketta Smith, the aunt of two children who were found dead at a home in the 3000 block of Tierwester, cries after she tried to approach the house, Sunday, Aug. 14, 2016, in Houston. "How am I going to tell my ... more Photo: Jon Shapley, Houston Chronicle Image 14 of 21 A Houston Police officer works at the scene recovering evidence after a woman allegedly drowned her 7-year-old son and 5-year-old daughter in the 3100 block of Tierwester Aug. 14, 2016, in Houston. A Houston Police officer works at the scene recovering evidence after a woman allegedly drowned her 7-year-old son and 5-year-old daughter in the 3100 block of Tierwester Aug. 14, 2016, in Houston. Photo: James Nielsen, Houston Chronicle Image 15 of 21 A Houston Police officer caries bags of evidence after a woman allegedly drowned her 7-year-old son and 5-year-old daughter in the 3100 block of Tierwester Aug. 14, 2016, in Houston. A Houston Police officer caries bags of evidence after a woman allegedly drowned her 7-year-old son and 5-year-old daughter in the 3100 block of Tierwester Aug. 14, 2016, in Houston. Photo: James Nielsen, Houston Chronicle Image 16 of 21 A Houston Police officer speaks with a relative, after a woman allegedly drowned her 7-year-old son and 5-year-old daughter in the 3100 block of Tierwester Aug. 14, 2016, in Houston. A Houston Police officer speaks with a relative, after a woman allegedly drowned her 7-year-old son and 5-year-old daughter in the 3100 block of Tierwester Aug. 14, 2016, in Houston. Photo: James Nielsen, Houston Chronicle Image 17 of 21 A Houston Police officer left, approaches a relative, after a woman allegedly drowned her 7-year-old son and 5-year-old daughter in the 3100 block of Tierwester Aug. 14, 2016, in Houston. A Houston Police officer left, approaches a relative, after a woman allegedly drowned her 7-year-old son and 5-year-old daughter in the 3100 block of Tierwester Aug. 14, 2016, in Houston. Photo: James Nielsen, Houston Chronicle Image 18 of 21 Marketta Smith, the aunt of two children who were found dead at a home in the 3000 block of Tierwester, cries as she approaches the house, Sunday, Aug. 14, 2016, in Houston. "How am I going to tell my brother about this? Why would you do this to them?" Smith said. less Marketta Smith, the aunt of two children who were found dead at a home in the 3000 block of Tierwester, cries as she approaches the house, Sunday, Aug. 14, 2016, in Houston. "How am I going to tell my brother ... more Photo: Jon Shapley, Houston Chronicle Image 19 of 21 A Houston Police officer works at the scene collecting evidence after a woman allegedly drowned her 7-year-old son and 5-year-old daughter in the 3100 block of Tierwester Aug. 14, 2016, in Houston. A Houston Police officer works at the scene collecting evidence after a woman allegedly drowned her 7-year-old son and 5-year-old daughter in the 3100 block of Tierwester Aug. 14, 2016, in Houston. Photo: James Nielsen, Houston Chronicle Image 20 of 21 Houston Police officers work at the scene collecting evidence from a trash pile in a ditch after a woman allegedly drowned her 7-year-old son and 5-year-old daughter in the 3100 block of Tierwester Aug. 14, 2016, in Houston. less Houston Police officers work at the scene collecting evidence from a trash pile in a ditch after a woman allegedly drowned her 7-year-old son and 5-year-old daughter in the 3100 block of Tierwester Aug. 14, ... more Photo: James Nielsen, Houston Chronicle Image 21 of 21 HPD: Mom faces capital murder charges in children's drowning 1 / 21 Back to Gallery 
 
 Tejal Patel, a Houston spokesperson for Child Protective Services, confirmed the agency had previous involvement with the family, though she couldn't provide details of the confidential case. 
 
 CPS has launched an investigation, and the Office of Child Safety will conduct "a top-to-bottom review of this case to see what led to this point," Patel said, a process that could take months. 
 
 "Obviously we want to know how this happened, why this happened," Patel said. "We just feel horrible. This is just a tragic case." 
 
 Authorities were alerted to the scene by a man who knows the Thomas, said Kese Smith, a spokesman for the Houston Police Department. As the man was driving toward Rosalie and Tierwester, he spotted her throwing out a large amount of trash in a nearby field. The man told authorities that she had said she needed to move immediately and asked if he could help her pack. 
 
 The man accompanied Thomas to her house, where he noticed she did not have many belongings. As they worked, he asked her where her children were. The woman told him, "matter of factly," that she had killed them, Smith said. 
 
 At first, the acquaintance thought she was joking. They continued packing for a while before he asked again where her son and daughter were. She allegedly responded that she had already told him, Smith said. 
 
 The man left and drove around the block before returning to the house. As he spoke with her more, he realized the seriousness of the situation, police said. 
 
 Somehow, he convinced her to get in his car. Around 10:15 a.m., he drove toward the Houston Police Department's South Central patrol station at 2202 St. Emanuel, parking a block away to obscure the destination. At the station, he flagged down an officer and relayed what the woman had told him. 
 
 Patrol officers took the woman into custody and went straight to the house, where they discovered the bodies. 
 
 Smith said they are not aware of the woman having a history of mental illness. There had not been recent major calls-for-service to the house, which Thomas rented. 
 
 An autopsy will be conducted to determine the children's cause of death. 
 
 Neighbors, gathering behind police tape surrounding the yellow house Thomas and her children lived in, were stunned by the news. 
 
 "I never would have thought she would do that. She didn't seem like the type. She was always with a smile and friendly," said Dee Davis, a neighbor. "How in the hell can she do something like this? You bring life into the world; it's not up to you to take it out. I can't get over this." 
 
 George Shoupe, the landlord who owns the house Thomas rented and two adjacent houses, said Thomas and her family had moved into the house in April, so few of the neighbors knew them. 
 
 "I remember when they first moved in — the kids were happy and everything," said Geovanna Brewer, a neighbor, who remembered Thomas' friendly greeting in an encounter at a local convenience store. "It's like a shocker to me." 
 
 The mother has a minor criminal record, according to Harris County clerk filings. In July 2011, Thomas pleaded guilty to failing to identify herself to a peace officer, a misdemeanor for which she served a three-day jail sentence. She also pleaded guilty to two charges of misdemeanor theft in October 2010. She received probation for the same offense in August 2009. 
 
 Danny Ray Thomas, who she married in July 2008, is currently incarcerated at a Texas Department of Criminal Justice unit in Bryan. 
 
 He was sentenced in October 2015 to three years in prison for possession of PCP. 
 
 The couple filed for divorce in 2012, but it doesn't appear to have been finalized.
– A Houston woman was arrested Sunday after casually mentioning to an acquaintance that she had drowned her two children in a bathtub and hidden the bodies under a neighbor's home, police say. Sheborah Thomas, 30, has been charged with capital murder in the deaths of 7-year-old Orayln (also spelled O'Raylan in other reports) and 5-year-old Kayana, the Houston Chronicle reports. Police say the incomprehensible murders were uncovered when the acquaintance spotted Thomas throwing trash into an empty lot Sunday morning. She told him she needed help moving from her house immediately. After Thomas mentioned the killings as he helped her pack, he drove her to a police station, where she was taken into custody. Thomas, who moved into the home in April, has no known history of mental illness and no serious criminal record, the Chronicle reports. Her estranged husband is less than a year into a three-year sentence for possession of PCP. A woman who identified herself as the husband's sister tells WFAA that she doesn't know how she is going to tell him about his children. She says for now, the family is going to focus on laying the children to rest and not worry about Thomas "because her day is going to come. Sooner or later her day is going to come and I pray to God that she suffers like she did her kids; made her kids suffer, I hope she suffers worse." A Child Protective Services spokesperson says the family is known to the agency and there will be a "top to bottom" investigation of the case.