Father of Deceased One-Year-Old Admitted to Choking Son Because Child ‘Was Not Listening’ Before Leaving Scene

Tragic details surrounding the death of a one-year-old child in the Town of Front Royal, Virginia, on September 18 are detailed in the Criminal Complaint attached to the Second Degree Murder Warrant against the child’s 24-year-old father, Nathaniel Lee Edmonds.

Edmonds was located on foot on Route 522 North at Fairgrounds Road by Warren County Sheriff’s Office units assisting Front Royal Police Department investigators the day of the child’s death. The search for Edmonds had proceeded northward based on cell phone information from the child’s mother mid-afternoon on Wednesday, September 18, at the residential scene where the couple live on the 300 block of North Royal Avenue in town.

The mother told authorities that Edmonds was supposed to be watching their child while she was at work. According to a press release by FRPD issued the afternoon of September 24, when the child’s mother returned home the afternoon of September 18th, she found her child alone in the condition in which emergency response units found the child upon their arrival. That condition was described as cardiac arrest.

The child was transported by Emergency Medical Service first responders, already present when FRPD arrived on the scene, to Warren Memorial Hospital, where, despite resuscitation efforts, the child was pronounced deceased.

Nathaniel Edmonds after his booking on a Second Degree Murder charge related to his child’s death Wednesday, Sept. 18, in Front Royal. Photo RSW.

The Criminal Complaint describes FRPD’s interaction with Edmonds leading to the Second Degree Murder charge filed the evening of September 18th following consultation with the Warren County Commonwealth Attorney’s Office:

“Edmonds was detained and brought in for an interview. Edmonds was read his Miranda Rights and confessed to choking his one-year-old, using both of his hands for minutes because the child was not listening and he couldn’t take it anymore.”

The complaint signed by FRPD Detective T.A. Smith continues to add, “Edmonds describes that this incident happened on the child’s bed where he was ultimately found. Edmonds admitted to observing foam at the mouth on the child.”

Following an initial hearing on September 19, Edmonds is being held at RSW Regional Jail in northern Warren County without bond. A second hearing was originally scheduled for the morning docket on October 17 but has been canceled. A second hearing is currently scheduled for December 19 at 9:45 a.m.