OAKLAND COUNTY, Mich. – Court documents revealed the CEO and founder of the Oxford Center allegedly took photos of the child burning in a hyperbaric chamber and sent text messages about him days following the incident.
Thomas Cooper was killed on Jan. 31, 2025, when the hyperbaric chamber he was receiving treatment in at the Oxford Center in Troy exploded. Cooper’s mother was also injured.
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Click here to view our coverage of the deadly hyperbaric explosion.
Oxford Center Founder and CEO Tamela Peterson, 58, of Brighton, Oxford Center Safety Manager Jeffrey Mosteller, 64, of Clinton Township, and Oxford Center Primary Management Assistant Gary Marken, 65, of Spring Arbor, were arraigned on second-degree murder charges.
A fourth employee, Aleta Moffitt, 60, of Rochester Hills, who was operating the hyperbaric chamber at the time of the explosion, was arraigned on the charges of involuntary manslaughter and falsifying medical records.
Peterson was given a $2 million cash bond.
Peterson tried to withhold evidence, court documents say
Law enforcement tried to execute search warrants for phones and laptops for the four arrested in connection to the explosion the days following the incident.
When they approached Peterson and said they would be taking her phone, she allegedly ran from investigators. She then reportedly openly admitted to them that she’d had her son wipe her laptop completely within days of the explosion.
Investigators noted that when they tried to get the CCTV footage from all of Cooper’s other treatments, Peterson claimed she did not remember her password to access the system.
IT personnel then said she should have it because they had just given it to her “very recently.” The IT personnel were the ones who provided the login information needed to access the video.
Investigators said Peterson was constantly monitoring video in real-time at the Troy facility, based on message and email correspondence.
‘He just laid there and did nothing’
According to court documents, Peterson sent still photos of Cooper, from the CCTV footage, burning inside of the chamber. Along with the images, she allegedly texted, “If my leg was on fire, I would at least try to hit it and put it out. He just laid there and did nothing.”
More messages were discovered where people were asking if the company was using hyperbaric treatments for erectile dysfunction, and Peterson allegedly said, “Whatever gets bodies in those chambers, lol.”
