Man tried to drown pregnant teen girlfriend. He’s sentenced to prison
A Wichita man was sentenced to 15 years in prison Wednesday in a 2020 attempt to drown his pregnant girlfriend in a pond.
Dominic Thomas was 19 when he dragged his 17-year-old girlfriend into a pond near 37th Street North and Sullivan and held her head under water on Sept. 21, 2020.
Thomas, now 24, told police he did it because she had posted baby shower photos on Facebook, according to Eagle reporting based on a probable cause affidavit released in the case. Thomas was romantically involved with another woman and became upset that she had become aware of the existing relationship between him and the pregnant girl.
After threatening via text messages to kill her, Thomas convinced the teen to meet face to face under the pretext of walking and talking. When they got to the pond Thomas told the teen he was “going to jail” before he put her into a headlock and dragged her by her feet to the pond.
“He told police he held her down with both hands in two feet of water but stopped and went home after she mentioned their unborn baby,” previous Eagle reporting reads.
The teen was treated at a hospital where doctors determined her 35-week-old fetus was still moving in utero and had a heartbeat.
Thomas was arrested on suspicion of attempted first degree murder and was found guilty after a four-day trial in 2024. On Wednesday, Judge William Woolley sentenced Thomas to 180 months, or 15 years, in prison.
This story was originally published January 7, 2026 at 6:23 PM.
