AMITE — The man charged with killing his pregnant girlfriend in 2024, Demarcus Womack, was sentenced to 55 years in prison this week. 19-year-old Aeiron Thomas was killed. She was 13-weeks pregnant.
“She was beautiful, smart, very independent, loving,” Aeiron’s mother, Veronica Thomas said. “She had hopes and dreams and wanted to live. She was not like a normal 19-year-old. She had her own place, worked, and took care of her business.”
Veronica said once her daughter got over the nerves of becoming a mom, she was excited about it. “Once she realized that she was going to have the family support she was excited,” she said. “Our kids think that we will be disappointed. But told her, ‘You’re 19, not 16. You work, you take care of your home, you pay your own car note. You’re trying to go back to school.’ So she was a young adult. So she was excited.”
Veronica and Aeiron were very close. “I actually spoke to her every day,” Veronica said. “That’s how I found her, because I was used to speaking to her in the morning, but there was no response. So I went to check on her, and that’s how I found her.”
The crime and confession
Initial reports said Aeiron was found unresponsive early on Oct. 25, 2024 with a gunshot wound to her chest. “She was shot a couple times. One was kind of in the upper chest area,” Assistant District Attorney Taylor Anthony told UWK.
After the shooting, Anthony says Womack got rid of the gun, and later confessed to the crime. “After he committed the murder, he went and buried the murder weapon in the ground, and then he ultimately confessed and led the police to where he buried it,” Anthony explained. “So they dug it up and were able to confirm ballistically that was the murder weapon.”
“It’s pretty rare that we actually get murder weapons because they always get thrown in the river or something. But this one, he confessed, they dug it up and confirmed it was the murder weapon. Really sad case all around,” Anthony said.
Plea deal
This week, Womack accepted a plea deal. He pleaded guilty to manslaughter, first-degree feticide and obstruction of justice. “He pled to manslaughter for 40 years, and the feticide and the obstruction of justice was 15 years a piece. And they run consecutive to the 40. So it’s a total of 55 years,” Anthony explained.
“I’m sure there’ll be a bunch of commenters being like, ‘He should get the death penalty. He should do life.’ I will say that this was after many consultations with the victim’s family. They wanted a plea,” Anthony said. “This plea was at their request and at their blessing.”
Anthony also said it was clear the Thomas family was close with Womack. “Even in their impact statements, they called Demarcus their son,” he said. “They knew him for years. He was the father of their soon-to-be grandchild, and niece or nephew. They loved him and cared for him very much. So it’s tough all the way around.”
Womack also wrote the family a letter. “He apologized. He said, ‘I’m taking responsibility for what I did. I loved her very much. Things happened behind the scenes that y’all don’t know about, but I never wanted to go this way.’ He cried. It was tough,” Anthony recalled. “I was tearing up. The judge was tearing up. It was a case where everybody in there was a loser. It’s very sad case.”
“He expressed remorse, which was nice. The family deserved that. And his parents, Demarcus’ mom and dad, were in there. They were crying as well. It was just kind of sad all the way around,” he said. “We rarely see people take accountability. And it made it easier for everybody to accept.”
“Our family is grateful that the legal process is over,” Veronica said.
Life now
Aeiron was the youngest of six children, and it’s taken a lot for her entire family to work through the events of Oct. 25, 2024. “I’m getting better now. But if it wasn’t for faith in God, I tell you, I would be crazy,” Veronica said.
“We continue to honor Aeiron and her unborn child, and we ask for respectful consideration of both families affected,” Veronica said.
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