The Wichita Police Department in Kansas arrested a 51-year-old man on Tuesday in connection to the death of his eight-year-old daughter.
Wichita police said a warrant was issued for Thomas Gatewood on June 27 for first-degree murder. Officers utilized FLOCK technology (license-plate reading technology) to quickly locate Gatewood. He was taken into custody within hours of the warrant being issued.
On May 8, officers were dispatched to a residence in the 600 block of N. Oliver to 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.
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.
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