Pregnant WSU student found dead in boyfriend’s car

A pregnant Wichita State University student was found dead inside the car of her boyfriend, who allegedly strangled her to death before tossing her body in his trunk, police said.

Alexander Lewis, 22, was booked on Saturday after one of his relatives called Kansas police about a possible murder, with cops finding his girlfriend, Zaiylah Bronson, 19, unconscious in the trunk of his car, KAKE reports.

Officers attempted to provide life-saving measures for Bronson, who was 16-weeks pregnant, but arriving EMS members pronounced her dead at the scene.

“I just fell to the floor,” Taronza Bronson, Zaiylah’s mother, told the local outlet about the heartbreaking moment police informed her of her daughter’s demise.

“She had just found out that she was having a boy. And of course, we had that conversation.” Taronza said about the last time she spoke with her daughter. “We even had a separate conversation on what she was naming it.

“She would not tell me the baby’s name, she said, ‘No Mom, it’s a surprise,’” the grieving mother recalled.

Taronza described Bronson as her pride and joy, noting that everything appeared to be going well for the university student.

Bronson had recently boasted about getting a new managerial job and car, her mother said, and was excited to start her second year at WSU as she pursued her dream of becoming a math teacher.

Taronza added that her daughter was always smiling and never showed signs that she would become a victim of domestic violence.

A GoFundMe to help pay for Bronson’s funeral and burial has raised nearly $7,500 as of Wednesday afternoon.

Lewis faces second-degree murder charges and is currently being held at the Sedgwick County Jail.

The case has raised concerns over the surge of domestic violence in the city, with the Wichita Family Crisis Center noting that they have seen a 60% increase in women seeking shelter from their abusers over the past year.

The most recent available data from the Kansas Bureau of Investigation shows that of the 22,596 domestic violence incidents reported in 2021, more than 25% of those occurred in Sedgwick County.