SNELLVILLE, Ga. — A Georgia man was arrested for murder after investigators said he left his 8-month-old daughter in a car for hours.
In a news release, investigators said that Davied Whatley had gone to the Snellville Police Department on Tuesday afternoon to pick up firearms. When investigators did a background search on Whatley, they found he had an active warrant and immediately took him into custody.
Investigators with the Snellville Police Department emphasized in a news conference that at no point did Whatley tell anybody he had left his 8-month-old daughter, Nova Grace Whatley-Trejo, in the car.
It was hours later when the baby’s grandmother brought Nova to an emergency room, where the little girl was pronounced dead. While at the emergency room, the child’s grandmother told staff that the baby had been left inside a car after a traffic stop, WSB reported. Police said that was not the case, and there was never a traffic stop.
Investigators told WSB that their entire interaction with Whatley, from the moment he entered the police department through his transport to jail, was captured on surveillance, dashboard and body cameras.
“I’m absolutely astounded that somebody would leave an 8-month-old in a car. Park away from our building and walk up here knowing that child was in the car, and leaving them. I’m just astounded,” Detective Jeff Manley of the Snellville Police Department said in a press conference Wednesday.
Nova’s grandmother told WSB she is disputing the police claims and said her son told police about his daughter multiple times.
Whatley was charged with second degree murder.