Police: Man Punches Girlfriend In Attempt To Kill Unborn Child

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) – An 18-year-old man is in a western Wisconsin jail, accused of punching his pregnant girlfriend with the intent to kill their unborn child, police say.

Jessy Holtzkamp has been booked into the Pierce County Jail on suspicion of first-degree intentional homicide of an unborn child and domestic-related battery.

Police responded to the River Heights Motel in Prescott, Wis., at about 8:10 p.m. Wednesday on a report that a woman was having a possible miscarriage.

When authorities arrived, a 27-year-old woman, who was about 13 weeks pregnant, was staying at the motel with Holtzkamp, the father of the unborn child. Police said the two, who are not married, had been involved in an argument over the pregnancy during which Holtzkamp allegedly hit the woman in the stomach several times in an attempt to cause a miscarriage and end the pregnancy.

The woman was transported to a hospital in Hastings, Minn., and there has been no update on her or the unborn child's condition.

Holtzkamp gave the jail a St. Paul address, but he also has an address at an apartment in Prescott. Police said the woman was arrested for meth possession at that same apartment last month.

The incident is under investigation.