CPS: Investigators twice visited Spring 7-year-old before his body was found in a washing machine

Investigators with Child Protective Services spoke with Troy Khoeler — the boy whose adoptive parents have been accused of killing and leaving him inside their washing machine — several times in the months before the 7-year-old’s death, but each time investigators left without making a determination the child had been abused. Officials with the Texas Department of Family & Protective Services Tuesday released findings from a department investigation into the boy’s death, providing the clearest description yet of Khoeler’s troubled life, including the separation from his biological mother after alleged concerns about drug use to several visits investigators made after receiving reports about bruises on the child.

Representatives for the department declined to comment further, saying the report was the final piece of the investigation into Khoeler's case. “The CPS investigation is closed,” said Tiffani Butler, a spokeswoman for the department. “There is no other public information about the case or DFPS policies at this time, outside of what’s in the fatality report.” Khoeler first came to the attention of Child Protective Services in 2015 when investigators received a report about concerns for the child. Among them, a blood test after his birth came back positive for the presence of opioids and benzodiazepines, he showed withdrawal symptoms and his biological mother told investigators she had been abusing pills during her pregnancy, according to the death report. Both the newborn and his mother had lived with the mother’s relatives, according to the report.