Zaiylah Bronson, 19, was four months pregnant when she was found dead in her boyfriend Alexander Lewis’ car last Saturday
A family is mourning the death of a pregnant Wichita State student who was allegedly strangled to death by her boyfriend over the weekend, calling her “a vibrant soul with dreams, aspirations, and love to share.”
Zaiylah Bronson, 19, was found dead in her boyfriend Alexander Lewis’ car last Saturday, police records reviewed by PEOPLE show.
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Lewis, 22, was arrested that morning and faces a charge for capital murder, according to Sedgwick County jail records. He is being held on a $500,000 bond.
Bronson’s mother Taronza Bronson told The Wichita Eagle her daughter recently found out she was pregnant with a baby boy. At the time of her death, Taronza said her daughter was 16 and a half weeks pregnant.
Weeks earlier, the mother said Bronson had driven roughly three hours northwest to Leavenworth, Kansas to tell her mother the news in person. “She drove all the way here to surprise me,” Taronza told the newspaper.
“She was excited,” the mother said. “They had picked a name and she would not tell me what the baby name is because she wanted it to be a surprise.”
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Bronson’s mother said they had a close relationship, speaking about every two days on the phone outside of trips back-and-forth to see one another.
Bronson was an excellent student, her mother said, running track and joining the powerlifting team at Lansing High School in Lansing, Kansas. She reportedly graduated from high school a year early at 17, going straight to Wichita State in 2021.
Wichita police began looking for Bronson on Saturday morning after one of Lewis’ family members called authorities saying they were suspicious that he had harmed his girlfriend, local news outlet KWCH reported.
Police records reviewed by PEOPLE show officers tracked down Bronson shortly after 11 a.m. local time and soon discovered Bronson dead in his trunk.
“The depth of pain that domestic violence inflicts upon its victims and their loved ones is unimaginable,” Bronson’s godmother Dawn Wilson wrote in a GoFundMe organized to help the family with funeral expenses. “No one should ever have to endure such suffering, and we must come together to address and prevent such tragedies from occurring.”
A funeral for Bronson was scheduled to take place Thursday morning in Leavenworth.