51YO Thomas Gatewood Can't Stop Abusing Children, Arrested For Death Of 8YO Daughter

[Sugar Cookie]

The Wichita Police Department arrested a 51-year-old Thomas Gatewood on Tuesday in connection to the death of his eight-year-old daughter.

On May 8, officers were dispatched for a medical call for an unresponsive eight-year-old girl. EMS arrived on the scene and pronounced the child deceased. EMCU and Homicide detectives investigated the homicide case and presented it to the district attorney’s office.

In Sedgwick County District Court, a judge formally charged Gatewood on 11 counts including one count of first-degree murder, four counts of aggravated kidnapping, three counts of child abuse, two counts of aggravated child endangerment and one count of aggravated intimidation of a witness. Gatewood is in the Sedgwick County Jail, held on $250,000 bond.

12 News confirmed this isn’t Gatewood’s first case involving child abuse. In 2009, Gatewood was convicted of child abuse in Washington County, Okla. After a plea deal, Gatewood was given a suspended ten year sentence with one year to be served in city jail. He was also required to serve a period of supervised probation, comply with a Oklahoma Department of Human Services plan and pay fines and costs. He was discharged from probation in 2014.

According to a 2009 article in The Oklahoman, the charges stemmed from a case involving Gatewood’s 19-month-old daughter. She and her three-week-old brother were taken into custody by the Oklahoma Department of Human Services during the investigation. Gatewood’s wife was also arrested for enabling child abuse.


The Oklahoman reports that during that same time, the Gatewoods were being investigated for homicide in Minneapolis, Minn., following the 2006 death of another child. According to the newspaper, investigators in Bartlesville said police photos showed injuries similar to those found in the Minneapolis investigation.

MSN

 

[Taishobee]

How horrible!! They need to stay in prison!!

 

[Sugar Cookie]

A police media report offered a little information: Police were called just before 7 p.m. A person reported the victim fell during a fight. The victim was pronounced dead at 7:36 p.m.

Read more at: https://www.kansas.com/news/local/crime/article276837411.html#storylink=cpy

Trying to get away with another murder of a child?

 

[Blizzard]

Trying to get away with another murder of a child?

This, pretty much.

a serial child murderer. Of his own kids. Yuck.

 

[Sugar Cookie]

...Or just an abusive prick.

 

[Busy Bee]

This overgrown wastrel is good for nothing! He figured he got away with it, he could get away with it again! I hope he meets people in prison who will torture him, break a few ribs a leg, then tell him he will be beaten if he tells anyone!

 

[DivineRAiNz]

I hope the sentence will keep this dangerous monster behind bars for the rest of his life. What they gave him the first time was bullshit and didn't reflect what he did to those babies. Letting him plea no contest to 3rd degree murder sounds like the beginning of some bullshit.. hope I'm wrong

 

[Sugar Cookie]

A Wichita man who was arrested after his daughter’s death last year has been found guilty of her murder.

Thomas R. Gatewood, 52, pleaded no contest to first-degree murder and eight other counts, including kidnapping, aggravated battery, and aggravated endangering of a child.

The victim, 8-year-old Jeanetta Gatewood, died after being found unresponsive in the family home on May 8, 2023. After an investigation, police arrested Thomas in late June.

They alleged that he killed Jeanetta and injured and tortured another one of his children.

Alice Osburn, one of the prosecuting attorneys, said the autopsy showed that Jeanetta had been repeatedly hit and stomped on, causing her heart to give out. The autopsy showed other injuries that were in the process of healing, including a broken leg, broken ribs, and head wounds. Prosecutors said Jeanetta was underweight, had multiple bruises and scars, and there was evidence that she had been whipped.

Osburn said the other child was taken to the hospital, and an X-ray showed a broken pelvis, broken spine, and broken ribs that were in the process of healing.

She said Thomas did not take the children to get medical care for any of those injuries. Instead, they said he kept them confined to the home with threats and beatings. Neighbors never saw children at the house. The prosecution said Thomas kept them confined to hide the evidence of abuse.

Osburn said Thomas tried to get the surviving child to confess to the murder and threatened the child not to tell police what really happened, saying, “If you ever tell, I will beat you up.”

This is not Thomas’ first run-in with the law. The Associated Press said Gatewood and his wife were investigated in the June 2006 death of an infant in Minneapolis. A court affidavit said a detective investigated the couple after a child who died of meningitis was found to have bruises, skull fractures and rib injuries. A spokesman for the county attorney’s office said no charges were filed because of insufficient evidence.

The Associated Press said that in 2009, officials took a newborn baby and a toddler from the family’s home in Bartlesville, Oklahoma. A court affidavit said the toddler was unable to walk and talk and had bruises all over her body.

Court records show that Thomas was sentenced to a year in jail, probation and court costs in the Bartlesville case. Records show that his wife was sentenced to 180 days in jail after being convicted of enabling child abuse by injury.

https://www.ksn.com/news/crime/wichita-father-found-guilty-of-8-year-old-daughters-murder/