A missing 7-year-old Texas boy was found dead inside his family’s washing machine Thursday morning.

Troy Khoeler’s parents told Harris County Sheriff’s Office deputies that they found the boy missing at about 4 a.m. and reported the missing child to the constable’s office at about 5:20 a.m., KHOU reported.

Deputies first searched the Spring neighborhood and then returned to the home to conduct a more thorough search there. They found the boy’s body in a top-load washer in the garage at about 7:20, KTRK said.

Investigators said Troy was fully clothed, but wouldn’t say whether there was water in the machine or if the lid was closed.

“We don’t know what happened, but we intend to find out,” Sheriff’s Office Lt. Robert Minchew said, according to KHOU.

Minchew also declined to say if the child had any visible injuries.

“Whether he was killed by the washing machine or killed and placed in it, we’re just so far from that, I can’t comment,” Minchew said.

More information will be available after the completion of an autopsy.

Minchew said Troy was the only child living in the house with the parents and that he had been a foster child adopted by the couple in 2019.

A spokesperson with the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services said that “CPS does have history with the family.”

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[Featured image: Troy Khoeler/KHOU screenshot]