A Virginia father is facing second-degree murder charges after he told police that he strangled his child to death for “not listening” to him and “he couldn’t take it anymore.”
The disturbing details were revealed in a recently filed criminal complaint about the case following the arrest of 24-year-old Nathaniel Lee Edmonds on September 19.
A day earlier, officers with the Front Royal Police Department responded to the family’s home in Front Royal for a report of a one-year-old child in cardiac arrest.
Emergency medical workers rushed the child to Warren Memorial Hospital where he was pronounced dead, according to the news release.
But the child’s father had reportedly fled the scene before the mother returned home and emergency responders arrived, police said.
“The father, Nathaniel Edmonds was nowhere to be found and according to the mother, was supposed to be watching him,” according to the complaint.
“In an interview at the hospital, the mother admitted that she was working while Edmonds was supposed to be watching him and she came home to her child and found him in the condition that she did.”
He was found a short time later walking along U.S. 522 North at Fairground Road,
“Edmonds was read his Miranda rights and confessed to choking his 1 year old, using both of his hands for minutes because the child was not listening and he couldn’t take it anymore,” the complaint states.
“Edmonds describes that this incident happened on the childs (sic) bed where he was ultimately found. Edmonds admitted to observing foam at the mouth of the child.”
He was taken into custody and charged with second-degree murder in the death of his child.
According to court records obtained by the Daily News-Record, Edmonds was charged in July 2023 with misdemeanor domestic assault and battery. The court deferred disposition of the count to next month.
Edmonds remains in the Rappahannock-Shenandoah-Warren Regional Jail. His next court date is set for December 19.